Track crews busy on transport system for lumber

Just recently I have been able to get back to work on the layout. The task at hand in to complete the second railroad line that will service the sawmill operation for finished lumber to be shipped to market. For the drying yard, finished lumber will be loaded into box cars and at this point there are five box cars from the C&S and eight belonging to the Porcupine Valley waiting to be loaded. They will have a long wait however, since the sawmill has not even been built yet and for that matter the forest the logs will come from has not be built yet either. Track is being laid at this time to tie these two areas together so a transport system will be in place when the other parts are completed.

Damn the Torpedos, Full Speed Ahead

The time has come when all the buildings are completed and are here on the module to complete the logging base camp. The pressure to get much done in this area was not been very high, as long as there were still items missing. That excuse has just ran out and the time has arrived to start doing something, rather that just talking about it. The eight Evergreen camp house kits came out nothing like the photo glued to the box top when Tom O'Connor of Lebanon, PA got done with them. I am afraid to look inside through the windows, since the insides are completed as well and each has 12 volt lighting. The concept of placing this camp off on its own add on removable piece of bench work, appears to give the camp a special place in the over all layout. The idea has been to make as many different focal points as possible, by using unexpected methods.

So now it is time to build the support legs for the piece and attach it the the main module in a way that it is easy to remove for transport to a train show. From there, the next step will be the track road bed and trying to make this area appear to have been just clear cut out of the woods and the only stumps that were removed, were to be able to bring in the track. It will take a lot of work before this area really starts to take on the final messy area that it has to be.

Above are three photos. One is what the kit maker thought the camp houses should look like, another is how Tom thought they should look like and the third photo is a real camp showing something of what we will be trying to do with them.

Porcupine Valley Railroad in the Spotlight

A model railroad web publication called "POOLSIDE RAILS The HO Scale Garden Railroading Magazine has elected to feature the Porcupine Valley in their Model Railroading Club News, located in the upper right hand corner of their home page. See it at: http://poolsiderails.com/

Road Construction Means It Must Be Summer

Basic roadbed work has been completed for this end of Main Street and the black top crews are do in any time now, to finish the road and the main town parking lot. The Last Resort located up on the bluff will be ready to have their Grand Opening after the street work is complete. The colored lighted water fountain has been completed and at night it is a eye catcher indeed. In the back ground, the Road Kill Diner will also be opening after the road work. The are hoping the heavy traffic to this end of town, on Main Street, will created some interesting menu items for the strong at heart. Some landscaping work will follow and this end of town will be the place to go.

Porcupine Valley Main Camp Taking Shape

Not far from the main town is the location of the main logging camp, serving the PV logging operation on the other side of the valley. Seven bunk houses for the loggers, one bunk house for the forman, 2 bunk houses for the cooks and kitchen help and the camp kitchen and dinning hall are nested together. Three more of the loggers cabins are under construction yet, but all the other buildings have arrived at the camp.

The next step is to construct the railroad track bed, then set the ties and lay the rails. This whole area had been clear cut in preparing for the camp, so the next phase is to fill in the basic ground and most of the area tree stumps will have been left in their place, except where the track roadbed required that they be removed. This will require that the loggers camp houses will have to be shored up with stacks of railroad ties to level them all up.

After that work has been done, then a front porch and railing will be installed to connect all the cabins together and provide a walkway to the camp kitchen and the large camp outhouse. A draw bridge affair will be built for access to the other bunk houses on the other side of the tracks. During spring rains, the ground around the camp gets so muddy that it is real hard to walk around other than on the porch walkway.