Assistance designing a sawmill area


NateJ

NateJ

Redneck railfan
I decided to make a last-minute revision to my track plan and make a better sawmill area, but I'm stuck on how to design it.
sawmill area.png

The area might be too small for this, but I'd like to have a track where log cars are unloaded, a track where finished lumber is loaded onto flatcars or into boxcars, and a track where woodchip cars can be loaded.
Would a complete sawmill operation be possible in such a space or will there have to be some sort of compromise? I don't necessarily have to have the woodchip aspect, but it would add more operational opportunities IMHO.
 
Do you want 3 tracks, one for logs, one for lumber and one for chips? or are you wanting everything on one track. How much room will you have after you put one or two switches in your area.

Theoretically the logs should come in on one side of the mill and lumber should come out the other side with chips somewhere in the middle. Can you get enough space between the tracks to fit in a mill building?

Do you need a second, left hand switch to the right of the switch you have to give you another track and spread the tracks apart?
 
I worked at several sawmills over the years. The woodchip aspect is somewhat modern and previously that part would have been considered disposal. For the chip aspect, there is the chipper and the stockpile, and that would also include the intake and outbound functions.

There are two major parts of a sawmill, the intake part where logs are stored or fed into the mill, and the out end where products are stored, sorted, and loaded.

You are smart to consider the area you have here, because a sawmill can take up a lot of space. Decide what aspects you want to include based on how much room you have.

At a minimum, the mill building, with the infeed deck and an outfeed area where the products can be sorted for either transport or further milling.

This video shows a simple, compact space which addresses the necessary functions. In this instance, I have both incoming and outgoing materials using one siding.


This sawmill was completed and provided lots of enjoyment! Note that if you want truck traffic in there the roads will take up a lot of space.

Dave LASM
 
My thought would be to extend the stub track on the lower left by the road to join up with the future sawmill siding and put the switch halfway or at the top of the loop. Clear as mud, I know.
This would allow a train to switch out cars from that siding without fouling the main and also add more room for more tracks as Dave mentioned.
For more operations a train could just drop and pickup cars on the siding and a mill switcher could work that track independently. Ah, got you thinking now eh! 😝
 
logandsawman said:
I worked at several sawmills over the years. The woodchip aspect is somewhat modern and previously that part would have been considered disposal. For the chip aspect, there is the chipper and the stockpile, and that would also include the intake and outbound functions.

There are two major parts of a sawmill, the intake part where logs are stored or fed into the mill, and the out end where products are stored, sorted, and loaded.

You are smart to consider the area you have here, because a sawmill can take up a lot of space. Decide what aspects you want to include based on how much room you have.

At a minimum, the mill building, with the infeed deck and an outfeed area where the products can be sorted for either transport or further milling.

This video shows a simple, compact space which addresses the necessary functions. In this instance, I have both incoming and outgoing materials using one siding.


This sawmill was completed and provided lots of enjoyment! Note that if you want truck traffic in there the roads will take up a lot of space.

Dave LASM
Click to expand...
My layout will be mid to late-70s era, so would woodchip operations be at least semi-prototypical for the era?
My original plan was to use one track for incoming and outgoing materials, but I wasn't sure how realistic it was, but it looks like you made it work really good.
What I might do is have one track for inbounds and outbounds and then have a second track for woodchips instead of having three separate tracks cluttering up valuable space.
I hadn't planned on truck traffic, guess I'll have to take that into consideration as well.
 
Rico said:
My thought would be to extend the stub track on the lower left by the road to join up with the future sawmill siding and put the switch halfway or at the top of the loop. Clear as mud, I know.
This would allow a train to switch out cars from that siding without fouling the main and also add more room for more tracks as Dave mentioned.
For more operations a train could just drop and pickup cars on the siding and a mill switcher could work that track independently. Ah, got you thinking now eh! 😝
Click to expand...
You mean this stub track? Sorry I'm a little confused.
stub.png
 
I think this is what Rico was talking about, however here is a quick rough in. Chips were a thing in the 70's, sometimes wood came in already chipped in chip vans to be processed, as in wafer board, These were usually stand alone operations and would not necessarily be associated with a sawmill

other times chips were made from the side lumber and these would come out of the mill in a blower and conveyed to a stockpile or tower, to be loaded on a train car or in a semi trailer for transport to another facility for processing

possible setup.png


The scrapyard idea is an extra, it is a way to use up this space with some interest. Chet (Montanan) put something like this in his layout and I thought it was very appropriate.

Not sure how much room you have but I cut out footprints for my stuff and draw out a mock up on a table to get a feel for things

Dave LASM
 
Okay I get it now, thank you for roughing that in.
I suppose I could use that "Scrapyard" track for woodchip loading if I wanted.
Are there any good kits for small sawmills? I'll have to get some dimensions for a building so I can get a better sense of what I'm working with.
I'm about to head to work, so I'll take another crack at it in the morning.
 
NateJ said:
Okay I get it now, thank you for roughing that in.
I suppose I could use that "Scrapyard" track for woodchip loading if I wanted.
Are there any good kits for small sawmills? I'll have to get some dimensions for a building so I can get a better sense of what I'm working with.
I'm about to head to work, so I'll take another crack at it in the morning.
Click to expand...
Google HO scale sawmill and lots come up.

Here is the one I purchased, is a vintage model comes up from time to time on ebay:

sawmill.png


For loading wood chips, they would use a blower today or even in the 70's. That can be put anywhere and piping to where the train cars are.

Dave LASM
 
Rico said:
yup.
Click to expand...
I like your thinking.
That would give me plenty of room for switching, and since the loading and unloading will probably have to be done from the same track, the longer siding will allow me to store lumber cars there while log cars are being worked and vice-versa.
That stub was originally going to be for a small LPG transloading site, but I think I like your idea better.
 
Taking some of the advice given here, I think I've finally come up with two possible track arrangements for the sawmill.
new sawmill yard.png

new sawmill yard 2.png

Both make use of Dave's rough-in idea and Rico's suggestion to turn my LPG stub into a siding extension.
In both arrangements, the two parallel tracks will be for the sawmill itself while the single track will be for woodchip loading/possible car storage.
 
Rico said:
Love it, I can see a company switcher being very busy!
Now it’s a matter of fitting some structures in there.
(I think #2 has potential)
Click to expand...
I originally wanted to use the Walthers Cornerstone Mountain Lumber Co. kit and outbuildings, but it's way too big for the space I have, plus I'm not very skilled with large kits. I'm kinda leaning towards the Buzz's Sawmill from Woodland Scenics which has the advantages of being pre-built and painted, but it looks a little too old-fashioned for the era I'm modeling. What I might do is go with the Woodland Scenics sawmill and just modernize/expand it a bit.
 
The buildings don’t have to to be wooden. I worked a saw mill for a summer. The log saw house had cinder block walls with steel plates on them. Overhead was a hoist for changing out blades. The sorting building was metal roof with wooden sides…mostly the first cuts of logs with bark removed. They left the gaps for air circulation. The finish cut area was a metal building. Stack area was under a metal roof about 25 feet high for the forklifts to fit under.
 
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