Beet.

...sugar beet, that is.

Beet traffic in the 1950s is mentioned on Tim Hale's excellent blog, here: 

https://timhalesblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/local-bus-for-pdorf.html?m=0

I would recommend a read through Tim's blog to anyone interested in German railways, it's a mine of information and inspiration. 

In the 1980s era I'm modelling, sugar beet traffic was still conveyed by rail, but because it's seasonal it was often in whatever old wagons could be made to turn a wheel, hence the widespread use of old 4-wheelers like these. It's this sort of traffic that might just keep the remains of a through route like the line from Schinkendorf going for another year. The cowpat green bagger visible in the rear, has escaped (or been imported) from the DDR, as has the nearest wagon.

So, having decided my wagons needed beet loads, how to go about making them? German company Juweela provided the beets themselves, they're some sort of natural plant product, suitably processed, and can be obtained in the UK from Model Scenery Supplies and others.

To make the loads, I first cut pieces of blue styrene foam to fit in the wagon, then contoured the tops to represent the sort of shape the top of a load would take up (there are plenty of prototype photos on the Web for reference).

I then cut a slit in each one and inserted a steel "penny" washer so the loads can be removed with the aid of a magnet, and painted the tops and sides in dark brown acrylic. 

Once this had dried thoroughly, I lined each wagon with cling film, popped the loads in, applied neat PVA with a brush and carefully added the beets, using a small spatula for ease in putting them where they were needed.

A light spray with isopropanol alcohol was followed by PVA mixed 50/50 with water, applied with a pipette in the same way as gluing ballast. The loaded wagons were then put aside to dry for 24 hours.

Once dry, the loads were taken out of the wagons and the clingfilm removed.

I found the resulting loads sat a couple of millimetres too high and also a little of the load and dried glue was sticking out from the sides, so I sawed 2mm off the bottom of the loads and removed the bits from the sides with flush cutters.

They now sit nicely just below the tops of the wagons, so the next job will be to weather the wagons...

Below, the DB Class 290 is about to depart Schinkendorf with its 3 loaded wagons and a couple of vans. This class was normally to be found shunting in marshalling yards, etc., but seem to have been pressed into service to haul beets during the season, there's a cracking photo on P.173 of Georg Wagner's indispensable book "Die DB Heute" illustrating this, albeit with 5 opens and 4 vans rather than the 3+2 I can manage on Schinkendorf!