Loooong cut of cars getting a similar treatment (work being done). Guys transferring 'material' in the first car are not handing off wood. It is some form of cardboard - and it looks to me like it is "going in" and not coming out based upon the bend in it at the lower end. That car - and another past it - show some of the same material on the floor of the car that appears to not be 'in its final place yet'. Lots of step ladders for getting in and out of the cars all down the line ... and stacks/skip loads of more of that same light colored material (as in "clean cardboard in folds"). Also note that the step ladders are not in the door openings but rather just along side of them ... so they don't interfere with the installation of the grain doors? No "sweepings" on the ground outside of the cars - they have been cleaned previously and brought here (or the ground cleaned) to do the install.
So ... I say "grain doors". (cardboard)
And the wood on that rack is a red herring - that is not necessarily involved in the treatment/process ... as in "what would you use 6x6s for during grain doors or even interior wood replacement?". And many of the cars in the string do not have similar racks of wood (about every other car or so) ... perhaps they aren't even for this particular cut of cars/work but rather some later/earlier cut to the same track.
Finally - no one seems to have any of the tools you'd expect for any serious wood work. Could they have been patching some holes to make them grain tight - yes? That would have been done with some 1x6/1x4 and a hammer and maybe a saw ... and in much shorter lengths than the wood on the rack.
If I had to guess I'd say that the crew handles about 4 or 5 cars at a time and works its way from the foreground to the cars furthest away.
I did not know/it never occurred to me to even suspect - that the cardboard would have been delivered to the track folded up ... now that I see it and think about it I'm not at all surprised.
So was the grain door installed with a gap "not finished" at the bottom and the last thing done was for someone to climb out and button it up? Presumably using the ladders we are seeing.
