N Scale of Nevada lumber loads?

[James Costello]

James, you're the man!  All of those items in your pictures are totally the brands I'm looking for.  I didn't even know he did Sierra Pacific but that's totally up my alley as well.  (And I actually meant to say Superior, not Simpson, in the previous post, but Simpson is good too.)

Must be your lucky day @jagged ben



I also found another version under NSN-2 in 2002 - not sure how I ended up with this one.



Like others said, I'm really happy with Columbus Trainmaster and I reached out to John years ago to get a bunch of Hampton Lumber Sales loads when the RC centerbeams came out - he was very helpful. If I was looking for loads today that's where I'd start.



I've also got a couple of Fire Box Models loads out of Colorado, so maybe I picked these up from Caboose Hobbies / N Scale Supply / the Hobby Smith (Portland) in my travels. Unfortunately the website says they stopped producing kits in 2015. http://www.fireboxmodels.com

[jagged ben]

James I PM'd you.

As far as the other options mentioned, I was already aware of them.  I do wish the Columbus Trainmaster were readily available in more lumber brands, but I also think that the NSN products set a higher bar for realism given the same production value.   A real lumber load has a lot more going on than just a repeating company logo, and you don't see as much done with unwrapped loads.  Also I don't find the brands for my modeling era and locale.

[nkalanaga]

The NSN loads are great - if you want a load.  If you want multiple cars from one mill, the problem is that they'll all look alike.  For me, that wasn't an issue, as my loads are inbound to a building supply.

An easy way to use printed logo sheets more realistically is to cut the sheets into individual pieces, lumber-bundle long, then glue those to a load-length wood strip.  That way, the bundle ends have gaps, which you can accent with a knife if desired, and the logos are in different places on each piece.  Just leave a little extra on the end sections to wrap around the ends of the strips.  Then stack the strips, with stripwood dividers, and your favorite banding, and you have a nice, straight lumber load, with your favorite logos.  No two loads need be the same, as you can vary the length of the bundles as desired. 

For a plain flatcar, the layers can be whatever length you want.  For a bulkhead or centerbeam car, you need to be more careful, but even there, it's possible to make a load to neatly fit any car with a "standard" inside length.  For the early 1970s, that was usually 48' 6" or 56' 8", designed for 8-foot lumber bundles to fit neatly..

[James Costello]

I do wish the Columbus Trainmaster were readily available in more lumber brands, but I also think that the NSN products set a higher bar for realism given the same production value.   A real lumber load has a lot more going on than just a repeating company logo, and you don't see as much done with unwrapped loads.  Also I don't find the brands for my modeling era and locale.

Have you emailed John at all? When I did in 2011, he had nearly 100 different loads available... He was able to sell direct via PayPal so don't trust what you see on eBay at any one time. At the time, he didn't have any completely unwrapped - some still had the top row wrapped.



Hampton, Simpson, Sierra, Roseburg among them.

In case you don't have it - jhaverstoc@aol.com

[cv_acr]

Second, I didn't start this thread so much to get into the nitty gritty of method.  I'm really after the source images of the products on that BLW page, or suitable substitutes, including the stamps on the unwrapped lumber.   Particularly the Simpson and Bohemia.  (I did notice you have the mid-eighties Weyerhauser scheme.  One down!)  The middle of my modeling era is 1990.  If anyone has any link suggestions for good side-on prototype photographs of lumber loads from that era, that would be great.

As long as a shot is reasonably side-on "ish", using a perspective correction tool in an image editing software can straighten it out. I was just using that the other day to straighten out some almost-side-on shots of signs into something that can be reduced and printed.

[eja]

Another source

https://hobbysmith.com/index.php/lumber-loads/n-z-lumber-loads

[stevoblue]

Those hobby smith loads are made by details-n-scale. I think that they are the best lumber loads out there.