Authentic logging related rolling stock for 80 Ton Three-Truck Shay

[Ianw]

What era-authentic logging-related rolling stock would be available for the DCC Sound-Equipped 80 Ton Three-Truck Shay?

Thanks

[jettrainfan]

i read an article in Model railroader and from what i remember, anything from 1880s to 1920s is fine, but i think the last shay was in the 1940s, being Western Maryland #6. So anything from that era and any logging related cars.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

[ebtnut]

In part, it depends on which coast you are modeling, and when.  In broad terms, the west coast loggers tended to use disconnected logging trucks to move the big logs they cut.  In the east, it seems that the trend was more towards flat cars with side stakes or maybe chains.  In the early part of the 20th century, the rolling stock was mostly all wood, with metal hardware.  Air brakes and automatic couplers were a luxury.  Roads that ran into the 1950's and up to the '60's by and large had modernized to steel-frame rolling stock with air brakes and knuckle couplers. 

[Doneldon]

ebt-

You're exactly correct. One of the main reasons the western logging roads had to use the disconnects was that they were cutting a much higher proportion of giant first growth timber while much of what was cut in the East in the late 1800s to early 1900s was replanted and much smaller.

The amount of timber which was cut prior even to independence was phenomenal. England and most of the rest of Europe had long since exhausted their forests so they saw North American as a great source of fuel, lumber for building, and whole trees for sailing ship masts. Indeed, these materials were among the main exports from the colonies to Europe. The pressure on New World forests didn't begin to decline until well into the industrial revolution when coal was more heavily used. Even early steam engines (both locomotives and stationary) consumed vast quantities of wood prior to the coming of coal, and the need for timber for ties, bridges and mining didn't abate until coal was widely available and its use understood.
                                                                                                 -- D

[JDLX]

I'll add a little to what has been written so far...

First off, disconnected trucks were common, but not universal.  What kind of log car an operation used was largely a reflection of what the company's harvest practices were, and, to a large part, what was available.  Skeleton log cars were perhaps the most commonly used, as they presented a number of advantages- no car deck for bark to accumulate on, the ability to have train brakes, and rugged construction.  However, as noted, the use of flatcars and/or skeletons limited the length of logs that could be loaded.  Where the companies chose to buck their logs- i.e., cut a downed tree into smaller, more manageable chunks- played a large roll in this.  The most common approach was to buck the tree on the ground as soon as it fell, which made the job of skidding the log to the railroad landing that much easier.  In such a case, flats or skeletons were far more practical than disconnects.  An additional factor is if the logging railroad operated its trains over any common carrier trackage, as ICC and state rules generally prohibited the use of disconnects on common carrier lines, though exemptions could be obtained.  However, if the company operating practices dictated delivery of longer logs to the mill, then disconnects would have been used.  Era plays a part in it to- disconnects were more prevalent in the early years.  Loggers seemed to transition later to flats or skeletons, especially if they had any sort of steep decending grades on the line, as with a train of disconnects you only had the engine brakes and manual application of hand brakes on each disconnect to fight gravity.  


In addition to log cars, your typical logging railroad would also have a collection of service equipment.  Nearly every operation had at least one or more steel flatcars with heavy frames, used to move logging equipment into and out of the woods.  The logging railroad was often used to provide supplies to outlying logging camps, which would require at least a couple boxcars and maybe a refrigerator car or two.  Logging equipment itself burned a lot of fuel, and the logging railroad would often have fuel cars- either wood flats equipped with wood racks for wood powered equipment, or steel tank cars for fuel oil.  Gasoline cars became common in later years as internal combustion replaced steam powered logging equipment.  Water was also a never-ending need in most operations- in the earlier years to keep men and animals hydrated, later to keep water in the boilers of steam powered logging equipment.  Your typical logging railroad would likely have numerous water cars, ranging from wooden boxes on flatcars to steel tank cars, to meet this need.  And then there would be a few pieces of more specialized equipment- a locomotive crane or two, a snowplow if you operated in snow country, ballast hoppers for ballasting track, your track gangs would likely have a small collection of work flats dedicated to the never-ending chore of building new log spurs and picking up the old ones, you would need a few fire cars to fight forest fires- mostly water cars equipped with pumps, hose, and firefighting tools, and then a lot of operations had outfit cars that housed track construction or logging crews out in the woods.  

