I have about three feet of space to model a sawmill. The only problem is, I don’t know what to model 
What kinds of things does a sawmill/log loading operation need that can be modeled?
I’m no expert on this, but for the sawmill I plan to build I was going to have:
inbound: Log cars
outbound: pulpwood, finished lumber.
Finished lumber would go to a lumber yard and/or funiture making plant. Pulpwood would go to a paper mill.
For the sawmill itself, you could have a mill pond, a funace to burn the wood scrapes and sawdust, maybe a kiln for drying the wood.
I’m sure others will offer their ideas.
There are two groups at Yahoo Groups that might interest you. The first is Modelloggers, and the second is the 4L list (Loyal Legion of Logged-on Loggers).
Basically you need a place to unload and store logs. This could be a pond, or log ramps if on dry land. The jackladder is the ramp that takes the logs up into the millhouse. (Walthers made a plastic sawmill several years back…actually they made just about everything you need, if you can find the kits.) When the rough-sawn lumber came out of the mill house it either went into a kiln or it was stacked outdoors. After kiln-drying the luumber went into the planing mill, where it was surfaced (like 2X4s in a lumber yard) then was stored in a warehouse to keep it out of the weather. It then was loaded onto rail cars. You would need a boilerhouse, a sawdust burner (could be just an open heap of scrap, set on fire), a company office, a commissary store, and housing for the workers. Model as much or as little as you care to…the rest can be just “off the layout”.
Back in the early 1900s Ralph Clement Bryant wrote two college textbooks on the industry…LOGGING is about sawmills and LUMBER is about what went on in the woods. I have a URL for LOGGING online…I’ll find it and post it later.
Cornell University has the book LOGGING online as part of its CORE Historical Literature of Agriculture collection. The URL is:
http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=chla;idno=3070196
Hope this helps
Take a look at recent issues of Model Railroad Craftsman, and maybe Model Railroader, too. I know one of them has been running a series of ads for a “craftsman” level sawmill kit. It may be too big for your application, but the pictures alone are worth looking at. They will certainly give you ideas.
Hi. about 1996 Walthers did run a series with almost everything you need to build a working industry with everything from the cutting of the wood to finished products and paper and printing was also accomodated. The series even came with a book “Talltrees & lumber” I believe. I had and used most of the kits on my layout back then and it took up an area 2’x8’ and that was tight, the buildings were big but you could build them in half relief structures?
I had 2 layouts 1 in the attic and 1 in a shed and I would interchange cars between both layouts.
Shaun
You can spend a ton of time researching sawmills…or just buy a kit. JV Models make a nice one in all scales (Lucas sawmill). Keystone Locomotive Works O Scale Danby Sawmill is another good one for O. Woodland Scenics makes a inexpensive HO metal sawmill called “rual sawmill”. Even Walthers Cornerstone makes a sawmill kit I think. A sawmill would be a real pain to scratch build anyway, so a kit is the way to go. Fred
Keystone also has an HO kit. Try RMC July 04 or MR Feb - Nov 03. Check “Index of Magazines” at MR home page for more suggestions.
Do you want a fairly simple mill like a tie mill, logs in, ties out or a full complex? Logs in can be train, truck, water or combination, outbound can be train, truck or both. Above suggestions of what can be shipped out.
Have fun.