The railroads have long played a vital role to the logging industry. One of the key aspects is the ability of the railroads to carry large amounts of logs out of the forest to the mill using flat cars, many with specially designed side stakes to hold the logs in place on longer mainline trains. The 45' Logging Flat is based off of a Milwaukee Road prototype that features unique side stakes in set of two at each end, with inward slots on the cars so smaller pieces of bark and timbers can pass through without causing damage to the car. Many railroads owned this type of car for service to and from the forest to the mill.