# Sugar Cane miniatures for Cane Wagons



## RickWeber (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm just finishing one of TrainDepartment Jason's nice sugar cane wagon kits, but was at a loss as to what I could use as miniature cane to load in the wagon.

Stumbled onto this stuff accidentally, and it worked out pretty well. It's called pampas grass, and if you live in certain parts of the country, you know that it is an awful invasive species called pampas grass. It is kind of in the bamboo family, and indeed the stalks look like miniature bamboo once the outer sheath is removed. 

Here's a link to what pampas grass looks like. If you have it in your neck of the woods, it's readily available. If not, be glad - the stuff is worse than kudzu.

https://www.google.com/#q=pampas+grass+pictures&revid=945663934

Rick 

Of course, you want to wait until it dies off in the fall before cutting it. Now is a good time.


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## Rail Planet (Jan 22, 2012)

Looks great!


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## jwalls110 (Dec 12, 2012)

Nicely done!


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Very Nice Rick! Think its time to build a string of them now. 

Some people plant that grass decorative. Eh I hate grasses, horrible to trim and keep neat. I have been thinking of some straw or something similar.


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## RickWeber (Mar 7, 2011)

The pampas grass is hard like cane and, for me, easier to cut and bundle than straw. In Eastern Kentucky, it is taking over a lot of meadows and is a extreme fire hazard. Once alight, it burns hot and fast.


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## Tom Bowdler (Jan 3, 2008)

The look I like with cane cars where the cane is loaded transversely is the "droop" that occurs due to the cane's flexibility. It looks like the ends of the stalks are sweeping the roadbed. To accomplish that a smaller diameter, flexible material is needed. I've been thinking about trying to bend broom straw. 
Since I'm behind on cane hauling loco projects anyway (DJB Coolum prototype project will start soon to supplement my Tootle Engineering Hudswell Clarke loco) I'm not in a hurry to figure it out but... 
Have fun, 
Tom


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Tom,

What's this about the Tootle? Are you trying to delay his other projects? I'm waiting for a small 7/8ths loco from him that I may do a small production of for sale here in the states.

On the cane, yes the straw or something similar in thickness and flexibility is what you need, I need to do the same for when I get around to building my string.


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## RickWeber (Mar 7, 2011)

Agreed, something more flexible would be ideal and a bit smaller in dia. The old photos of the full size cane wagons I've seen show the stuff piled on in a rather disorganized mess, with bits and pieces falling off and being dragged along the track. There ought to be some kind of plant out there that would be ideal.


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

How about the stuff that I used as a kid to make baskets. Probably still available in the craft stores. We soaked it to make it more flexible to work it and then it dried hard. So make a form for the droop required and let the material dry in the desired shape? It would be about the correct diameter.


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Shay Gear Head on 02 Jan 2014 03:41 AM 
How about the stuff that I used as a kid to make baskets. Probably still available in the craft stores. We soaked it to make it more flexible to work it and then it dried hard. So make a form for the droop required and let the material dry in the desired shape? It would be about the correct diameter. 

Well Bruce what was it?


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

Here is a link to the material I had in mind. Should be available in large craft store.

http://www.robertscrafts.com/default.aspx?PageID=47&CategoryID=861&ProductID=21423&gclid=CPy1j8rn4rsCFYEDOgodHkAA-Q


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

I didn't know Pampas grass was so invasive. Here in the Southwest people plant it on purpose.


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Bruce at 1/8" od that cane is very large for our scale. Scales out to 1.71" in 78ths I have a sample of some other idea coming to me, Ill see how it works before I waste the time of getting hopes up.


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