When modeling open top freight car loads, one thing that build realism is when loads are properly blocked an tied down. The Association of American Railroads published a book, General Rules Governing the Loading of Commodities On Open Top Cars. It has multiple sections providing illustrations and text detailing proper procedures. The size of each section precludes me posting them on this forum, but below is the link to pdf versions of each section. https://my.aar.org/OTLR Some photo examples of great loads following the prescribed methods are attached. These are all loads created by local modeler and load master, Jim McCroskie.
Good stuff Keith nothing kills a nice looking load more than nothing but glue holding it. Funny, one of my biggest modeler pet peeves is when people add miles of chain for no reason. Logging modelers are often guilty of this. Huge chain no human could ever pick up. But they have it running from the cab roof around the smokestack to the headlight all the way down the running board and piled up. Makes me chuckle. It’s the exact opposite of the totally unsecured flat car loads.
