Gleisplan-Datenbank

Point-to-Pointbetrieb: Drei sehr schöne Anlagenplanungen von Lennart Elg in Spur 0n30 (Maßstab 1:45 auf 16,5-mm-Gleis, Bachmann-Gleise) ca. 5,20 x 4,00 Meter.

Kommentare von Lennart zu den Planungen:

Pacific Northwest - coastal logging.

This version is simply an extended version of the portable laypout: An early logging outfit, on the shore of a protected inlet somewhere in the Pacific Northwest - Washington or Vancouver Island, around 1900. Logs are dumped into the water, made up into large rafts, and towed to a sawmill several miles away. The camp´s only connection with the outside world is a once weekly sternwheel steamer which brings all supplies and the occasional passenger.

Sierra Nevada - a small sawmill

In this version, the operation is located somewhere in Northern California, in the Sierra Nevada Hills. I have added a small circular sawmill. The justification is that the location is hard to reach, and it is easier to ship out rough cut lumber than whole logs. In modeling terms, I have thought of JV Models' Lucas Sawmill kit, with interior detail from the Keystone Models sawmill kit.

The cut lumber needs somewhere to go, so I have added a second railroad line, from the millsite to some hidden storage tracks (under the log loading operation), which could represent the top of an incline, or simply a reload to standard gauge.

The big mill

A small circular mill hardly produces enough lumber to justify even a narrow gauge railroad, so in this version, I introduce a larger bandsaw mill. This is hard to model full size on a 32" shelf, so I need some clever viewblocks to hide the fact that only the intake end of the mill is modeled.

Other variations

If you want a Sierra Nevada location without the hidden storage yard, you could emulate the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Co. This operation was completely isolated from other rail systems. Supplies (including locomotives!) were brought in by ox teams over primitive dirt roads. Rough cut lumber was shipped out in a 50 miles long flume.

In the "big mill" version, you could flip the mill complex, with the loading dock for cut lumber towards the end of the layout. Here lumber would be loaded on a short spur of standard gauge. The standard gauge cars would provide a nice size comparison for the small 30" equipment. In that case, I would also dual-gauge the off-loading track past the mill and introduce a spur to a reloading dock for supplies brought in on the standard gauge. A "coupler car" with standard gauge coupler on one end would let your little Bachmann Porter move a 40' std gauge boxcar. With the outside connection taken care of, you could either remove the line to the hidden storage tracks, or let them represent additional logging sides, to increase traffic to the mill.

If I can negotiate further trackage rights along the rest of the room, I would move the mill - or the log dump - across the room above the desks. I can either simply increase running distances in one of the existing plans, or introduce more features.