Slugsmashser’s Projects and Downloads

Introduction:

This is a single baseboard narrowgauge logging layout based on prototypical railroad practices in the Skagit County of Washington state, USA during the early 1900’s. It is a point to point layout serving two logging camps and a millsite township. There are two switchbacks, three wye tracks, two high trestles and a 4% ruling grade. Although there were no major narrowgauge railroads in the state of Washington, the equipment available for Trainz necessitated use of narrowgauge track and equipment to simulate the prototype. Narrowgauge equipment is fitting for this type of layout. Working within the limits of a single baseboard, some of the topography has been exaggerated and the trackwork within operating areas is very compact. This allows for a good balance between scenic viewing and realistic operations.

See Schematic Map

DOWNLOAD THE CLEAR LAKE LUMBER CO ROUTE

History:

The town of Clear Lake dates its industrial origin back to 1892 in which there was a shingle mill built near the lake of the same namesake. A two mile logging railroad was soon built and logs were brought down to the mill beginning with a discarded “steam dummy” from a unidentified street railway and eventually moving up to a 35 ton Climax around the turn of the century.

Around 1902 the millsite suffered a large fire and much of the industrial center had to be rebuilt. Not slowing down the determined loggers and townspeople, a new mill was built and the company aquired more Climax locomotives. Around this time there was an investment frenzy about the northwest and a good flow of cash came into the company. The mill of humble beginnings grew to be one of the largest inland mills in the state.

B.R. Lewis, a very astute and seasoned logging railroad tycoon, eventually gained control of the company and brought with him his love for Shay locomotives. The company began to phase in Shay locomotives to it’s roster and phase out the tired Climax locos. Within the span of a few busy years, the railroad boasted ten miles of track, three locomotives and forty cars.

Operating and expanding at a blazing pace under B.R. Lewis the railroad eventually grew to allow for common carrier operations west to Mt. Vernon and east to Hamilton. The railroad also made a connection with the Northern Pacific mainline. Towards the end of WWI, the Clear Lake Lumber Co. operated 35 miles of mainline and over 60 miles of branchline. Seven locomotives, 225 logcars and 32 donkey engines could be seen and heard all over the south Skagit basin and around Cultus Mountain.

The company eventually ran out of money, like most logging companies did, and around 1929 it was sold to the Puget Sound Pulp and Timber Company out of Everett, Washington. Operations continued but at a much smaller scale.

Although it began as a humble operation with less than adequate equipment, the Clear Lake Lumber Co. grew into one of the most prolific and important logging companies in western Washington.

Reference: Logging Railroads in Skagit County – Dennis Blake Thompson

Some Prototype Information

Operations:

There are various operations that can be had on this layout. For motive power choose either the Climax, Shay or Dunkirk, rod engines are too big and will not make it around the curves or over the grades on this layout. Figure most of the time will be spent moving empties up to camp and bringing loads down to the dump. This seems simple until you realize that you must negotiate a 4% and sometimes 8% grade with huge loads and not very good brakes. With this in mind there are a few prototype rules that must be followed:

1) Never place the engine directly coupled to a load of logs. Always use a flat car, extra skeleton with drawbar or idler car between you and the load. If the load shifts there will be some room between you and the logs reducing the possibility of personal injury or damage to the locomotive.

2) When heading downgrade on grades of 4% or greater, you must place the locomotive BEHIND the load. This is for you and the locomotive’s protection. If you have a crummie or other non-logging cars then they must be placed behind the locomotive. Again if the loads shift or braking power is lost, your chances of survival will be much greater if you are behind a hundred thousand pounds of logs headed downgrade instead of under them. When this is not possible, use extreme caution and keep speeds to a crawl.

3) When negotiating switchbacks downgrade, braking distances will increase drastically. A 7mph speed limit must be observed within 300 yards of any switchback turnout. You must begin braking well before the turnout on the switchback when heading downgrade. If this is not adhered to, the possibility of overshooting the switchback stub is possible and a fatal accident is certain.

