Logging Operations at Clear Creek Lumber Co, Mr. Holombo's O Scale Logging Railroad Layout

This video features Mr. Holombo's private model railroad, in O Scale 2 rails. The year is 1947 and this is the action happening at the Clear Creek Lumber Co., a busy sawmill somewhere between southern Oregon and northern California.

The logging operation starts with engine #7 bringing back empty log cars from the mill to the woods. Yet on the line is also running engine #1006 with its load of log.

This is a point-to-point layout, meaning there's a single track leading from the logging operation in the forest to the mill.

We had two trains, one loaded with logs headed towards the mill and the other with empties coming back from the mill. Two trains in opposite direction on a single track line, how to proceed?

The way this is operated, they need to "meet". On fancy railroad lines, that means one train stops on a siding while another one passes on the mainline. Here this is a logging railroad and they don't have fancy sidings, instead there's a single spur along the track, just about the right size to accommodate one of the trains. The train with the empties goes into the spur, leaving the way free to the one loaded with logs; after that the train with the empties can back out of the spur and continue back to the logging forest.

Both engines are Mallet tank steam engines, using a 2-6-6-2T configuration. This design was very well suited for slow speed drag service, helping them negotiate the tight curves and the light-weight track typically found on these smaller logging railroads.

The mill uses a Heisler geared steam engine as a switcher. The road engine leaves the yard while the switcher takes the log cars, without the caboose, to the log dump. The spur to the log dump only accepts 3 cars and the switcher needs to cut the train then spot the empties.

The model railroad is O Scale Standard Gauge and is very finely sceniced, with a variety of exquisite details bringing every section to life and even features a mechanical hoist for the log dump as can be seen on the video.

Many thanks to Mr. Holombo for sharing his superb private layout!

Editor: LightWorks 12

🎥 Video by Raphaël Moll
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