Large Scale Central

The "Original" Kittom Lumber Company. Part #2

Well, this has been an interesting weekend. Photo bucket which had hosted my pictures since 2008 has become ransomeware and is requesting $500 to allow them to post here and the other fora I participate on. Now that is the cost of a very nice On30 locomotive with DCC and sound. I would rather use the money to purchase a locomotive. So…

I am restarting the thread for the original Kittom Lumber Company, a backwoods logging railroad set in 1910 on the Kentucky/ Tennessee border. I will use the Photo hosting services of each of the fora I participate in and hope to help them financially as well. So, as with anything new there is a lot of hope. Let’s pick up the story line and move some timber in the early epoch of steam logging.

Here’s a photo depicting the dense undergrowth and downfall near the logging landing on the original Kittom Logging Line. The underbrush needs to be removed as it is a fire hazard with all the steam engines nearby. You can easily figure who management is and who is going to do all the work.

The underbrush is lichen from Scenic Express. It has been spray painted with a variety of browns, grays and black .

Thank you for looking. Doc Tom

The boys have repeatedly told Jethro no matter how strong he is, he cannot unload a log car with hand tools. Steam powered tools and cables are needed to move these heavy logs. Kittom Lumber keeps him on the payroll as he means well and is kin to one of the bosses.

Doc Tom

If he taint careful, he’s fixin to git hurt.

David Maynard said:

If he taint careful, he’s fixin to git hurt.

Big time!!! Its a long tumble down that log slide.

Tom

This is a mini layout constructed of Blue Styrofoam. To make it look larger I used a divider between two scenes of the Railroad. To connect the two scenes I have placed a window in the scenery divider in the center.
Window full. .jpg

This “Window” was difficult to conceal in the scenery theme of a backwoods logging railroad. This backwoods outfit is so broke they could not afford any type of tunnel. To hide the window between the scenes I had to use foliage and make a tree tunnel. Here’s what it looks like:

Road Work 1 800.jpg
Road Work 2 800.jpg

Road work 3 800.jpg

The scenes depict the road crew laying and spiking rail late into the evening.

The individual trees had to be carefully placed and “pruned” to avoid fouling the engines and rollingstock.

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

There has been a lot of wind and rain here in Tennessee. This has resulted in a very good harvest of twigs. I pick them up on my morning walks and by nighttime they are fleshing out the winter forest I am trying to model.

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

Hey Doc Tom, great picture!

Ric Golding said:

Hey Doc Tom, great picture!

Thank you Ric. I am enjoying how the natural tree armatures are turning out. CHEAP too and reminds me off my previous layout out in the garden. Doc Tom

Tom Grabenstein said:

This is a mini layout constructed of Blue Styrofoam. To make it look larger I used a divider between two scenes of the Railroad. To connect the two scenes I have placed a window in the scenery divider in the center.
Window full. .jpg

This “Window” was difficult to conceal in the scenery theme of a backwoods logging railroad. This backwoods outfit is so broke they could not afford any type of tunnel. To hide the window between the scenes I had to use foliage and make a tree tunnel. Here’s what it looks like:

Road Work 1 800.jpg
Road Work 2 800.jpg

Road work 3 800.jpg

The scenes depict the road crew laying and spiking rail late into the evening.

The individual trees had to be carefully placed and “pruned” to avoid fouling the engines and rollingstock.

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

Am I the only one that can’t see the photos in this post? Zealot says i must be signed in to see them. I can see the other ones.

Steve Featherkile said:

Tom Grabenstein said:

This is a mini layout constructed of Blue Styrofoam. To make it look larger I used a divider between two scenes of the Railroad. To connect the two scenes I have placed a window in the scenery divider in the center.
Window full. .jpg

This “Window” was difficult to conceal in the scenery theme of a backwoods logging railroad. This backwoods outfit is so broke they could not afford any type of tunnel. To hide the window between the scenes I had to use foliage and make a tree tunnel. Here’s what it looks like:

Road Work 1 800.jpg
Road Work 2 800.jpg

Road work 3 800.jpg

The scenes depict the road crew laying and spiking rail late into the evening.

The individual trees had to be carefully placed and “pruned” to avoid fouling the engines and rollingstock.

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

Am I the only one that can’t see the photos in this post? Zealot says i must be signed in to see them. I can see the other ones.

Sorry Steve I did these photos wrong and they should not be coming from the Zealot Server. Still a little shook after the divorce from Money Bucket. Tom

I have always liked this photo of a log landing in Oregon about 1925. This is a “colorized” version and for the life of me I have had a hard time locating the original B&W on the net. I have seen it before but cannot recall where.

(http://i.imgur.com/ztV1wbb.jpg)

Anyways ,thought I would give a shot at a rough approximation of the action portrayed in the prototype scene. I realize that I have a Stearns Heisler (Climax in the original)posing up front and my little logging people do not appear quite as tired as the workers in the colorized picture.

(http://i.imgur.com/TRiQnZT.jpg)

Thanks for looking. Doc Tom

About one year ago I began this project in an attempt to model a primitive backwoods logging operation set in 1910.

In August 2016 I had gotten this far:

(http://i.imgur.com/RghZes7.jpg?1)

It looked like a blue foam aircraft carrier.

Many months later we are at this scene of the"Woods" Side of the mini layout.:

(http://i.imgur.com/DDQHT9B.jpg?2)

There is much more to do including many more tree armatures, deadfall, leaves and then finally winterization with a little bit of snow and ice.

This mini layout has kept me busy for a year and because of its small size allowed me to really detail the scenery. One of the BIG plusses of a mini layout.

Thank you for looking and following along.

Doc Tom

P.S. I removed the vinyl photo backdrop from this side of the mini as it buckled and took my best shot at a painted backdrop.

i learned something interesting from your pics.

how much the use of underbrush and deadfall enhances the reality of a scene.

thanks

Everything looks great Tom. Makes me want to take the plunge and try On30 out.

That is museum-quality looks!

Greg

Thank you Korm, Shawn, and Greg. Your comments are really helpful in keeping the modeling juices flowing.

More to come. Doc Tom

Tom, That is just beautiful!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Ron Tremblay said:

Tom, That is just beautiful!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Thanks Ron. I appreciate the kind words.

Dr Tom(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

DOC!

That is really fantastic work! Thank you for sharing. I dream of those types of results.

Ric Golding said:

DOC!

That is really fantastic work! Thank you for sharing. I dream of those types of results.

Thank you for the kind words. This has been an interesting build so far and I appreciate you guys following along. The Rail Road Club on the Net.

Doc Tom