sawmill model

Below is a photo of my sawmill.  It is scratch built.  I relied on many photos of early 1900s sawmills, primarily from Pennsylvania which is the general locale of my 1939 era model railroad.  The lower level diamond shaped windows seemed to be typical of the locale and era.  I started by drawing a sketch, then assembling a crude cardboard mockup of the general layout I was looking for to get a sense of what size mill I wanted.  The initial mockup was too big so I cut it down a little and that seemed to suit me.  I long ago ceased drawing detailed plans because the models changed too much during construction as I revised my ideas.  I used commercial scribed siding, stripwood and commercial plastic windows.  I left the end with the log haul from the log pond open to allow some chance of seeing the detailed interior (saws, lumber tables, etc.)  I included overhead interior lights.  The structure on the roof is the saw sharpening loft.  To the right of the mill in the photo is a raised deck as the ground slopes down towards the log pond.  There are standard gauge tracks that run onto the deck from the rear of the mill.  The logs are delivered to the log pond by a narrow gauge railroad (the camera is sitting on the narrow gauge rails). To the right of the deck is a large lumber drying area with many lumber stacks.  The lumber drying area is on a lift-out section to give me access to that area as it is difficult to reach from the aisle.  Everything on that lift-out is well glued down.

I installed sawmill sound by Fantasonics based on a CD, and two speakers - one on each side of the mill near the log pond with each speaker pointing up and disguised to hide them.  The Fanasonics sounds are really good and have a lot of variety in each CD.  This one has sounds for the log haul, saw sounds, a mill whistle. bird sounds and more.  I keep the sound low so it does not carry over that much to other areas of the layout where I have other sounds by Fantasonics. Their web site is at  http://www.fantasonics.com/

To the left of the mill there is a small pump house with a water pipe extending down into the log pond. I have not yet poured the water into the pond as I am still adjusting the pond color and moving around the floating logs in the pond waiting until I find a look I like.  Once I pour the logs are fixed.  I will be using Envirotex Lite which I also used for my harbor.  I have used the Magic Water product but the Envirotex gives a harder surface finish.

More later.