Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

[Bill Nelson]

Crooked Creek Tn -Sawmill company town!

on another thread I had posted a promise ( threat) to show more photos of my Sawmill Town, Crooked Creek Tn. Crooked Creek is primarily the Company town for the Berghausen-Shoemaker Lumber Co, which is named in honor of Steve Berghausen and Tim Shoemaker, who were partners in the first DG CC & W RR layout, which we , as teenagers built in Glendale Ohio back in the 60's. we were later joined by Pete Sander, for whom Sander's Ridge and Sander's Gorge are named.

Crooked Creek, on the 3rd level of a 5 level rr, also serves as the Division point for the RR , To the north, on the lower levels is the valley division, with a 3.3% ruling grade extending down to the city of Harlow tn, and the interchange with the southern RR, whose staging yards inhabit the lowest level of this monstrosity. above Crooked Creek extending south up Iron Mountain is the Mountain Division, with a 8.5% ruling grade,, and 18 inch radius curves.

As a note, don't mix these elements if you can help it. to work these grades locomotives have been modified and stuffed with lead! no room for DCC or sound, and cars have to be perfect, any flaws will cause disaster, but it makes for exciting railroading.

The first photo shows a big long train comming in from the log camp staging @ Murray Tn. It is comming up the 3.3% grade into Crooked Creek from the north. Visible up front are the owners homes, the coal wholesaler, and the company store.

Next is an arriel shot that shows the log dump, the car shops behind it the turntable, and the mock up for the yet built engine facilieies.


Then there is a photo that shows a lot of company houses, with the mill complex behind it. the mill started as a foamcore shell, which was then covered by balsa strips, stained and painted, and then sanded to fade the paint.


Last but not least is the planing mill which is a flat against the backdrop kitbashed from the Walthers Planing mill which is nice, but not big enough.


Lots of work to do, stacks of lumber drying, a tram way on the elevated platform to grt there, stacks of lumber on the loading docks, Keystone machinery to build and install in the mill, loggs to cut up on the tablesay so they will float in the pond, whole bunches of outhouses for the company houses Roofs, but all that track is in palce, note how the code 55 dissapears in places. You can see the ties! the light rails look real good. It was worth it , but that is where a lot of my grey hair came from.


Behind it you can see the boiler house, which was built the same way as the Sawmill, and the loading docks and elevated tramways

Bill Nelson Clarksville Tn

 

[Mountain Man]

Great work!

 

[Doctor G]

Bill,
The pictures look great. Love your hand laid track.....very realistic.
Doc Tom:thumb:

 

[Mountain Man]

Uh...er...you're not planning to paint that sloped ceiling anytime soon...are you?

 

[Bill Nelson]

all the buildings are removeable. the plan was to remove the buildings and throw aa plastic sheet over the RR to paint the back wall. Problem is the room is painted with Sherman Williams brisk day, a light blue. I have discovered to my horror,( I have used it on some non train rooms), that it fades over time! So it ain't going to look right when I get around to painting it. No way am I painting the whole room


Bill Nelson

 

[rlundy90]

The layout looks great Bill. Love the mill. Will it have a removable roof so that you can see the rafter detail and machinery? Is the donkey scratch built as well? It looks great. Hope to see more soon. I am getting ready to do some scratch building as well. I want to build a Lathe and stave mill, flooring mill and boiler house modelled after the old mill in Cass, West Virginia. Hope it turns out half as good as yours is. Thanks for posting the great pics. Ron

 

[Bill Nelson]

Ron,


the roof is removeable I intend to put some Keystone machinery in there and lighting, and will need acces to replace bulbs.


On my big donkey, the skid, frame , roof , fairlead, whistle and piping are scratched. the boiler is from Rio Grande Models and the winches are modified Rio Grande Models parts.

Not many more sweeping vistas to document. the log reloads and staging tracks on the 4 th and fith levels are relatively plain, interesting to operate, but scenicly plain.

The city of Harlow Tn. on the second level is somewhat interesting, but large sections of it are in the middle of being re vamped, and are thus somewhat denuded.


Bill Nelson

 

[Hot Cinder]

Hi Bill,

Nice looking railroad! :thumb:

HC

 

[Bill Nelson]

more photos!

Thanks H C!


My dad was a forester. when he was @ Yale grad school of forestry in the late 30's, Yale was associated with a steam logging outfit in Louisiana, so my Dad worked along side shays. Dad had always been a Train nut, and he collected logging RR books, and put them in my hands when I started modeling . Until this year he was a resource whose eye could be trusted to tell me if something looked right or not.


earlier in this thread I had said that an overall short of my RR was impossible. I found out while looking for a block plane, that standing on the stairs to the attic, with my head about a foot off the RR room floor, I could see more than I thought ever possible of my RR. That spawned another binge of photography. This batch pf photos will concentrate on downtown Harlow, Where the Southern Rwy delivers and picks up the interchange cars.

the first photo is that overall shot. Harlow is on the second level, below it is the Southern staging, above it is the fourth level, (Perry's gizzard and Terrapin) To the right is Tom's bend, @ the North end of Crooked Creek on the third level. the fourth level's Georgia staging yard (dual gauge) is on a shelf , above the lights above Crooked Creek. GegouKayoosa is on a fith level, a shelf hanging from the ceiling.