For a good overview, I'd recommend finding the January through April 1984 issues of Railroad Model Craftsman.  RMC carried a four part series on pacific coast logging in those issues- January featured an overview of the logging industry, February covered the steam locomotives used in logging service, March covered steam era rolling stock and other equipment, and April covered the diesel era.  

As for specific recommendations, I'd suggest finding Kadee or Rivarossi skeleton cars, or Bachmann log flats, or Tichy Train Group's 42-foot flatcars- a very close representation of flatcars built by Pacific Car & Foundry that were extensively used in the logging inudstry.  Add a wood boxcar, a couple Life-Like 8,000 gallon tank cars, and a caboose- either one of Bachmann's 4-wheel models, or better yet one of MDC's old side door cabooses- and you'd have yourself a fairly accurate train to go with your Shay.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

[mattyg1306]

What era-authentic logging-related rolling stock would be available for the DCC Sound-Equipped 80 Ton Three-Truck Shay?

Thanks

Ianw,

With the exception of JDLX, it seems that everyone has misread your inquiry (no offense to anybody...   ).

Really, even though I am a Cass fan and proud of it, I will admit that Bachmann focuses a great deal on Cass because it is a "living" example(and Bachmann's headquarters in Philly is in relatively close proximity to Cass, making it a great source for their inspiration)...albeit in a different form as a tourist line...and very little on other prototypes, at least in HO scale so far (btw, Bach Man, I'm not dissing the Cass releases in any way...keep them coming but offer some other protos, too!)  With that said, the best accompaniment to the Bachmann Shay are the ACF log cars (also based on a Cass used prototype), the portable log skidder, and the bobber caboose...not to mention the new Bachmann Climax!  Rivarossi also had released some great skeleton cars when they released their Heisler a few years ago, but these are long out of production and getting harder to find...even on eBay.  Outside of these, you will need to do some scratchbuilding and kitbashing I'm afraid to get what you want.  

Surprisingly, it is now easier to model East Coast prototypes in HO rather than West Coast, which, thanks to Bachmann, was quite the opposite just over a decade ago now.  Also, the Cass tourist cars look great with the HO Shay as well (I know my saying this won't surprise some who read this since I've been a major advocate for those cars on this board, lol), so you could really purchase the HO Shay and portray any era from the 1880s to present day depending on what accessories you get.  

[JDLX]

mattyg1306 wrote:

"Really, even though I am a Cass fan and proud of it, I will admit that Bachmann focuses a great deal on Cass because it is a "living" example(and Bachmann's headquarters in Philly is in relatively close proximity to Cass, making it a great source for their inspiration)...albeit in a different form as a tourist line...and very little on other prototypes, at least in HO scale so far (btw, Bach Man, I'm not dissing the Cass releases in any way...keep them coming but offer some other protos, too!)"

And I reply:

While the Bachmann models are based on Cass prototypes, they are very close to similar type machines used extensively around the industry.  That being said, I agree with your statement about needing other prototypes as well- it would be really nice to see, for example, a 70- to 90- ton Baldwin mikado on 48" drivers in the Spectrum line, along with a small list of other cars such as Hart 20- to 25-yeard side dump hoppers, the Pacific Car & Foundry "loggers special" ballast hopper, at least one of the various "loggers special" locomotive cranes produced by Brownhoist or Ohio, just to name a few...

One more interesting variation on the disconnect car theme occurred on the McCloud River operations in northeastern California.  In 1925 the McCloud River Lumber Company changed their logging practices from yarding short log chunks to yarding 32-foot long logs out of woods.  This change alone increased their logging output by 5,000 board feet a day, but it also posed a problem in how to handle the logs once they reached the railhead.  The McCloud River Railroad owned a fleet of several hundred short 26- and 28- foot flatcars at the time to handle the log traffic generated by the lumber company, and their common practice was to place the 32-foot long logs across two of the short flats for the trip to the mill.  This lasted until the railroad could purchase enough 40-foot flats, and rebuild enough of the short flats to 40-foot length, to handle the log traffic.  Not "true" disconnects, but along the same general idea... 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV