Plyvrzood Rides The Rails

Although the construction of railroad cars may seem far removed from the activities of retail lumber dealers supplying builders and home owners, actually the use of Douglas fir plywood in building railroad rolling stock is important evidence of plywood's durability.

In few other uses will the mira,cle wood be subjected to more rigorous conditions. Used as the sides of railroacl cars, it must withstand the impact of cinders and dust striking at speeds up to 90 miles an hour besides exposure to rain, hail or hot sunshine.

The Great Northern Railway Co. recently completed 1500 freight cars with inside and outside walls of /s-inch Exterior Douglas fir plywood with ceiling inner surfaces of fu-inch panels.

From Canada the CPR reports each of its nerv plywood boxcars to ,be 1600 pounds lighter than the older type of other materials. These cars are also sheathed with srt-inch Exterior Douglas fir plywood.

And in the Pacific Car and Foundry shops at Renton, Wash., 1000 new plywood-lined refrigerator cars rolled off the assembly line at 40-minute intervals for the pacific Fruit Express Co. This company ordered its first plywood reefers in 1939.

In addition to the cars built at Renton, pFE has orders for 4000 similar refrigerator cars with four other plants. Altogether, more than five million square feet of Exterior Douglas fir plywood will go into these rail reefers.

Several thicknesses of plywood are used in the cars. The sidewall lining and the ceilings a.re 9/16-inch, but sfi_inch was selected for the end wall lining. Plastic-surfaced pan_ els of 3/16-inch are being installed as a sub-lining to provide space for air circulation.

Ice bunkers with walls of one inch plywood can be retracted, making more room for cargo not requiring low temperatures. The outside surfaces of these reefers are of steel.

At Los Angeles, Pacific Fruit Express is applying plastic overlay panels to reefer car exterior surfaces in an extensive rebuilding program. The cars are stripped down to running gear and steel end walls before being built up with all new materials. Outer walls are 9/16-inch overlaid plywood, and l/S-inch overlaid single ply is applied over blanket insulation to form the interior surface.

'The selection of plywood for these refrigerator cars also is high praise for the products, becau'se the outdoor temperature may be over 100 degrees while inside it is close to freezing. Or, in cold winter weather, the inside temperature may be much higher than outdoors.

Plywood's ability to "take it" accounts for the rapidly growing demand among railroad car builders for more of the miracle wood.

New Evcrns Plyurood Mill To Stcrrt In October

The new plywood plant of Evans Products Co., Coos Bay, Oregon, will be ready to start operation in October of this year, according to an announcement by V. J. Johnson, vice president, and general manager of the Coos Bav operations. The new plant is under construction. The building has an area of 110,000 square feet, of which 90,000 square feet will be used for plywood production.