FOREST RAILROADS 245 



The bunks are 10 feet long and from 10 to 12 feet apart. A 

 reach which passes through the body of the car and projects 2| 

 feet beyond the bunks serves as a point of attachment for the 

 draft power. 



Cars of this character drawn by two horses will carry 1400 feet 

 log scale per load. A team will haul loaded cars from 8 to 10 

 miles daily. 



On an Idaho pole tram i| miles in length, two horses hauled 

 from 7500 to 9000 feet log scale daily, each car load containing 

 approximately 1600 feet. The cost of transport was about 85 

 cents per thousand feet. 



On the Pacific Coast a team of eight horses hauled 20,000 

 feet daily on a i^-mile tram road, each car averaging 5000 feet. 



Two horses are commonly used although on the Pacific Coast 

 as many as eight are employed on some of the roads. 



Light geared locomotives have been used to a limited extent 

 but they are not adapted to this type of rail. 



STRINGER ROADS 



The stringer road soon superseded the pole road on operations 

 where a sawmill was available for sawing rails. 



The early stringer roads were operated by animal power; but 

 light geared locomotives are now used almost exclusively except 

 for stocking small mills. 



Stringer roads have a greater capacity than pole roads and 

 may be used to stock a single-band mill. They are employed 

 chiefly on operations where suitable hardwoods are abundant for 

 rails, where the operation is remote and the cost of transporting 

 steel rails is excessive, where the length of haul is comparatively 

 short and where the daily output is limited. Such conditions 

 exist in the hardwood region of the Appalachians where this t^'pe 

 of road is common. 



The disadvantages of a stringer road as compared with steel 

 railroads are that the rails become soft and wear out rapidly in 

 rainy and wet weather; wheel flanges climb wooden rails more 

 readily than steel; the cost of repairs and material for a year's 



