Howdy, Stein,
For the subject in question you can't do much better than Last of the Three Foot Loggers. The West Side Lumber Company ran from the rather humongous mill at Tuolumne, CA into National Forest land in the Sierra Nevada - Shays, tall trestles, scenery that stood on edge. The longest run was 70 miles - and actually covered a horizontally-measured 13! To get an idea of the topography, crumple up some paper and drop it on the floor.
My own logger is a little narrower (762mm - 2 foot 6 inch) and a bit too far west (Nagano-ken, Japan.) However, the topography is similar. Most of your track should be sidehill on fairly steep hillsides, with short tangents and lots of curves. You could simulate grades by putting telegraph poles and the few trees near the tracks on a very slight angle to the vertical, while keeping the rails essentially level. To close the loop on the point-to-point, have a track disappear behind a hill, pass through a viewbreak at a corner and come out from behind the mill buildings along another wall. If you double track that, you could have an empty train running into the woods and a loaded train coming out. Both could lay over out of sight behind the mill and the modeled logging show in front of them.
The West Side used a wye to turn locos, but nothing says that a turntable couldn't be used. Finished product left Tuolumne in standard gauge cars on the Sierra RR.
EDIT: That double-track connector might make a good `across the door' drawbridge or lift-out - something like what Nevin worked up for his Nevada-theme layout. He painted his black, and it all but disappeared.
Hope this helps.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
There are many videos on You-Tube about logging railroads that could possibly be used as inspiration. One series of five videos in particular is about the Schafer Brothers logging operations in Washington state.
Here's a link to the first video in the series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcHO2UzJr7w
hi gentlemen
a couple of issues
1) is a lift out and so a donut acceptable?
2)the min radius and turnout size are rather large for the size of the layout!
3) a first draft:
Smile
Paul
Stein,
not an easy job you´ve got there.
Logging railroads usually connect a logging camp somewhere up in the mountains with a saw mill operation down hill, so that´d be a theme for a classic point -to-point layout.
How about having a regular narrow gauge line connecting to a logging railroad at "Cimarron"? the "main" line could follow a folded loop design, with a branch leading to the saw mill and logging camp?
Hi guys --
I have been looking at ideas for a track plan for a friend who is an avid (and good) landscape builder, but I am drawing a blank here - the subject is kinda out of the area I normally work in - i.e urban switching, and I am not used to thinking in H0n3. Anyone got any ideas or links to share on this subject?
Available space: a basement room 9'6" x 9'6", configured as in the image below:
The wish list of features include:
- Theme: western US steam narrow gauge logging road - canyon, forest, big wooden trestle - Scale: H0n3- Minimum radius: 19.5" (50 cm)- Minimum turnouts: #6 - Continuous run, possibly a junction-to-point branch/spur - One site with a steam era engine service area (she already has a 56 foot Laws A frame turntable from Sequoia, water tower, coal bin, cinder pit)- One larger industry (e.g a sawmill), but room for plenty of scenery - which is her main interest- Preferably staging for two trains, each an engine and six cars - about 40" long each
I have been looking at our own Ulrich (Sir Maddog)'s 6.5 foot x 20" scene "End of the Line at Cimarron", which contains a city scene I really like, and which I think has the look and feel I envision for this layout.
But I am somewhat stumped when it comes to the main part of the layout. I have e.g. looked at Byron Henderson's water wings style logger for a little bigger room (but also somewhat bigger radius - 22" vs 19.5") here. It has many of the desired elements.
So has Iain Rice's "Linked Up Logger", from "Small, Smart and Practical Track Plans". Doing something as sections around the room instead of using deeper turn-back curves on a water wings plan would make it easier to use shelves under the layout for storage.
But for some reason, I have trouble pulling this together. Any suggestions for how to fold a continuous run mainline and staging into the room in a sensible manner?
Smile, Stein