Lumber Mill

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Greetings all—

I am modeling a mid-century lumber mill in HO scale and I am in need of suggestions for plans and/or manufacturers of semi-modern lumber mill buildings and detail parts. I am aware of the Walthers kit, but it seems like a lot of $$$$$ for not much kit. Needless to say I am on a budget, and not opposed to scratchbuilding or kitbashing.

I am looking for something more modern and larger than the Woodlands Scenic kit, I have about a 2’ square area to dedicate to this endeavor.

Any suggestions or references would be greatly appreciated.

2

http://www.btsrr.com/millplan.htm

3

Yeah, I’d agree with Spacemouse’s picture. Again, this is a pricey kit, but I think you could do a lot by yourself just from the picture. Even at mid-century, I think you could get away with lumberjacks out on the river, polling the logs into place. The water aspect would make an outstanding model. At the same time, you could have a narrow-gauge bringing in more logs from the hills, and full-scale taking out the finished product.

4

Keystone Locomotive Works makes all the machinery you need inside a mill. Problem is finding it…I have been waiting 6 months for them to make some of the machines. Walthers and Kitbash Depot sell the line. There is a list on Yahoo called ‘4L’…the Loyal Legion of Logged-on Loggers’ that can be a good source of info. Ralph Clement Bryant wrote 2 books in the erly 1900s…“Logging” and “Lumber”. They were college textbooks at the time. The first is about getting the trees out of the forest, the second, about turning them into lumber. Cornell University’s library has “Lumber” online, in it’s ‘CORE Historical Literature of Agriculture’ collection.

Your public library can get both books through inter-library loan. You can also look for them on Amazon, etc.

5

Thanks for the great ideas and references. I love the kit pictured, but would have to save my pennies. Good idead to use as a reference for scratchbuild.

Thanks again.

6

That’s what I was going to use if for. Looks like an easy scratch and adaptible to your size. I have photos of the Union Lumber Company in the 50’s and 60’s (now owned by Pacific Lumber) and though it is several magnitudes larger than the model shown, the buildings could have been the prototype for the model.