PRODUCTS

I N F O R M AT I O N S TAT I O N

Modeling logging
railroads
 The
West Side
Lumber Co.

1. It’s July 1958 and the thermometer reads 95 degrees as West Side Shay no. 15 clatters
across the main highway into Tuolumne on Steve Anderson’s Sn3 West Side Lumber Co. The
head brakeman watches the train carefully as it descends the 4.8 percent grade from Flume.

A bedroom-size Sn3 re-creation

of a Western logger
By Steve Anderson
Photos by George Hall

W
est Side! The very name evokes visions of Shay
steam locomotives moving log trains across wooden
trestles, up 4.8 percent grades, and around sharp
curves. The real West Side was narrow gauge, the equip-
ment was small, and because the railroad lasted until 1961 much of
the equipment was preserved. In fact, all nine of its engines were
saved, and all but two still operate today on tourist railroads. The prototype
The West Side ran in the California
My goal was to build a layout that captures the feel and flavor of foothills near the northern edge of
the West Side Lumber Co. of the late 1950s as accurately as possi- Yosemite National Park. It started in
ble given the limited space available. Each scene is built to repre- Tuolumne and ran 72 miles to Camp
44. There were four 300-foot wooden
sent a specific area. Structures are scratchbuilt full scale wherever bridges and water tanks every four
possible, and details visible in photographs are then added. This miles or so. The rail was light (35 to 60
pounds) and spiked to cedar ties.
approach helps keep me focused, preventing the “I want to model The railroad was operated as two
it all” dilemma of my previous layouts. separate divisions, with dedicated
“woods” crews and “town” crews. The
trains would meet halfway and swap
their consists. The West Side operated
24 hours a day from May to November
and put enough timber in the mill pond
to keep the steam-powered mill running
all winter.
In 1961, after nearly 60 years of log-
ging by rail, the West Side RR was
abandoned in favor of truck logging.
Shortly thereafter, a strike and subse-
quent fire sealed the fate of Tuolumne’s 2. Veteran engineer Bert Bergstrom leads
West Side Lumber Co. Shay no. 9 over Little Reynolds Creek trestle.
Meanwhile, brakeman Harry Cyphers keeps
Construction an eye on the train while seeking respite
I built the layout in sections, allow- from the searing California sun.
ing me to move it when needed. Each
section is also electrically independent.
Sections are connected by a color-coded
bus that carries track power, switch
machine power, and power for the
micro lighting. Troubleshooting is easy:
 Donkey Buffalo Water
2 4 3 engine Landing
6 tank
Slash burner Cover

Enginehouse Cookhouse

Camp Reynolds

Scale: 5⁄8" = 1'-0"

12" grid

Tuolumne
1
Little Reynolds Creek
Sand, oil,
Old enginehouse 5 Car shops and water

Warehouses

Dispatcher’s
office

ILLUSTRATION BY RICK JOHNSON

3. A loaded train pauses at a bridge-tender’s

shack. As part of the insurance contract,
West Side stationed a watchman here to
guard against fire. The black-and-white TV is
no substitute for the latest gossip from town.

just unplug sections until the problem

is isolated.
The West Side used dirt as ballast.
As the dirt eroded, the ends of the ties
would stick out and look as if they were
suspended in mid-air. A friend suggested
I try laying the ties on N scale cork road-
bed, and the result looks great. Dis-
tressing the ties with a wire brush and
staining them individually helps to vary
the texture and color. Grandt Line code
70 dummy rail joiners are glued to the
outside of the rail, and real dirt for bal-
last helps to create that distinctive look.

