Weekend Update 2/26/17

[coldriver]

Just outstanding. I believe you have captured the look and size of a sawmill perfectly. I have two to build for my layout and yours has inspired me to get moving. How did you build your lumber loads? Being from timber country in Northern British Columbia they are very realistic.

Chris

Thanks Chris - much of the Oregon Joint Line's feel, believe it or not, is based on the interior of British Columbia where the late arrival of the railroad means that the towns have a more modern feel.  That means avoiding crowded brick downtown areas and such (I'm hearing gasps out of the Conrail crowd!).  The trick for me has been balancing the decay of pre-railroad development (old ranches crumbling in to the earth) with post-railroad resource-based industrial development.  Of course the late 1920's construction of the Oregon Joint Line significantly pre-dates the PGE construction in the BC interior, but it's still firmly entrenched in the automobile era. 
The actual flatcar load in the photo is a stock Athearn load with the ends painted.  The lumber stacks are from detailsnscale.com/ out of Oregon - he also makes really nice log loads. 

[BCR 570]

Just outstanding. I believe you have captured the look and size of a sawmill perfectly. I have two to build for my layout and yours has inspired me to get moving. How did you build your lumber loads? Being from timber country in Northern British Columbia they are very realistic.

Chris

Thanks Chris - much of the Oregon Joint Line's feel, believe it or not, is based on the interior of British Columbia where the late arrival of the railroad means that the towns have a more modern feel.  That means avoiding crowded brick downtown areas and such (I'm hearing gasps out of the Conrail crowd!).  The trick for me has been balancing the decay of pre-railroad development (old ranches crumbling in to the earth) with post-railroad resource-based industrial development.  Of course the late 1920's construction of the Oregon Joint Line significantly pre-dates the PGE construction in the BC interior, but it's still firmly entrenched in the automobile era.
The actual flatcar load in the photo is a stock Athearn load with the ends painted.  The lumber stacks are from detailsnscale.com/ out of Oregon - he also makes really nice log loads.

I will second my friend Chris' comments - very inspirational work for me as I also have two lumber mills to represent on my layout, and we do not often see a typical northwest mill layout represented to the extent that you have here.  The only element missing from your photos for a typical B.C. mill such as Chris and I have to build is the slash burner which in our province tended to be quite large, often 70-80 feet in diameter, often dominating the mill, and thus requiring a lot of space on a layout.  I don't know if these were as common or as large in U.S. mills.

One question for you would be to ask how the chips get from the mill buildings to the chip loader.  At our mills, it was usually via a blowpipe which was either elevated above the tracks and yard on trestle-like supports, or submerged underground, in which case you saw a pipe coming up out of the ground into the chip loader.

Dave's lumber loads and logs are the best around and well worth the cost.  He was very busy selling them at the Monroe show yesterday!

Good work; you have inspired me to get on with new mock-ups for my mill at Dawson Creek, now that the track arrangement is finalized, and that I have aerial photographs to refer to.


Tim

[nkalanaga]

Slash burners were common in the western US, but at least in the Northwest, they lost favor as chips became a popular source for pulpwood.  As this mill is loading chip cars, they probably don't have much to burn, and may have torn the old burner down.  Some did, some left it to rust away, and some kept burning bark and some slabs.

Other mills sold the bark for landscape material, and either chipped the slabs or sold them for firewood.  A few, with steam plants powering the mill, continued to use them as boiler fuel.

[chuck geiger]

Loved the Monroe show, biggest and best I've ever been too. Grabbed some great detail, odds and ends.

[peteski]

Ummmmmm. Yes.

The file is an SVG. Vector?

Did I mention I'm still learning?

Craig

Yup, that is a Vector graphics format - good!  As long as the etcher will accept SVG then you are all set.

[up1950s]

Cool shot Richie, I've seen that building and never tried to get back there.

Here's the location next to the Minnesota Commercial.

https://goo.gl/maps/k8EENFN3k742

And a birds eye view.

https://binged.it/2lbqWeW

Jason

I did some reading and searching myself since I posted it . This is no ordinary weigh scale . The sole purpose is to maintain the scale car and insure the correct weight . Sounds like some lawyers in the past and or some errant weighted car must have led to such an expensive and 3rd party assurance of correct known weight , goes back to 1903 or 1919 IIRC . Thanks for posting the links .

[BCR751]

Progress continues on my Kinzua mill scene with plenty more detailing ahead.  I had a goal of emphasizing the log deck and lumber yard areas of the mill since those are such signature features of PNW lumber mills and rarely modeled to reasonable proportions in the model railroad world.  I would've loved to devote even more space but hopefully the immensity of real world lumber mills is at least hinted at here.  Lotsa scratchbuilding here in the main mill building, dry kiln, and lumber drying shed and while I realize that these are pretty basic structures I'm very encouraged by the freedom that comes with not waiting for Walthers to come out with that model you've been waiting years for!

