Does anyone have plans for buildings that go with 1800’s sawmills and logging railroads operations? I am building my first layout and am interested in 1800s logging railroads. I would really appreciate some good plans and ideas.
Where are you modelling?? Logging railroads in Washington were different than the logging railroads in Wisconsin…or Florida for that matter!! [:)]
I really wanted something with mountains. So Washington would be accurate. I’m not trying to copy any specific prototype because I don’t have the experience, but I wanted to do a mountainous logging railroad.
http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/mrpdf003.html
http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/mrpdf023.html
I downloaded them both. They are both good reading material. However I found the first one to be more informative.
Kadee and Rivirossi make the best log cars out there. I’m really liking my Kadee kit car I put together. I also saw some logging rr buildings/cars recently. If I can find the link I’ll post it.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/464-27425
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/345-2018
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/690-3050
outside your time frame but…
If you can find a copy, Last of the 3 Foot Loggers by Allan Krieg is well-illustrated with typical ‘built in the company shops’ rolling stock.
It’s a little weak on mill photos, good for ‘shacks in the woods,’ and does have a ground plan of the mill at Tuolumne, including standard, narrow and three-rail trackage.
I saw the site of the main mill in 1969(?), shortly after it was closed. It was HUGE.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a logging operation)
News flash: Sizeable trees actually found in Japan. Ecologist and environmentalist baffled and elated. In other related news the Japanese department of interior appologized for this tree oversite and stated the problem would be corrected right away by having the trees replaced with correctly engineered aluminum trees.
The Western loggin ops seemed to use Steam Shays a lot.
I originally wanted to model the redwoods in the 1880’s but I ran into a bit of a problem. The rails did not connect with any main lines. In Washington, the rivers were the transportaion method of choice and if they did import an engine, they used temporary rails to get logs to the rivers.
Logs were not processed by saw mills locally. They were either loaded aboard ships or tied into rafts and floated down to San Francisco.
While I am sure you will get some of the help you need in this forum, the best place to pose your questions would be to the “4L” list, a Yahoogroups forum dedicated to logging and railroads. Take a look at their site and see if joining this group might help.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4L/
Good Luck,
Tom
FYI, The Kiso Forestry Railway operated out of Agematsu (a town I model under a different name) until 1975.
Japan is heavily forested (most of Japan is only suitable for growing trees!) The second growth is more expensive to log, yard and process than better-quality logs from Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a totally prototypical logging operation, including a 762mm gauge rail route)
Smitty,
Are you from the Pacific Northwest?
Sue