Oregon Joint Line N Scale

[coldriver]

The pleasantly pungent aromas of fresh cut Ponderosa Pine and sagebrush fills the air at the Hines Mill at Emigrant, Oregon.  I've made a permanent assignment of Spokane, Portland, & Seattle Alco Roadswitchers and caboose to the Emigrant Local.  No doubt forest products structures enthusiasts will recognize the kit as N Scale Architect's Long Valley Lumber. 

Hines Lumber Mill at Emigrant by Dean Ferris, on Flickr

[SirTainly]

Really like that, thanks for putting me onto N Scale Architect

[SSW7771]

Maybe you should do some kinda scent under the layout in that area so it will smell like fresh cut lumber 

[nkalanaga]

Cedar bedding from the local pet shop?  Cheap, safe, and when the smell fades, biodegradable.

[sirenwerks]

Cedar bedding from the local pet shop?  Cheap, safe, and when the smell fades, biodegradable.

Cedar and pine don't smell the same though.

[Rossford Yard]

Cedar and Pine smell to critique?  A new level of picking nits, but I think there are enough pine scents out there you could easily just put one of those candles/warmers, etc. under the layout.  Better stick with something other than candles, or you might accidentally mode a forest fire, though.

[DeltaBravo]

The pleasantly pungent aromas of fresh cut pine and sagebrush fills the air at the Hines Mill at Emigrant.  I've made a permanent assignment of Spokane, Portland, & Seattle Alco Roadswitchers and caboose to the Emigrant Local.  No doubt forest products structures enthusiasts will recognize the kit as N Scale Architect's Long Valley Lumber. 

Hines Lumber Mill at Emigrant by Dean Ferris, on Flickr

Looks great, I feel like I can hear the mill running.

[milw12]

Awesome! Love the mill, nice shade of green too. As for the pine smell, how about one of them car fresheners shaped like a little pine tree 

[coldriver]

Awesome! Love the mill, nice shade of green too. As for the pine smell, how about one of them car fresheners shaped like a little pine tree 

Oh man that's great, I needed a good belly laugh!   I've looked at candles, incense, scented soaps, and fresh cut sawdust, but I never thought about that idea.   Perhaps they make them a little better these days than the one I hung from my rear view mirror back in high school...

[Jbub]

This is what I'm going to use

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VFESFC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T1_6Z9Ezb8M068EC

I really like the scent they have.

[sirenwerks]

Cedar and Pine smell to critique?

Have you never lived in Oregon?

[nkalanaga]

Western pines smell nice.  Western cedar and Douglas fir smell nice.

I live in eastern Kentucky.  Eastern pines smell like turpentine. Oak smells like vinegar.  Appalachian sawmills don't smell anything like Northwestern ones.

However, I will admit that Hines, Oregon probably has few, if any, cedars.  There are cedars east of the Cascades, but they tend to be on the wet side of mountain ranges, such as in northern Idaho and northwest Montana.

If you have a good locally owned lumber yard nearby, maybe you could buy some FRESH Northwest boards, and grind a small piece to sawdust.  That would smell exactly like what you want.  Some of the lumber I bought, years ago, for my benchwork, had a nice strong "Northwest" odor.  Or have someone in eastern Oregon mail you a box of wood chips from Hines?

[coldriver]

I appreciate everyone's ideas (seriously!) and you've got me to thinking about taking things even farther.  While adding pine smells at the four forest products industries on the layout would be a great sensory addition the larger concern would be making the entire room smell faintly like sagebrush and juniper which are the predominant aromas of Eastern Oregon.  And Eastern Oregon is bone dry compared to North Texas - does adding a dehumidifier to suck the moisture out of the air during sessions seem like taking things too far!  How about adjusting the thermostat to reflect winter or summer (within reason - perhaps a range of 62 to 80)? 

[nkalanaga]

I wouldn't adjust the thermostat unless you want to model broken and sun-kinked rails.  The dehumidifier might be a good idea, because humidity changes can have a bigger effect on benchwork, and track, than normal household temperature changes.

You might be able to find juniper scent in an air freshener or scenting device.  I doubt that you'd find "sagebrush", but wouldn't bet against it, considering what IS out there.  I saw one today for "fresh water fragrance".  I didn't realize that "fresh water" HAD a fragrance!

Another thing to consider is that a lot of what people think of as "pine" smell is from the needles and young branches.  You wouldn't have that at the sawmill.  A mill cutting pine doesn't smell the same as a pine forest, unless it's actually IN the forest.  Many aren't, because the trees around them have been cut, or they were built outside the forest proper to start with.

[Rossford Yard]

A low tech way to adjust temps? Open the damn windows. You're welcome.  Not sure if a few hours of actual temps would affect much, but don't know for sure.  Long time exposure to high temps on my garage layout (see below) did kink the rails.

Seriously, though, when I had an earlier version of the IHB (was actually Missouri Terminal back in those days, until Atlas came out with IHB locos.....) in my townhouse garage, I had portable AC for summer, but no heater for winter (those things scare me). 

More than once, an operator with a baggy sweater would catch rolling stock and knock it over when reaching for the back areas.  So, I vote against going too cool for practical reasons.

And, given the personal hygiene of at least a few model railroaders, although you seem to have a good crew, don't really think you want to get things too hot and sweaty either.......frankly, above the garage and 10-20 people in the layout room, it probably gets warm enough naturally.