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To keep up with a healthy housing market, lumber suppliers have increased production the past few years. And to keep pace with lumber shippers’ demands, BNSF Railway Co. has added more than 3,000 centerbeams to its flat-car fleet.

During the past two years, BNSF’s revenue generated from moving lumber for California-based Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) has increased more than 20 percent. The Class I moves 80 cars for the company each week.

In 2003, SPI opened a new mill in Aberdeen, Wash., adjacent to track operated by the Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad Co., which interchanges with BNSF. The shipper plans to open a mill in Whitney, Wash., on BNSF’s line next year, then expand the Aberdeen mill. SPI owns 1.8 million acres of forests in California and Washington.