Problem area on layout-any insight?

[nachoman]

Looks like you've got your answer. It's easy to forget (or to not realise if you weren't around at the time) that there was a lot of manual labour used right into the late '50s when it came to loading and unloading railway cars. Lumber is one commodity handled this way, but gondola-loads of coal or gravel were often unloaded by a couple of guys with shovels, and some ores, bagged or loose, were shipped in boxcars that had been loaded manually. Bagged sugar and flour loading and unloading, before the use of forklifts and pallets, was done by crews with strong backs, one bag at a time.

Wayne

good point, Wayne. This thread reminds me of a photo:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://narrowgaugememories.com/v/Rio+Grande+in+the+60s/farmingtonsilverton/DRGWdgoloadinglumber9502.jpg.html">http://narrowgaugememories.com/v/Rio+Gr ... 2.jpg.html</a><!-- m -->

This may be a helpful photo, even though it is narrow gauge, and even though the lumber is being loaded into a boxcar. But the time frame is right, and it is being done by hand. I would imagine small industries during that time frame did a lot of loading and unloading by hand. All you really need is some kind of loading dock where the workers can be at the same level as our flatcar. Stack some lumber up on the platform with a few LPBs standing around, perhaps some kind of hand trolley, and you are all set.