Large Scale Central

Fish Camp Co. Store/ 2014 LSC Challenge Build Log

Modeling
#1

In each of the main camps of the Little River Lumber Co. in the Smoky Mountains (East Tennessee) there were company stores providing tobacco, groceries, clothing and other basic necessities. Here are pictures of the Fish Camp Commissary, high in the Smokies, that I hope to model as part of the fun of the Large Scale Challenge 2014.

(Front View)

(Side View)

(Rear View)

My Garden Railroad is supposed to model the prototype Little River RR that ran from Townsend Tennessee high up in to the Smoky Mountains. The prototype was originally conceived as a standard gauge logging and lumbering outfit.

Because of the beauty of the mountains it was soon hauling passenger cars full of tourists. This makes it even more interesting to model.

My model of the Fish Camp Commissary (company store) will be a recreation of this simple but important wooden structure as it existed in the 1920’s.

(Modern day replica of LRRR company store at the LRRR Museum, Townsend, TN. )

I have a special thank you to Mr Dave Taylor for once again helping to get this contest started this year. Also a special remembrance of “Mik” who showed what beautiful modeling could be done on a budget. It does take some creativity to use ordinary objects and minimal cash, as he did, to create models for use on our Large Scale RR empires.
Thanks again for the chance to participate in another LSC challenge.
Doc Tom

*All photos from the Little River Rail Road Museum Townsend TN.

#2

Neat little store. Has it been converted to a residence or is it still a store?

#3

Ken Brunt said:

Neat little store. Has it been converted to a residence or is it still a store?

Hi Ken,

The LRRR museum uses it for its Gift Shop on their campus in Townsend TN.

Tom

#4

looks like they shop for rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel…:wink:

#5

Hiya Doc! Based on what you did last year, I expect that you’ll turn this simple-looking structure into a GREAT model! I suspect that originally it was unpainted (?)
I’ll be watching with interest, and I wish you good luck with this build!

#6

The Fish Camp Commissary was located high in the Smoky Mountains above the larger company town of Elkmont, Tennessee. It was established at the site of an old favorite local fishing campsite where a branch, called a “prong”, left the Little River and headed up in to the mountains. A small community of “camp houses” and a small Church were located near by.

The Little River RR sent a spur to the log loading sites on the Fish Camp Prong. The spur is to the right of the company store in the picture below. The main line continued to follow the Little River even higher in to the mountains eventually reaching Clingman’s Dome, highest mountain in the Smokies. In the picture below it is the main line pictured to the left of the store.

(Modern Day Little River RR roadbed used as trails)

The Little River Lumber Company relied on company issued scrip called “doogaloo.” Employees of the logging and lumbering outfit could make purchases at the interesting isolated stores, such as Fish Camp Commisary, using their “doogaloo.” In the words of one logger most workers, “hardly ever drawed any money,” but instead “took it all up in groceries and overalls.” Doc Tom

#7

Do you have any doogaloos? Great structure!

#8

John Le Forestier said:

Hiya Doc! Based on what you did last year, I expect that you’ll turn this simple-looking structure into a GREAT model! I suspect that originally it was unpainted (?)
I’ll be watching with interest, and I wish you good luck with this build!

Hi John,

Thanks for the nice note. Agree the whole structure looks like raw lumber…nothing painted.

What is interesting to me is that while this is a rough structure the builders brought in a little style. Notice the window at the apex of the front and the 2 windows on the back wall. All three are turned 90 degrees to become a diamond. Certainly a touch of class they did not need to do in such a wilderness setting. They did similar artistic flairs with the Little River Lumber sawmill in Townsend Tn:

I read somewhere that Col Townsend picked up these window styles when working as a young man in the Northern states in the logging and lumber outfits of Pennsylvania. Col Townsend was the guy who built the Little River Lumber operation.

Doc Tom

#9

Doug Arnold said:

Do you have any doogaloos? Great structure!

Well I sure wish I had one of those pieces of scrip…it would be a nice heirloom from days gone by.

Doc Tom

#10

The pictures of the lonely Company Store high in the Smoky Mountains had inspired me to build a model when I had an HO logging outfit.

I used the prototype pictures to get an overall size of the structure and built the Fish Camp Store in 1:87.

The model was built of foam core board and computer printed paper for the wooden pieces and tar paper roof.

After demolition of the HO layout and a move to our current house with the backyard
garden railroad I kept the HO model of Fish Camp Commissary. I figured I might want to recreate it in 1:20.3 for a future “LSC modeling challenge.” I would use different materials in the larger scale.

#11

We had a Colonel over here Tom, but he never got a place named after him. We… most places had names here by the 19th. century. Col. Holman F. Stephens was his name and his specialty was light railways and he built and engineered very many in the UK.

If you like the more unusual smaller railroad you might like to look him up on the internet. I bet there are many things there of interest.

Good luck with your project.

#12

Alan Lott said:

We had a Colonel over here Tom, but he never got a place named after him. We… most places had names here by the 19th. century. Col. Holman F. Stephens was his name and his specialty was light railways and he built and engineered very many in the UK.

If you like the more unusual smaller railroad you might like to look him up on the internet. I bet there are many things there of interest.

Good luck with your project.

Thank you for the nice note. I will look him up on the Internet. I guess because the United States is such a big and young country there were plenty of new places that needed names. I always wonder how some of these men got the moniker “Colonel”. Col. Townsend was never in the military that I am aware of. Doc Tom

#13

Col. H.F. Stephens had been a Colonel (actually Lt. Col.) in the British Army. He was a clever man it seems.

This all reminds me of the place in Texas?? where there are/were a lot of aircraft and everyone was titled Colonel.

If I think I was to model another railroad place and era I would take a good look at his railroads.

#14

Fascinating bit of history, and great old pics. That HO model turned out nice!

#15

Little River RR Survey crews set to work measuring the HO model carefully. It scaled out to 35.5’ X 50’. Just under the 90’ L+W in the 2014 challenge limits.

All well and good, but the survey team found that a model of this size in 1:20.3 scale just would not fit in the space set aside on the layout for this structure. So a little bit of “selective compression” was done and a footprint of 31.5’ X 40’ will fit nicely in the space provided.

Boss Crumb is standing where the stairs to the Commissary will go.

Doc Tom

#16

Tom, Very funny;)

#17

How did we ever model in HO scale?

#18

Tom,

I hope that’s a napkin or paper towel you made that sketch on…otherwise you’ll be disqualified…:wink:

#19

Doug Arnold said:
How did we ever model in HO scale?

Gad they look so TINY!!!

Also, I could never get an HO Shay (my fav. lokie) to run good. Despite all the books, twweaks and multiple wheel wipers for electrical pickup on the MDC Shays… The HO B. mann Shay would strip its lineshaft gears about 3-4 weeks after box opening. I went through three of them trying to get lucky…no luck.

The B.mann large scale Shay runs like a dream and I converted to RC/Batt to leave those track pickup memories behind.

Doc Tom

#20

Ken Brunt said:

Tom,

I hope that’s a napkin or paper towel you made that sketch on…otherwise you’ll be disqualified…:wink:

I have been loving all the posts on “Napkin modeling.” You all have wicked senses of humors!!

Would it do that all that pencil scratching done by the surveying team was done on the back of a “recycled” printer page from the trash can??

Doc Tom