Could someone please point me to photographs of logging operations as they would have appeared in the early to mid 1900s? I’ve seen a couple but don’t know where and I need to be able to better visualize what I ~one day~ hope to model.
I’ve noticed that there are a lot of readymade and kits of coal mining structures etc., but I find few structures for logging. Maybe I should switch?
Thanks for any help!
Jarrell
MR has run photo stroies on logging roads throughout there existence. Look for an article called “A day at Muleshoe Meadows” from the late 70’s. Also 101 track plans has an unbeliveable logging railroad that would take two lifetimes to build with artist sketches of the various buildings.
I am currently modeling the Chessie System in the area of West Virginia. I am hoping someone could point me in the right direction of where I could find photos of the area in which the Chessie System ran through and a roster of engines Chessie had. I am in the early 1970’s period of the road.
I’d recommend a trip to a public library–there are lots of books on logging. Logging equipment varied widely based on era and location, so some specifics as to where you want to site your layout would be helpful.
There are plenty of lumber mill kits out there–the mill is the logical end-point for a logging railroad. They vary from the Woodland Scenics tie & plank mill and the Model Power cheap lumber mill kit and big complex laser-cut kits costing hundreds.
At the other end, there really weren’t many structures–logging camps are by definition temporary. A circa-1900 camp would feature a few stationary steam engines (called “donkey engines”) at the camp site to drag around logs, some temporary strucutres mounted on skids that could be hauled to and from the site via railcar as bunks and office, and big piles of logs, wood scrap, and stumps. Evergreen does some good logging castings/models, and there’s room for all sorts of detail in such a site–between the tools, the trees, the loggers, and the junk they leave behind, it could be a very busy scene–but one without any large structures.
You might try this website for some info on logging. Not sure if it will be of help to you or not.
http://www.nex.net.au/users/mjbd/html/logging_sites.html
Take a look at this guy’s logging model railroad:
http://www.cooncreek-and-tumbleweed-springs.co.uk/
Regards
Ed
Thanks for the help guys.
While looking around the net I found this site.
http://www.btsrr.com/bts8300.htm
You have to look through everything to find what you want but they have it all, from sawmills to workers houses to bunkhouses on wheels for the workers.
Jarrell
Jarrell ther are some classic books on logging in the Sierras. Any well equipped trainshop or library will have them.
On the subject of logging layouts, here is the motive power for my logging-layout-to-be: a homebrewed “gypsy” 0-4-0 logging locomotive. It is intended for use on narrow-gauge track, and the logging layout I have in mind will only be a couple of square feet in size. The thingamajig on the front is a winch, which takes power from the steam engine, intended to hoist logs onto the cars from the loading area. Fairly obscure except on a few northern California railroads, and nobody makes 'em in HO (or any other scale, so far as I know) so I rolled my own out of spare parts and some detail bits last week.
I plan on building a couple of “disconnects” (essentially loose trucks with some wood on top) and using the aforementioned Woodland Scenics small tie & plank mill as the mill for the layout–not sure yet what will be on the “camp” end.