Now it is time to look at some of the structures on the Kittatinnny Mountain RR. When I designed the railroad my goal was to have a backwoods feel to the railroad. In order to do this I had to limit the amount of structures on the railroad. The Kittatinny Mountain RR is broken into three main areas: the yard, logging camp, and the logging area.
The first and most developed area of the layout is the Hainsville Yard. Within the yard is an engine house, general store, loading dock, logging office, a backwoods fueling station, water tower and an oil tank. All the structures were scratch built using wood.
Next is the the logging camp and sawmill. The logging camp is called Kittatinny Camp. The structures in this area house the workers after spending the day in the woods. It is also the area that the cut logs get sent to be ripped into boards for building materials. The Sawmill is a backwoods portable sawmill called Snooks Lumber Mill. Again, everything was scratch built.
The next area of the layout is the logging area. This is the newest area of the layout and still needs a lot more work to get the look of a logging scene. I started off with a spar tree. Spar tree is a long straight tree that the sawyers cut all the branches off until they have a long pole. Attached to the pole is a log loader and a high line. The trees are cut then brought to the log loader via a high line. Then the logs get loaded onto the log cars. A steam donkey powers the entire system.
In order to protect the valuable timber, the railroad needed a way to catch the fires before they burned down the forest. The railroad has a fire tower on top of the highest point of the layout. The fire tower is called Culvers Tower and is scratch built.
Also in the layout I have a backwoods cabin. I call it old man Russell's homestead. It consists of a cabin, windmill and outhouse. Future plans call for a small barn and some animals.
The Kittatinny Mountains have many springs that come out off the mountains and in the early days the settlers would build spring houses. The purpose of the spring house is to keep food cold during the summer months. The settlers would dig out the spring and build a structure over it.
The next area of the layout is the logging area. This is the newest area of the layout and still needs a lot more work to get the look of a logging scene. I started off with a spar tree. Spar tree is a long straight tree that the sawyers cut all the branches off until they have a long pole. Attached to the pole is a log loader and a high line. The trees are cut then brought to the log loader via a high line. Then the logs get loaded onto the log cars. A steam donkey powers the entire system.
In order to protect the valuable timber, the railroad needed a way to catch the fires before they burned down the forest. The railroad has a fire tower on top of the highest point of the layout. The fire tower is called Culvers Tower and is scratch built.
The Kittatinny Mountains have many springs that come out off the mountains and in the early days the settlers would build spring houses. The purpose of the spring house is to keep food cold during the summer months. The settlers would dig out the spring and build a structure over it.
