N&W FD class flats

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

I probably shouldn't post this because I do not have the dates or the car class involved, but this may be of some interest in spite of the lack of details.

It was probably in the 1960's that I got an assignment to arrange to convert some surplus plasterboard flat cars into pulpwood flat cars, which were in short supply.  Inasmuch as the plasterboard cars already had bulkheads at the ends, the conversion was mainly to add timbers along the edges of the deck to tilt the pulpwood inward as on a conventional pulpwood car.  I located a sawmill at the N & W's Roadway Material Yard in Roanoke and worked with the people there to modify the carriage to saw some timbers (that were about 10" x 10") diagonally through opposite corners to yield two triangular timbers.  These were placed with the long cut surface on the deck and bolted into place.

These cars served the intended purpose for good period of time, but eventually the timbers were damaged and some were even seen to be missing.

I wish I had some reference for the date of the conversion and the car class that was modified in this manner, but maybe this will give some modeler an idea for a different type pulpwood car to model.

Gordon Hamilton
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2005 5:38 AM
  Subject: Re: N&W FD class flats


  Fred:

  The Society has a General Arrangement drawing for the Class FD dated 1947 showing a conversion to pulpwood service.  In 1961, the 1947 drawing was revised and subsequently in 1962, a new GA drawing made; again referencing the conversion of FD cars for pulpwood service.  The information I have here at home doesn't indicate how many were converted and whether their road numbers were changed.

  Jim Gillum
  N&W Historical Society


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  ________________________________________
  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
  To change your subscription go to
  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20051229/b32153ec/attachment.html