3l8 LOGGING 



are useful where small and medium-sized logs are handled. 

 They also obviate the use of binding chains. Some operators 

 use round stakes without attachments. 



In handling small and medium-sized logs the loads are some- 

 times built up square and the logs are held by several sets of 

 binding chains and often by a top bind chain. Logs are loaded 

 in this manner by power loaders and a falsework is used on the 

 side opposite the skidway, against which the loads can be built 

 and held in position until binding chains can be placed. 



Skeleton cars are equipped either with hand or air brakes, 

 and usually with pin couplers. They range in weight from 

 6900 to 18,500 pounds each and have a rated carrying capacity 

 of from 30,000 to 80,000 pounds. They will carry from 1600 to 

 10,000 feet, log scale. The heavier-weight cars are employed 

 exclusively for the heavy timber of the Pacific Coast. 



Skeleton cars combine lightness with a maximum carrying 

 capacity, are reasonable in initial cost, and are the cheapest 

 form of car to maintain. 



Trucks. — These are used on the Pacific Coast and are espe- 

 cially adapted for long logs. 



They consist of two pairs of wheels on which is mounted a 

 steel frame. A steel or wood swivel bunk, 9 or 10 feet long, is 

 mounted on the frame above and midway between the pairs of 

 wheels. The bunk is armed either with steel spikes or with a 

 long sharp strip of steel which prevents the logs from slipping 

 forward or backward. 



Trucks are equipped with hand or air brakes; pin or auto- 

 matic couplers; patent stakes or "chock blocks" for holding 

 the bunk load in place; and chains for binding the load. They 

 are built in a high and a low type, the former carrying the heav- 

 ier loads. They are in common use on roads operated by 

 loggers, but are seldom operated on trunk lines since they are 

 averse to handling them. 



Logs of approximately equal lengths are selected for a given 

 load, and a truck is required under each end of the logs which 

 are chained to the bunks. The rear truck under one log and 

 the forward truck under the following log are coupled together. 