4) When negotiating high trestles, the speed limit is 10mph. If you are in doubt about the trestle’s ability to hold the load, then stop the train and send the fireman across on foot. Crack open the throttle slightly and then depart the locomotive allowing it to creep unattended across the trestle. If all is well on the other side of the crossing, the fireman can jump in and apply brakes. You may then cross the trestle on foot, re-board the locomotive and continue.

5) There are no signals. Trains heading downgrade always have the right of way. The whistle punks will let you know when all is clear if there is more than one locomotive operating on the line.

6) The current limit for a consist on the line heading down from Camp 3 is 6 skeleton or disconnect cars fully loaded with four foot diameter logs or smaller. Larger logs will be handled on a case by case basis, usually not to exceed 4 loaded disconnects. Be sure to pace out the switchback stubs to make sure you have enough room if you are bringing down a load of 5 disconnects or greater. Use extreme caution if you are planning on moving more than 5 loads at one time. It is probably safer to make two runs to the closest siding and continue downgrade from there.

7) During the heat of the summer, you should have a speeder follow your logging train to ensure that cinders from the locomotive do not catch the woods or track on fire. Keep a water car with the speeder or at strategic locations for fighting any fires that may occur.

With these rules you can come up with plenty of situations with the various types of narrowgauge loads available for Trainz. You can run a time schedule if you wish.

Scenarios:

1) The Daily Log Turn – This is my first scenario I made using StopGap2 by Smileyman. Your job is to bring empties up to camps and then bring down the log loads to the dump. Sounds easy but there is a lot going on and you especially have to pay attention on the steep grades.

DOWNLOAD THE DAILY LOG TURN SCENARIO

2) Supply Run – This fun scenario was made by Don Bush (floyd312) Your job is to set out and switch cars as needed to supply the camps with needed resources. Plenty of action and a wide variety of narrowgauge equipment. A fantastic experience. The link below will take you to Don’s website for downloads.

DOWNLOAD THE SUPPLY RUN SCENARIO

3) There are plenty of scenarios you can just “make up” as you go. It really doesn’t matter, anything is possible on a logging railroad, that’s the beauty of this railroad subject area. Feel free to try to manually run two locomotives at the same time. You could really get some busy logging operations going! There are many possibilities, experiment freely.

Clear Lake and Your Computer

This layout has many of what Model Railroader magazine has dubbed Layout Design Elements or LDEs. An LDE is a detailed structure or location that one tries to model to appear as realistic as possible. The Trainz environment and custom content approaches that of a model railroad’s detailing ability with regards to LDEs. As such, this layout is intensely detailed and if you are not careful on your initial game/system settings this layout will kick your computer right in the Gonads!. It may only be one baseboard but it packs a lot of punch. You may experience crashes and lockups if you try to run everything too high at the onset. Try going very conservative on your sliders and resolution the first time you load it and then go from there.

Layout Content:

I have tried to limit custom content to only a few creators to try to keep everything at a manageable level and allow for easy gathering of needed content using ASM or other means. The main focus is on narrowgauge or logging items although there are a few other objects here as well. With more logging items coming out every day, this layout can be updated as these items become available. Just about everything you need that is not on the download station is located at Trainzone and Prowler’s websites.

ASM Layout Dependencies Output File Courtesy of Peter Fargo

Contributors

The following persons contributed major items on this layout:

Peter Pardoe Matthews (narrowgauge) Scenery, Rolling Stock, Trestles, Gmax models

Mike Sutton (sirgibby) Scenery, Textures, Gmax textures

Todd W Hohlenkamp (Prowler901) Scenery, Rolling Stock, Track

Mike Banfield (mike_10) Track

David Drake (dmdrake) Scenery

Jeffery Ritter (trainzproroutes) Scenery textures

Bill Klene (wgjandsk) Scenery

Mike Davis Jr (whecsailor) Rolling Stock

Special mention goes to Peter Matthews and Mike Sutton who without their support, testing and the sharing of textures and creations this layout would not have been possible.

And Thanks to all who create the wonderful things we have in our world of TRAINZ.