Eastern Tn logging on the DG CC & W RR 1928

[Bill Nelson]

As threatened in Dr. Tom's thread here is some stuff from just south of Dr. Tom. Logging up on Gorre County's Iron Mountain, watch your step!



As stated we are just a few ridge lines to the south. the Geology is a little different, once you get south of Sand Mountain, but as you can see there is a lot of cross pollination going on

[Doctor G]

Originally Posted by Bill Nelson

As threatened in Dr. Tom's thread here is some stuff from just south of Dr. Tom. Logging up on Gorre County's Iron Mountain, watch your step!



As stated we are just a few ridge lines to the south. the Geology is a little different, once you get south of Sand Mountain, but as you can see there is a lot of cross pollination going on

Great scenes Bill!!!
Glad you got the hang of picture posting. I will look forward to more. You are helping revive the logging section on this website.
Doc Tom

[bigsteel]

wow,more grrrrreat logging photos,everytime i come on here theres something new,great job bill --josh

[Mountain Man]

That bridge is a work of art! And that's a great layout, as well! You guys are a real inspiration. Thanks for sharing.

[BLinny]

Hey Bill I see you made it here as well how are things going?

[Bill Nelson]

The Cave cove bridge is even more insane than it appears. The original inspiration was those arched truss bridges the Union prefabbed durring the civil war. The passing sidding @ Terrapin was once too small for two five car trains to pass. This was a big problem, as it was , and is , the only passing siding on the mountain. believe it or not ( photo's will follow) the terrain uphill from Terrapin is Sander's Ridge, visible in the pictures, Sander's gorge, and Perry's gizzard lie beyond that, a horrible twisty tourtured path up an 8.5% grade to Ridgemont Tn./ State Line Ga, and the interchange with the Narrow gauge, which goes eiven further, up to Gegoukayoosa, a shelf Hung off the 45 degree sloped ceiling.


To extend the passing sidding to a usable size I had to cribb in the mountainside. If you look down hill down the tracks in the pictue of the cribbing, you can see the lower end of that crazy passing siding, on an 8.5% grade, out on the Cave Cove bridge. At the lower end of the of the bridge, there is a stub switch!

Needless to say, a slow order is in effect perminantly!

I'll try to add more photos. I still need to find an easier way to size the photo's, as I'm doing it by trial and error @ this time, offten making the images smaller than they need to be.


Bill Neison

[Bill Nelson]

Blair,


I made it! I got 2 extra pick ups added to that Mantua 2-6-6-2 tender axles. when I cracked the locomotive to try to add pick ups there, I found that the black wire from the connecter to the tender went to a little eye that was screwed onto the frame to pick up from the frame. The Chinese painted the frame, and then screwed the eyelet to it. No wonder it ran bad.

I'll have more time to play trains, I got laid off on thursday. They have gotten rid of all of the smart , honest and trustworthy folks in management, so it was a relief and an honor to be the first tech to go. My assistant service manager told them that there is stuff I know how to fix that nobody else knows how to fix . They fired him.

Jennifer has had some asthma issues so far that keep me busy @ the emergency room last night till 3 am & going to see Dr. Bill ( Tom's brother) this afternoon


Bill Nelson

[Bill Nelson]

coming up from Terrapin, you go through Sander's ridge on a short tunnel and end up in this maze. There is the Strong & Perry lumber company, and then further up the north fork of Crooked Creek, you can see the flume that powers the water wheel @ the s & P Lmbr Co.



Bill Nelson

[ytter_man]

You guys do great work! Lookin forward to more Thanks!

[Bill Nelson]

Here are some picks of the log loading @ Terrapin. The monster donkey is kitbashed from rio grande models pieces, It skids logs up here from way down in the bottom of Cave Cove (the aisle). this camp is a joint effort of the Berghausen-Shoemaker lmbr. Co., and the much smaller Strong and Perry Lmber Co.

[Doctor G]

Great Shot Bill!! Love all the detail. One of the few logging model pictures I have seen that has the log load chains on the logging cars correctly. Like you have it, top log should compress and tighten the chain.
Looks good.
Doc Tom

[steamhead]

Great pics of a really neat RR....You guys have done some excellent work..!!
Did those top logs ever wander off leaving the load loose...?

[Bill Nelson]

20 years ago, I used to use loose logs like Dr. Tom ( Alias Dr. G) does. with the combination of too tight curves (Toms are tighter) and 8.5% grades, my logs shifted, causing operational problems.


I made a jig on a chunk of styrafoam I stick bamboo skeweres into the foam aproximately where the stakes would be on a flat car, and I pile the logs in glueing them with tacky glue (a thicker than usual white glue you can get at the craft stores). as a log loader would, I carefully select the logs so that at the top center there is a trough, for the center, Binder log, which is left off untill the rest is glued together.

After the glue sets wrap on the binder chains, and glue on the binder log in the trough on top.


For years I picked up sticks in my woods to cut into logs. I still have all of those, but most of the logs I cut now are brom crepe myrtle bushes my wife planted @ the end of the driveway. the flowers are nice, but the bushes have to be cut to the ground each winter, or they grow to small tree size, the bark detail is very nice . that is also what is used in my massive cribbing efforts. The crepe myrtle has to be cut with a sharp limb lopper, a saw, no mater how sharp the saw is it makes that fine bark frizz up, and it takes forever to try to clean it up with a singlr edge razor.

when I'm flush I buy lots of scale chain. when I'm not I get some chain @ Hobby lobby at the jewelry supply section. It's too big, but not so much it ruins the whole scene.

Bill Nelson

[Mountain Man]

A work of art, but all that highline rigging gives me a headache! (Just kidding - it's admiration bubbling to the surface!)


I now understand what I used to regard as the peculiar love of logging rr's as a hobby, coming as I do from a mining state. Thank you both for sharing your outstanding work.

In my next life, I want to build a logging outfit.

[Bill Nelson]

The high line rigging is easier than it looks. I used fishing line swing swivels, as well as brass pulies made for the model boat guy ( I do that too) . the wire rope is button thread. it is not tied to the drums on the donkey, it wraps over the top of the drum. passes through a hole in the skid, and through another hole in the scenery, to a big fishing sinker that keeps the line tight, yet gives when you snag it with your elbow, so you don't break the spar tree, or send the donkey flying through the air.

way up on the top of Iron mountain, there are iron mines, and I have some iron furnaces in Montgomery Furnace between Terrapin and Crooked Creek.

Bill Nelson