- Wood Knot Creek (Part 2) - by Keith Plum

Well the bathroom is done now, so back to the serious stuff. In part one there were two boards with track on, now there are three. The third has been a bit of a headache, because I wanted to have a siding for unloading logs into a pond. The main problem being how to make it long enough for log disconnects to be shunted over the pond, and still have the main line on a decent track bed. The baseboards are supported by frames made with 3" x 1" timber, so with a bit of head scratching a length of ply was cut and secured along the back of the frame to support the main line, this can be seen in the picture above left, on the left hand side. At the right hand end of the frame a base of MDF was fixed to support a point and some buildings (huts), as shown in the picture above right. Here, the huts have been placed in position and construction of the rock faces has been started. All the essential junk is sitting in the log pond! The photo above left, was taken from a high angle from the saw mill end, looking towards the right hand end of the layout. All photos have been taken from the viewing side of the layout.

The photo, above right, has been taken from a lower angle of view and shows the trestles that will support the siding. They have just been temporarily placed in position to see what they will look like when fixed! The siding is not at full length at this time. The log pond throws up some interesting ideas. For example, can I actually dump logs off of the wagons without the big hand from the sky? In reality logging was a very labour intensive job. The main method was to unchain the logs then let them roll off. Another way was to use a crane, to lift a chain, or hauser, placed under the logs to assist them off. I`m not sure these methods would work in model form (any bright ideas would be welcome).
At present the scenic work has stopped mainly `cos of the cold! but while sitting indoors watching more telly repeats (boring), work has continued on buildings, vehicles and rolling stock. As with part one, it is my intention to update progress on this third board, so I`ll leave this bit for now.

Did I mention updates!!!!
 
The photo above shows an aerial view of the saw mill. The road has now been painted and the narrow gauge track for dollys has been laid. This track will be used to carry finished timber for stacking, and to await subsequent despatch.
 
The photo on the right shows the new crossing, ballasted and painted. There will be two barriers eventually.
 
Well, that's all folks! - for a while anyway. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions so far, or useful comments. Thank you for reading this page. Cheers for now, Keith