The next photo shows one of the two code 55 three way stub switches in Harlow Tn. The track under the bridge and behind the backdrop goes to a once around Helix to the Southern staging on Level 1. The Southern usually pushes cars just this far, they don't like going through this switch with that big 0-8-0.

The third photo shows the Parrot Oil station, and the Gorre County courthouse

The fourth picture shows the Harlow Terminal, which serves as a station, and the railroad main offices. This station is kitbashed from five IHC rural stations and several Atlas station platforms, with Grant line porchposts, railing and gingerbread elements, it is a jem.


Last for this round is the Imperial Desk and Chair company. This Big building was concocted to hide the end of the bacdrop that divides downtown Harlow from South Harlow, where the frieghtyard and engine facilities are, a Tannery is in the planning stages. We will go there on the next installment of the Valley Division

Bill Nelson

Clarksville Tn

 

[ytter_man]

I wish i lived in a town with a Gazebo right next to a 3 way switch interchange sign1

Dual gauge you say? May we see some of that purty pweese? :thumb:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Ok if you insist!

Glad you like the gazebo, the retaining wall was a little bare in that location, so I dug around my spare parts and pieces drawer, and the gazebo happened!


The dual gauge is on what was intended to be the top shelf, but now it's the 2nd to the top shelf. Tthe narrow gauge had to go somewhere and a 5th level was added- a shelf hung from the ceiling.

The first picture is of the left side of Ridgemont, Tn. the narrow gauge is higher than the standard here the buildings are part of the iron ore reload/washing facilities . ridgemont is eye level for a six footer,

Next is the log reload area. the narrow gauge is higher to the rear, and dual gauge enters @ the right, but then the narrow gauge splits out to enter the reload area seperately. Just across the State Line, in State line Georgia there is the dual gauge engine facilities. I began using comercial track here as the track is inches from the ceiling in places, and handlaying and maintenence of hand laied track would be nearly impossible

Next is the beginnings of the State Line Terminal, where the DG CC & W RR interchange's with Mack Montgomery's dual gauge Marrietta & North Georgia. I plan to try to make this building as similar to the Harlow terminal as possible. Note how the building touches the ceiling!

Next is the dual gauge Georgia staging yard the dual gauge has a switch, and then the darrow gauge seperates, and there is a narrow gauge switch as well, so there are two standard gauge tracks and three narrow gauge tracks. here you can see the shelf for the unfinished 5th level narrow gauge shelf- GegouKayoosa. That isn't a duck under, unless your six two or taller.


I'll do the back side of Harlow, later, as well as the narrow gauge way up the moutain to GegouKayoosa


Bill Nelson

 

[Doctor G]

Nose Bleed Country

Hey Bill,
Been enjoying the higher levels of your RR. Good shots of that good dual guage track!!!
What is the blue outside frame/braced caboose??? Don't believe I have seen that one before.
Doc Tom

 

[ytter_man]

Awesome! Thanks :mrgreen:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Nosebleed country?

We are not in nosebleed country yet! ( Thanks for the intro Tom). We will be going there sortly. at the bottom of the Gizzard the trees are still primarily deciduous trees, but @ the top of the Gizzard the Connifers take over being more suited to the lofty heights of Iron Mountain. for those not in the know GegauKayoosa is a Cherokee aproximation of Bleeding Nose- If John More, our Cherokee Cabbagestacker can be trusted. (Tom How much do I get fined for using Cabbagestacker and trusted in the same sentence?). My son Forrester says I should get "Bleeding Forehead translated , and use that, as the corner of GegouKayoosa closest to the aisle over the Georgia staging tends to reach out and catch the unwary forehead.


Mack found that caboose amoung his personal effects. It is I think a n Ambroid kit he built as a Teenager, so he sent it to the only HO Marrietta and North Georgia outfit he knew of. It needs some mechanical and aesthetic work (all of my work from the 60's still look awsome , and show no affects of hard use and the passage of time I assure you)


First in this batch of photos is the long view of the Gizzard up the south fork of Crooked Creek's Gorge. the Narrow gauge winds up that Gorge in a manner that leaves it almost completely invisable until it Goes over the plate girder bridge to Wildwood, directly over Perry's Gizzard. At Wildwood an Episcopal Convent runs a TB Sanatorium (SP).


