I am trying to figure how to include a small sawmill on my planned HO layout, steam era.
By small I mean a sawmill that receives a 4-5 log cars train per day, brought in by a three-truck Heisler, and ships out a similar amount of lumber, mostly by rail.
The sawmill operation is meant to be a rather small thing at the edge of a somewhat larger railroad town, a branch line junction with a freight yard (about five classification tracks and some engine facilities).
There won’t be much space for the sawmill, so how could it look?
How could it be configured?
Does it have to have a pond, or what’s the alternative for moving the logs in for sawing?
The sawmill could have two (maybe three?) spurs “at home”, and could use a track at the nearby freight yard to keep a string of cars temporarily.
So, I’d be happy to receive any suggestions about how to lay it out, structures, kits, etc.
And about pictures, articles about existing layouts with small sawmills, trackplans, in MR or elsewhere.
The Walthers Sawmill (Cornerstone series) is a fairly small one, production wise. One track in and one or two tracks out. It would handle your car requirements.
I had one in N scale (It comes in HO too) and I set mine up without a log pond. The cars unloaded on a ground deck made of tree trunks. The logs would roll down a small slope on the tree trunks to the chain hoist going into the mill.
When I saw your title, I was thinking a much smaller operation. I am planning one, but the logs will come in on truck. It will sit on/near a team track area so that it can provide ties for the rr if necessary and lumber can be shipped.
Lets see if I can give you some ideas.
A pond is not necessary. They are often used to corral logs floated down river. I have seen some operations where logs are dumped into a pond, not sure if it is to clean the logs of grit, so not to dull the blade, or if it may help in debarking. However, I have seen plenty of larger mills without a pond or soaking facility.
To move logs around the yard in your intended era, there were tractor type loaders with fork lift attatchments in place of buckets. Some had four large tires, others two large, two small.
As for space, it need not take up a lot if you can model it near the edge of your layout. Just suggest a larger area. A small mill didn’t usually have a kiln to dry lumber, usually just stacked it to air dry, a fairly long process. You can decide if you want to ship dried lmber or green. Logs unloaded off the cars could be dumped into a bin, then taken by loader and stacked in appropriate area (some off layout?). Taken to the mill again by loader, set on the receiving track, usually three rails with continuous chains to draw the logs into the mill as the operator called for them. The rails would be about 5’ apart so they could put 8’ logs on two and up to 16’ logs on all three. Some mills handle longer logs for specialty purposes, but the 15’ spacing of the three tracks can hold quite a long log if set up properly. Your operation sounds large enouth to have an enclosed sawing area, so just an opening large enough for the logs to come in. Boards moving off the saw go onto a similar continuous chain device to where they are stacked then moved to a kiln or dryin
I would purchase all three of the Kalmbach Logging PDFs. If you want a smallish mill, then you will most likely have to build it from scratch. Usually, the logs would be lifted onto a trolly that went back and forth, slicing them into boards. The boards would then fall onto a conveyor belt that lead to a saw that cut the boards to length. Thats the short of it all. If you want to build it so that you can see the insides, buy PDF Volume 3, because that has an expert layout of a small saw mill. Also, if you have any more questions about logging, as me, because as far as I know, Im pretty much the only resident Logging Expert here. And [#welcome] to the forums!
I have a “minimal” logging area. It consists of the cutest little water wheel old fashioned mill building I found, an equally cute little old fashioned lumber storage shed I found, and a single piece of track that disappears into the woods with a loging car on it. In about a 5 inch by 6 inch space HO.
The water wheel is fed by a “mountain spring” that flows on down the mountainside.
Thanks to you all for your many helpful comments and advice!
I feel they have put me in the ballpark, given me some basics about the ways sawmills were laid out and operated. And how they can could be modeled. Helps me very much to figure what I could do.
Seems I will not go all that minimal after all. I might use a space about two ft. long and, say, 8" wide.
Of the structures mentioned it seems the good-looking JV-Models sawmill could fit, at least if the extension shed on the back (as seen on JV’s catalogue picture) is omitted or arranged more in line with the main building.
A single spur along the front might be sufficient, bringing in log cars and dumping the logs at the far end.
That done, and empties out, flats or boxcars could be shoved in for loading the cut lumber.
Makes sense?
A question for IVRW: I looked for the three-part logging .pdf at Kalmbach, but couldn’t find it. Do you mean the MR Information Station “Logging projects by Jack Work” ? They seem to be available only in printed form though. Or what?
I am also going to build a small logging industry on one of my small sidings. The walthers kit was too big, I searched and searched, and finally found a perfect kit. It’s the Vollmer Sawmill HO 3797. I found it on ebay. It’s a very nicely detailed kit (haven’t built it yet).
I will have just have a single siding track that will hold about 4-5 cars. So I will operate it with incoming log loads in the morning, and outgoing lumber loads in the afternoon.
Pretty minimal. Logs come in by tractor from the forest. No pond, not even a real road. Just a pole with block and tackle. You can model interesting scenes in a relatively small space. I hope these help a little bit. More on my web pages if you’re having a boring night LOL.