(jeb@oscalemag.com). - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

sawdust blower shafts.. The sawdust blower is just to the right ofits shaft. Note the black piping from under the saw to carry thesawdust to the blower. The cable, used to move the log carriageback and forth, is 0.022” rope used for ship rigging.The next piece of equipment I constructed was the log deck.As mentioned previously, I didn’t want a log pond (as my spacedidn’t allow it), so my sawmill is supplied by truck. The finishedproduct will ship by rail. I built the log deck as shown in Photo5. The footings and crosspieces are 12” x 12” lumber. The logdeck slope boards are 6” x 12” topped with Code 70 rails to52 x 6 studding with 2 x 12 sheathing. A few years ago, someoneobtained some old paint from the railroad and the outsides of thewalls were painted freight car red. The front wall of the sawmill isto be open, just using 10” x 10” framing.At this point, I decided that the interior should be detailedbefore it became a problem getting to the inside. Having a WesternScale Models Machine Shop Small Tools and Accessorieskit, I used some of the components from it for my interior. Extrasaw blades and handsaws from Echo Mountain were also used indetailing the sawmill. Several folding chairs produced by CircusCraft were added. Photo 7 shows the model up to this point.After these walls were in place, the cutoff saw and the log7save wear and tear from the logs. The three log stops and associatedsteam cylinder were added with a steam line connection.I did not use the log kicker and steam cylinder that came as apart of the Sierra West Log Deck kit. The method used to get thelogs up on the log deck will be discussed later.The next equipment to be set in place are the live-rolls. Aftera piece of lumber is cut off the log, it falls onto the live-rolls. Asmentioned before, these rolls are powered, so that the operatorcan move the cut lumber up to the cut-off saw in order tocut the board to the desired length. The powering apparatus forthe live-rolls is located in the floor of the mill. After marking thelocation of the live-rolls, the powering mechanism was installed.Some sections of the floor joists had to be removed to provideclearance for parts of the live-rolls’ drive mechanism (Photo6). Floorboards were now added to the rest of the floor areaof the mill. The tables for the live-rolls and the dead-rolls wereinstalled.We are now at the point of building the walls for the sawmill.The cutoff saw hangs from the roof joists, and fits into the gapbetween the live- and dead-roll tables. Holding the assembledcutoff saw over the gap between the roll tables, the bottom of theroof joists was determined to be at a 10’ 3” height. The back wallsare near the mainline of my On3 railroad, so I decided to makethem solid except for a door. The end wall between the husk andthe log deck was also made solid. These walls were built up using6turner were installed. The cutoff saw was hung as shown inPhoto 8. The log turner is used to rotate a log on the log carriage,so it is situated over the centerline of the log carriage. It8and its rafters were installed, as shown in Photo 9.It is now time to figure out how the different drive-belt922 • O Scale Trains - Mar/Apr ’07