Next is a photo showing Wildwood, and last is a photo of the Sanders gorge brigde, and The approach to Gegokayoosa. Just to the right of the Sander's Gorge Bridge. @ the approach to GegouKayoosa (John More asurres me it is prototypical for palefaces to spell Cherokee words differenty with each use) the rail head is six feet two and a half inches above the floor level.


GegoKayoosa is just some HOn3 flex, with some switches test fix, so I haven't taken a picture of it. This show will comence later with a tour of the back side of Harlow, or the South side of harlow. Operationally on my railroad, as you go up the mountain, you are heading south, toward. The C & S, and the DG, CC, & W RR use a very similar tab on Car system for operations. Toms system is better set up, as I have been doing huge modifications, and my tabs are constantly having to be redone. While Tom's layout has a lot longer run, Mine is operationaly more comlex, with many more delivery locations (close to 20 in Crooked Creek alone), and the shorter run is made up by the insane climb up Iron Mountain, which makes you feel like you have gone somewhere! We will discuss the tab on car operational systems, that allow us to know where the cars need to go!

speaking of complexity, i added a photo of my control pannel. the color coded blocks on the pannel match the colors on the tabs that indicate where the car needs to be delivered. eon my RR each car has the color for the town, and a number for the specific location .


Bill Nelson

 

[Mountain Man]

Man, oh man! :thumb:

 

[Bill Nelson]

Yeah!

and you thought you were a mountain man! (I've even got a 50 Caliber flintlock, do you?)

Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

tab on car operation

next is a photo of the primary elements of the Tab on car system

The tabs are short pieces of plastistruct I beams. The color denotes the area, and the number denotes the specific location. the opposite side of the tab. The back side of the yellow tabs are most likely green tabs, indicating that they go to Harlow, to be picked up by the Southern.

the tabs also have little letters that indicate the type of car appropriate for the tab. I used to have maps that showed the delivery locations, but I changed them too much, so I painted pennys to mark the locations. this way I can take them away If I'm trying to get that contest picture, but they usually just stay where they are.


This system lets you move all the cars on the RR, know where each needs to go for blocking up consists, you can start and stop at any time with no set up, there is no paper work, and weak old eyes don't have to read the reporting marks on that boxcar in the middle of the yard surrounded by other cars blocking your view.


as I said in my last post, colors on the control panel are the same as the tab colors for each block to help operators figure out what car goes where.


Dr, Toms set up is similar but he uses names or abreviations instead of numbers, and he can get away with that as he has a lot fewer delivery locations.


Bill Nelson

 

[Mountain Man]

and you thought you were a mountain man! (I've even got a 50 Caliber flintlock, do you?)

Bill Nelson

Yes...and a Navy pattern percussion Colt.

 

[Doctor G]

next is a photo of the primary elements of the Tab on car system


Dr, Toms set up is similar but he uses names or abreviations instead of numbers, and he can get away with that as he has a lot fewer delivery locations.


Bill Nelson

Hey Bill,
Good explanation of the tab on car system

Let's remember that if the tab on car system was good enough for the legendary John Allen and his Gorre and Daphetid it is good enough for a couple of crazed East Tennessee logging empires.

Below is an explanation of tab on car forwarding taken from the G&D website:

"Tab-On-Car System
In 1964 John Allen adopted the “tab-on-car” system to achieve a realistic
ebb and flow and random distribution of rolling stock. With the addition of
a few simple rules an operating session could be picked up where the
previous session left off and continue for as long or as short a period of
time as desired.

The tab-on-car system was a four-step cycle of car movement
dictated by a color-coded tab carried on top of the car. Each
side of the tab had a large color block indicating the first
destination to which the car was to travel, and a small color
block indicating the second.

On the Gorre & Daphetid RR colors on the tab could
indicated a destination or a group of destinations. For
example, white indicated one
destination, Great Divide, while green indicated points along the route of
the Gorre Peddler; Sowbelly, Squawbottom and Cross Junction.

If the color code indicated multiple destinations, lettering on the colored
block clarified to which destination the car was to travel. Once the car had
traveled to the two destinations shown on one side, the tab was turned
over to reveal two new destinations.

Upon completing the trip to these
destinations the tab was once again turned over and the cycle repeated.
For example shown, a car travels from Great Divide (white) to Port
(blue, F = Anabel Ferry) then Andrews (orange, A = Andrews as opposed to
Corsa, also on the Andrews Peddler route), then Gorre (yellow, G = Gorre as
opposed to Dapheid, connected to the Gorre Peddler route by a branch
line), then back to Great Divide and the cycle is repeated.
On the Gorre & Daphetid RR the rules were simple:

A car once spotted at a location had to remain there for 12 scale hours
(1 hour real time).

At the start of an operating session, this time limit did not apply and
all cars were ready for forwarding (with no "set-up" required)."


Doc Tom

 

[Bill Nelson]

speaking of the legendary John Allen

Merry Christmas from Gorre County


Bill Nelson