Let me chime in as well to say that is the best, most realistic iteration of a PNW sawmill I have ever seen.  Like Chris (BCOL747) I also have a couple of sawmills to construct on my layout.  I will certainly be using your photos as inspiration and guidance for mine.  Excellent job!!

Doug

[up1950s]

Progress continues on my Kinzua mill scene with plenty more detailing ahead.  I had a goal of emphasizing the log deck and lumber yard areas of the mill since those are such signature features of PNW lumber mills and rarely modeled to reasonable proportions in the model railroad world.  I would've loved to devote even more space but hopefully the immensity of real world lumber mills is at least hinted at here.  Lotsa scratchbuilding here in the main mill building, dry kiln, and lumber drying shed and while I realize that these are pretty basic structures I'm very encouraged by the freedom that comes with not waiting for Walthers to come out with that model you've been waiting years for!

IMG_5616 (2) by Dean Ferris, on Flickr

IMG_5614 (2) by Dean Ferris, on Flickr

Wow , that is a corner full of eye candy . Love it .

[sirenwerks]

... the late arrival of the railroad means that the towns have a more modern feel.  That means avoiding crowded brick downtown areas and such (I'm hearing gasps out of the Conrail crowd!).  The trick for me has been balancing the decay of pre-railroad development (old ranches crumbling in to the earth) with post-railroad resource-based industrial development.  Of course the late 1920's construction of the Oregon Joint Line significantly pre-dates the PGE construction in the BC interior, but it's still firmly entrenched in the automobile era. 

The story of much of the community development of the west.  Town's were already firmly entrenched before railroads arrived in the east; industrial engineering was based on a smaller scale; and land was coming to be at a premium and vertical development was starting by then.  Not so much on all counts in the west because 50 years of rapid technological development had occurred between the time the B&O made it to Ellicott City and the railroads started leaving the Mississippi west, and 150 years of American community planning mistakes had happened back east, the lessons of which were not lost on western community planners, who were for the most part starting with a flat, clean white sheet of paper with a railroad drawn through it. 

[BCR 570]

Slash burners were common in the western US, but at least in the Northwest, they lost favor as chips became a popular source for pulpwood.  As this mill is loading chip cars, they probably don't have much to burn, and may have torn the old burner down.  Some did, some left it to rust away, and some kept burning bark and some slabs.

Other mills sold the bark for landscape material, and either chipped the slabs or sold them for firewood.  A few, with steam plants powering the mill, continued to use them as boiler fuel.

The two mills I am modelling had a slash burner, a chip loader, and a large storage pile of chips, which was a common arrangement for rail-served mills in B.C.


Tim

[BCR 570]

MLW C-630M No. 701 came home after a lengthy absence yesterday and has rejoined the motive power fleet.  The TCS AMD-4 decoder has been replaced with an ESU LokSound Micro Select programmed for the ALCO 16 cylinder 251 engine with air start, and the distinctive K5H horn.  This is my second locomotive with sound, and my first BCR locomotive with ALCO sound and K5H horn.  The motor control and onboard sounds are excellent.  I am particularly impressed with the dynamic brakes; going down the helix with those on was a lot of fun.

Here is 701 on a run southbound through Septimus MU'd with C-425 No. 810 still in Erie Lackawanna colours:




Tim

[Dave Schneider]

I also never cared for that model (the way it comes from N Scale Architect). You actually made that building kit look good!  Very nice job!

Thanks Peter. I should have been clear that this is HO and not N. I agree with your opinion of the NSA kit. It is a fair bit of work to make it look good and I'm not sure if it is worth it. There are many ways to model this type of building. I doubt I will purchase any more of them. The Monster Modelworks brick is the best product out there currently (in my opinion) and it looks way better than the NSA product.

Best wishes, Dave

[peteski]

Thanks Peter. I should have been clear that this is HO and not N. I agree with your opinion of the NSA kit. It is a fair bit of work to make it look good and I'm not sure if it is worth it. There are many ways to model this type of building. I doubt I will purchase any more of them. The Monster Modelworks brick is the best product out there currently (in my opinion) and it looks way better than the NSA product.

Best wishes, Dave

While you didn't mention the scale I remember that you recently gave up on N and moved to H0.  I'm not surprised that both scale versions of that kit have similar issues. To me it was just not engineered very well.  Probably in the name of flexibility of arranging the walls and windows.

IIRC, Monster Modelworks brick is laser-engraved while N Scale Architect makes vacu-formed brick sheets. Those will have softer detail than laser engravings.

[SSW7771]

@coldriver The lumber mill looks great; I am taking notes. I wish I could have made the ops session yesterday to see in person.

@fcnrwy23 The lift bridge is looking good. Is it going to be functioning?

[fcnrwy23]

@coldriver The lumber mill looks great; I am taking notes. I wish I could have made the ops session yesterday to see in person.

@fcnrwy23 The lift bridge is looking good. Is it going to be functioning?

Lift Bridge, Unfortunately, not, it was thought about some years ago. But, it was out of my abilities at that time.  To do it this time would require the destruction of some recently completed water scenery.  Maybe the on next layout...

Jerry g.