I’m wanting to start a logging railroad layout and am looking for recommendations for a locomotive to start with.
I plan to us Digitrax DCC (already have) with it and would like sound included. I’m looking for something that either has DCC and Sound already included or that has a drop in decoder.
I do lean toward On30 from a size standpoint do to the track size. I’ve looked at HOn30 but am concerned about availability of locos and that is why I stated HO.
Well for Ho you can go with the bachmann shay that comes with dcc and sound. The same firm has a climax and is now coming out with a 3 truck climax. Roundhouse if you check on ebay also makes a climax in a different sort and another fellow on here has a conversion for it using a bachman 44 ton chasis that has dcc in it. If you go more modern like what I am planning any diesel would work. But there is a logging outfit in canada that uses sw type switchers that are all fixed up with extra specialized equipement.
Blackstone makes some neat steam engines that are narrow gauge. Not necessarily logging engines but they would be neat.
For HO scale, there is still the Mantua 2-6-6-2 Mallet, which is close to logging locos that once ran on Weyerhaeuser and Rayonier lines. It is a hefty puller, but maybe not the finest in detail.
Bachmann has a nice range of On30 locos for logging railroads, which can be enhanced by detailing kits made by Backwoods Miniatures. You can find their web site here .
WFP (ex Canfor) uses SW 1200’s, with dynamic brakes. As built they look like this (this is a spare):
Rebuilt with Cat motors and new paint, they look like this:
Very suitable for an HO logging line.
The MP 2-6-6-2 is also not a bad choice for mainline type work. One of the plastic geared locomotives would be good too. Lots of choices depending on era and what you are actually modeling, ie mainline or woods operations.
To get RTR with sound already installed pretty much limits you to recent or current production model locomotives. In current production, logging specific steam locomotive models, Bachmann is the major player in both HO and On30. Diesels are a different story - logging lines in the diesel era typically used second hand equipment which would be modified (if necessary) to fit the need.
HO (standard gauge) and On30 (O scale, 30" gauge) run on the same track. But the scales are vastly different. Structure models and scenery take up considerably more space in O scale than they do in HO. But the larger size of the models allows much finer and more realistic detail.
Which begs the obvious questions. What are you trying to model or achieve? Logging railroads came in a wide variety of gauges and situations. Equipment used varied by region, era, and even from one logging company in the same region to the next. Significant rail logging operations could be found in most parts of the country - New England, the South, California (with significant differences between coastal and Sierra foothill operations), Pacific Northwest, Michigan, and even Colorado/New Mexico.
In the steam era, both rod and geared locomotives were commonly used. Steam tended to hand on longer than on Class 1 railroads - there was a North Carolina line using a Shay for power in the 1960s. Not all that many logging lines made it to the diesel era, but those that did primarily used switchers or older GP/SD equipment. Sometimes the SDs were
The Bachmann line of On30 locomotives should meet your needs. They range from the small shay up through a 2-8-0 and a 2-6-6-2, and most are already set up for DCC and sound.
Recognize that although the track gauge is the same between On30 and standard-gauge HO, they are very different items for track and layout planning. With all structures in O having double the dimensions in every direction to a similar building in HO, even a small to medium station can take up quite a bit of layout real estate.
HO/HOn3 is good if you want a long logging line. On30 is the choice for larger trains. I think On30 is pretty ideal for narrow gauge lines - about the same size as S standard gauge which I find ideal for standard gauge modeling.
That’s a good point about the size of the buildings. I have a 9’x13’ area to work with. I’ll look at some sample track plans and come up with some ideas based on that size in O and HO.
Yeah, it may well alter your “concept”. I have modeled in HO for, uh, a long time. When I retired and moved a couple years ago I knew that it was a prime time to change scales if I wanted a new challenge. The On30 models, especially that Bachmann 2-truck Climax with sound really look good to me. The larger scale would be nice for the aging eyes. I knew that in the larger scale I would have a railroad with fewer locomotives and rolling stock, and that made economic sense. With that move pending, I went to the Great Scale Model Train Show with some money in my pocket with the idea to compare and, if On30 was the decision, to purchase a locomotive. It was the O-scale structure size that was one crucial factor in my decision. A small country station is about 60’ long. Not only is it twice as long in O compared to HO, but it is twice as deep and twice as tall as well. This affects track spacing even more than the greater overhang of the larger equipment.
I also considered the drawer of HO-scale detail parts that I had accumulated and recognized that I would not be able to recoup much value on those. So I stuck with HO for the new shelf layout. It is up and operational and that is good.
Still, there are some great logging model railroads still to be built in On30. The scale lends itself to construction of the somewhat run-down backwoods railroad. Seeing the cabbage stack locomotives available makes me think that a delightful model of the Argent Lumber Co. could be made, complete with tracks across the swamp on pilings. If there is another move - or if I realize some way of maki
Not only does it have many of the same models in both HO and O (and other) scales where you can check the relative footprints, it also has some structure kits suitable for modeling a logging operation as well as some wooden cab variations for some On30 locomotives.
Since logging modeling is more about mood and scene rather than operations, scenery rather than tracks, and most any worthy logging operation demands a company town, the size of structures is important even if the prototypes (beyond the mill) are generally small. But you’ll need repair shops, power house, kitchen, dining room, company store, office, residences for single and married workers, etc.
One factor would be what type of logging railroading you wanted model. They aren’t all the same; Washington state logging wasn’t anything like northern Minnesota for example. Narrow gauge was generally built because standard gauge either wouldn’t fit in the space (too sharp of curves for example) or it was too expensive, so narrow gauge generally was short-haul railroading. If you had to haul the logs say 30-50 miles you probably would go with standard gauge - and with rod enignes rather than geared engines.
BTW Minnesota outlawed narrow gauge common carriers 100 years ago, you might want to check into the area you want to model to see if they had any similar laws that could affect your choice.
That all being said…On30 is pretty neat !! I’ve been in HO since 1988 but before that was in O for 15 years and still have some buildings and autos etc. When I moved a few years ago I also thought about going On30 but decided that I didn’t want to be that limited - just to “old timey” small steam equipment for the most part.
