Structure construction
progress has moved around to Westfir and its major sawmill—historically,
Western Lumber Co. Western Lumber
predates the completion of the Southern Pacific’s Natron Cutoff—the Cascade
Line. Established at Westfir in 1923,
Western Lumber Co. was built to tap into the vast timber resources found on the
west slope of the Cascades. It had its
own logging railroad, but depended upon the SP for transportation of its
products. Western Lumber built on a site
alongside the North Fork of the Willamette River, just over the ridge from Oakridge.
Oakridge was the end of track for the SP at the time, but that would soon change,
as SP’s legal difficulties (attempted break-up by the Federal Government) were
resolved and the Natron Cutoff was given a green light for completion. Indeed, Western Lumber Co. got the contract
for clearing timber from the new railroad right of way.
I chose as a base for my
version of Western Lumber the Walthers “Mountain Lumber Company Sawmill” kit (933-3058)
and outbuildings (933-3144). These
structure kits are based upon the Hull Oakes mill in Alpine, OR. The Hull Oakes mill was steam-powered for
its primary band saw during a tour in 2008, but electrification had taken over by 2013. This is an historic sawmill
filling an important niche market of being capable of cutting old growth and
similar large-sized logs. The Walthers
kits provide a decent rendition of many features typical of western sawmills.
An important additional resource
for me was a book published by Western Scale Models: “Modeling a Steam Powered Sawmill.” Published in 2010, this spiral bound book draws
from efforts documenting three such mills (Hull Oakes here in Oregon and two
mills in British Columbia) on the West Coast.
I do not know if this excellent book remains in print, but refer those
interested to Western Scale Models, P.O. Box 1760, Richland, WA 99352.
Excellent resource for
typical steam-powered sawmill layout.
Example drawing from the
steam-powered sawmill book illustrating construction of the Hull Oakes mill.
Typical of my use of Walthers
kits, I chose to expand and modify the basic kit components. Inspired by the Hull Oakes layout, I added to
the length of the main building and the awning for the green chain (the roof
perpendicular to the main roof). Armed
with the drawings from the sawmill book, I also decided to add roof trusses and
the siding truss for the opening for the green chain. These were simply represented using Evergreen
styrene dimensional shapes and rods.
Side wall splices for
Walthers sawmill kit expansion.
Roof splices for main
sawmill.
Simple assembly jig for roof
trusses.
Main sawmill structure
components. Three roof trusses have
their vertical rods. The other four
trusses are awaiting delivery of more styrene rod. Note the side truss for the space over the
green chain.
Assembly of the modified
Walthers kit components was relatively straight-forward, though this remains a
work in process. The basic walls were
prepared and then given coats of base paint.
I chose to model the exterior walls as weathered wood—a common treatment
for mills in Oregon. Several layers of
paint washes using acrylic paints yielded my desired effect which can be seen
in the pictures of the semi-completed structures. Similarly, the roof panels were spliced and
painted. The corrugated roofs received
my rust treatment that began with colored pencils, just as I had done on the
main structure for Clear Fir at Springfield.
(https://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2017/07/industrial-development-1.html) I added
to this effect with AIM weathering powders.
Rust weathering with AIM powders underway for the canopy
over the lumber loading dock.
Individual components were assembled into the structures for
the sawmill and supporting functions such as the boiler house, chipper, and log
de-barker. I am working still on the
structures and scenic arrangement. One
key task for the future is configuring the log chain down to a mill pond
alongside the river. Expect a future
post on this effort. For now, I am filling
the space for Western Lumber with representative structures and developing that
scene.
View of Western Lumber Co. at Westfir with the main sawmill
and the canopy over the lumber loading area.
Other scene elements can be seen in the background including the truss
bridge for the railroad crossing of the North Fork of the Willamette River and
a tunnel portal mock-up for the tunnel through the ridge into Oakridge.
Another view of the sawmill structures for Western Lumber.
Sadly, Hull-Oakes retired their steam boiler for the primary saw in I think 2013.
ReplyDeleteI have photos of the mill on my blog at http://blog.lostentry.org/2015/08/hull-oakes-lumber-mill-tour.html as well as a lot more detail and overview shots from 2015 that I can share if you are interested.
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