The log car is a skeletal flatcar with steel stanchions or bunks at intervals along a central spine, designed to cradle and secure full-length logs during transit from forest to sawmill. The open framework minimizes tare weight while the fixed or adjustable bunks support the logs and prevent them from rolling. Log cars often operate in dedicated shuttle service between timber loading facilities and sawmills, sometimes loaded by log-stacker cranes directly from logging trucks. They are predominantly used in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast.
Permanent V-shaped or flat bunk cradles welded to a center spine; simplest and lightest design for dedicated sawmill shuttle service.
Repositionable bunks along the spine to accommodate different log lengths and species mixes on the same car.
Log cars serve the primary link in the wood products supply chain, moving timber from logging landings and log dumps to sawmills and veneer plants where logs are converted into lumber, plywood, and pulp.