Ran across a couple images from a steel mill model railroad, that got me thinking.
Went digging for some prototype photos.
And started cutting up some PVC…
Not a bad start.
Making progress. The load looks pretty good, needs a bit more weathering, but its getting there.
I also need to figure out how they were secured. If you zoom in on this photo, it appears they were held down with steel strap, with a turnbuckle-type device to cinch them down, and attached to the stake pockets.
So, some brass strip, various fittings, and two stake pockets on each end might do the trick.
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For some reason I couldn’t upload full resolution so I included a zoom.
As you can see, the “tie straps” are formed to hook the pockets then secured with a tension rod.
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I’m guessing about a 1” allthread with nuts and a washer on both sides shouldn’t be lots of side forces on a load so doesn’t need to be crazy strong, just enough to keep them from slowly sliding sideways on rough track
