Modeling Information
The WWSL
The Olympic Peninsula Logging Company began service with a small collection of odd freight cars inherited from the US Army's Spruce Division line's contractors, or purchased used from equipment brokers, many dating from around 1900 or earlier. The Spruce Divisions equipment was primarily the usual collection of bunk and dining cars, various undescribed "outfit cars" which included both box cars and flat cars for tools and supplies.
The OPLC used the some of the abandoned contractor equipment - a flat car, a tank car for water, a ballast plow, five Rodger ballast cars, two box cars and a caboose for MOW operations, primarily upgrading the mainline they inherited. The remaining cars saw limited freight service until freight equipment purchased from used equipment brokers arrived.
Flat cars
The company purchased Fitzhugh-Luther Car Company flat cars for both forest operations and mainline service. The best were assigned into the 001 - 49 series and used in interchange service. The remainder shuttled between loading sites and the log dump on the Chehelis River.
Those flat cars were later modified by removing the middle portion of the flat car and reinforcing the wood center sill leaving only platforms over the trucks. Those cars were renumbered into the 50-75 series.
Veteran loggers detested those flat cars and preferred the Pacific Coast skeleton cars used in other logging operations. Master Mechanic M.R.Fixit was most interested in the Pacific Coast skeletal flat design and, in early 1930 the OPLC started building similar skeletal flatcars in their own shops. Those cars were assigned to the 100-149 series.
In 1950 the OPLC purchased retired refrigerator cars from the Northern Pacific and rebuilt them into fishbelly skeletal flats and assigned them to the 150-199 series
Boxcars
The OPLC did not have a love affair with box cars. They were difficult to load and load shifting resulted in many box cars having badly damaged ends that were expensive to repair or replace. Some customers demanded box car service. The OPLC responded to those requirements with used Haskell & Barker boxcars built between 1898-1917. They were assigned to the 200 - 250 series. Those box cars surviving were rebuilt with steel underframes in 1927 and were reassigned into the 250-299 series.
Gondolas
In 1930, the OPLC began building gondolas for sand and gravel service using the box cars in the 200 - 250 series. They were assigned into the 300- 350 series, a temporary measure while Master Mechanic M.R.Fixit began building the Rodger-Hart convertible ballast cars.
The Rodgers Ballast Car Company, as their name says, specialized in the design of freight cars for maintaining railroads - open top gondola cars for carrying the ballast rock that holds railroad track in place, or carries the rail, or carries whatever else was needed for laying down new track or repairing old track. They were particularly well known for the "Hart Convertible Gondola". If a railroad company wanted a Rodger-Hart convertible ballast cars, they called the Company and the company sent them the plans - the company didnt construct them. M.R.Fixit thought it was a great idea for his underemployed car shop staff and S.B Clinard, the President and General Manager agreed.
The OPLC car shop constructed them from the Roger's plan and bought ironware from the local railroad car manufacturers. Those gondolas were iinitially numbered in the 350-399 series, then when the 300 series was retired, those numbers were reassigned.
Tank Cars
tank cars-early were used van dyke cars 6000 and 12000 gallon that became water cars and stationary fuel tanks
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