3D Printed Log Cars
Above: Mitch Vader built this N Scale version of the car.
Prototype Right: The Timber Heritage Associati on of Humboldt County, Cali- fornia, owns a number of pieces of TPL equipment. Included are several 44- foot TPL logging fl ats, in- cluding No. 547. — Mike Kellogg, THA photo
Right: TPL No. 573 awaits space at the log dump, loaded with two large redwood logs. TPL frequently moved these huge logs without chains over the top! The author constructed this car in HO scale using a frame from Shapeways, and the materials in the Ma- terials List.”
Creating these unique cars in 3 scales CRAFTSMAN/Richard Todd, photography by the author
On June 19, 1961, my best
friend Bob Hogan and I headed to Northern California to chase trains — a high school graduation present from my mom. We were blessed to ride a Pacific Lum- ber Company log train into the woods. We also got to see 2-6-2 No. 29 make its last run in steam, moving mill flats around the mill. Ever since that day, we have been trying to figure out how to make the logging flats and mill flats used by the Pacific Lumber Com- pany. We have since learned that Hammond Lumber, Union Lum- ber, California Western, and sev- eral other logging railroads used similar flats. Fast-forward to 2014 and my
fateful decision to update soft- ware. I have used 3rdPlanIt soft- ware for railroad design since 1997. I last updated my program in 2000. I called 3rdPlanIt to or- der an update disc and spoke with Randy Pfeiffer, 3rdPlanIt’s owner (3rdPlanIt is available from
54 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
3D PRINTED LOG CARS
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