Every model railroad has freight cars that can show off their loads. Modelers often call these open loads. Open loads can be as simple as a pile of coal to detailed models of machinery and everything in between. There are lots of commercial products available in every scale to recreate loads, or you can make many of them yourself.
Hopper Cars
®2010 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Hoppers are usually associated with coal. Stone, ore and woodchip loads are also common loads and all can be made with the same simple techniques.
Gondolas
®2010 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
From scrap to stone to finished steel, gondolas carry a wide array of products.
Flatcars
®2010 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Machinery, tractors, steel shapes – flatcars are an open stage for the most interesting loads.
Heavy Duty Flatcars
®2010 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Special loads make great modeling projects and operating challenges.
Empty Loads
®2010 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
The Load that Was: Even empty cars aren't always empty.
Not-so-open Open Loads
®2009 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
An open door on a boxcar can lead to many possibilities.
From Trash to Treasure - Finding Loads for Your Models in the Strangest Places
©2012 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Make Removable Loads
©2012 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Open Load Gallery
®2008 Ryan C Kunkle, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Sometimes the hardest part of modeling an open load is choosing one. The gallery has lots of prototype and model photos to get you started.
