NPC Flat Cars
Carter Brothers operated a plant off a NPC siding in Sauselito. This plant served the needs of the North Pacific Coast. It is likely that completed cars were shipped via steamer tracks to San Francisco and then shipped on standard gauge flats to other Carter Brothers customers.
My resources don't have much information on NPC freight rolling stock although it is likely most was constructed by Carter. Lacking other information, I'm going to assume that NPC flats were initially 24 foot then later 28 foot Carter flats. I plan to build a significant number of these flats then use them as a platform for construction of gondolas, box cars, livestock cars and other NPC rolling stock. Here are some photos of NPC Flats.
 |
This shot, taken at the Dollar Lumber Co. in Markam's in the early 1890s shows both an empty and loaded flat. |
 |
This drawing of the Tyrone Mill shows a string of NPC flats. |
 |
This shot at Corte Madera in 1898 shows both loaded and unloaded flats. |
 |
In this shot, the Transfer #2 Car float is carrying a load of redwood and firewood with help from the NPC sidewheel tugboat "Tiger". |
 |
Two NPC flats at Corte Madera in 1898. |
 |
NPC flat cars loaded with bark at Cazadero in 1920 |
 |
A redwood lumber drag behind No 17 in 1896. At the peak the NPC sent 3-4 freight trains daily, each made up of 20-28 cars from the redwood forests to Sausalito for shipment to San Francisco. |
Two manufacturers manufacture kits for building Carter flat cars, Hartford Products, and Fall River Productions.
The Hartford Carter Brothers Flat Car kit Models the 28 foot flat car. It makes use of Hartford's Carter Brothers Swing Motion 4 foot Truck kit, a number of custom castings and basswood for construction of the deck.
 |
The Fall River Productions Carter Brothers Flat Car kit models the 24 foot flat car. It makes use of Fall River's Carter Brothers Swing Motion 3' 8" Truck kit, a number of custom casting and basswood for construction of the deck.
 |
I decided that rather than order the kit that I would scratchbuild the cars themselves using trucks from Hartford and Fall River and detail parts from Ozark Miniatures.
 |
Hartford's Carter Brothers 4 foot Swing Truck Kit |
  |
Fall River's Carter Brothers 3'8" Swing Truck Kit |
Why would I scratchbuild the flats when kits are available at a slightly higher cost? A number of reasons.
 | I enjoy working with wood including ripping dimension lumber into scale lumber. |
| I wanted to use cedar rather than basswood because of cedar's better weather resistance. |
| Wayne Spence has written an excellent series of articles on construction of narrow gauge flats in MyLargeScale.com. I wanted to participate in the project as the results are stunning. |
| I will need a significant number of flats. So money saved can be converted into additional rolling stock. |
So I plan to build both 24 foot and 28 foot Carter flats using trucks from Hartford for the 28 foot flats and from Fall River for the 24 foot flats. The following links point to pages that document construction of these flats.
| Carter Brothers 28 foot flats |
| Carter Brothers 24 foot flats |