The layout at a glance
Name: West Side Lumber Co.
Scale: Sn3 (1:64)
Size: 10 x 10 feet
Locale: Tuolumne, Calif., located
just outside Yosemite National Park
Period: 1958-1959
Layout style: around the walls
Layout height: 54"
Benchwork: open-grid sectional
Length of main line: 29 feet
Roadbed: N scale cork on Homasote
Track: handlaid code 70 and
turnout kits
Turnout minimum: no. 5
Minimum curve radius: 30"
Maximum grade: 2 percent
Scenery construction: blue extruded
foam covered with Hydrocal
Backdrop: linoleum flooring
supported by a pine frame
Control: PBL Foreground sound
system with power-routing turnouts
Most turnouts are no. 5s, allowing
even the biggest Shays to easily negoti-
ate them. The turnouts were purchased
pre-assembled on printed-circuit (PC)
board ties, but several were out of
gauge and required extensive rebuild-
ing. I used Switchmaster switch ma-
chines both to throw the points and
route power to the sidings.
Structures
Almost all the structures are scratch-
built using plans published by Russ
Simpson. Buildings with interiors are
built board by board with complete
framing including studs and rafters.
Structures without interiors are built
using a technique I learned a while back
from Jack Burgess at a National Model
Railroad Association clinic: Sheet sty-
rene is used to build the roof and walls,
then scale lumber is glued directly onto
the styrene. These structures are easy
and quick to build and they look great.
Real glass windows help to complete
the structures.
After a basic structure is completed,
I place it on a fully scenicked base.
When it’s finished, all that’s necessary is
to blend the base into the surrounding
layout scenery. More importantly,
structures can be easily removed for
that next layout.
Locomotives and rolling stock
In the 1950s the West Side had seven
three-truck Shays and two Heislers. The
smaller Shays were used on the level
woods portion of the line. The Heislers
were relegated to switching duty by
1947. Fortunately for modelers, PBL
has produced brass models of the West
Side’s geared engines. Several speeders
and a couple of small gas-mechanical
switchers filled out the roster.
4. The crew of Shay no. 9 backs down the
main line with a train of loaded skeleton
cars. The downgrade speed limit for loaded
trains is 7 mph and it will take some time
to reach Camp 24, where the woods crew
ties up for the night.

Meet Steve Anderson
Swatching his
teve grew up
father ride SP
commuter trains
into San Fran-
cisco where his
dad worked for
that “friendly
railroad.” Family
vacations always
involved rail travel and there was a
home HO layout from day one.
Steve’s first layout, a small HO
setup, was a Christmas present at
age seven. In 1986 Steve visited
Chama, N. M., and rode the Cum-
bres & Toltec RR. That hooked him
on narrow gauge and he has since
built layouts in HOn3, On3, and
now Sn3.
Steve worked at Talbot’s Train
Store for 14 years before he left to
become a jet engine mechanic for
United Airlines. He helps promote
Sn3 by working with PBL at shows.
Steve will have his West Side
open for layout tours at the 2000
National Model Railroad Association
national convention in San Jose,
Calif., this July.
5. The car shops at Tuolumne Yard are
responsible for maintaining West Side’s fleet
of 175 or so skeleton log cars and 75 non-
revenue cars. This structure was originally
built near the mill site, then moved to this
location in the early 1900s. It has had sev-
eral additions over the years and houses the
blacksmith shop, a wheel lathe, and enough
parts to keep foreman Jack Gentry and his
crew busy.
Many manufacturers produce Sn3
freight car kits. Rio Grande Models,
PBL, V&T Shops, and Foothill Model
Works all provide excellent kits to help
replicate the West Side. Beyond this,
plans exist for several cars that escaped
the scrapper’s torch. On the layout, all
of the rolling stock is built to represent
well-maintained equipment and carries
only a light dusting for weathering.
During operation, the real West
Side’s equipment was not run-down
and decrepit. A damaged piece of equip- cal, and I can’t recommend it enough.
ment meant loss of revenue, so each You have complete control over how
winter was spent rebuilding the cars for the scenic contours will look, and later
the next season. Fresh coats of paint changes don’t affect the integrity of the
were applied, and for the last season, mountain. Unfortunately, the Styro-
the railroad painted those famous foam dust from carving sticks to every-
safety stripes on the cars. thing so make sure you have a large
vacuum cleaner.
Scenery Commercial rock castings were used
This was my first attempt at using and then painted with artist’s acrylics,
blue extruded foam as a base for Hydro- which I find easier to work with (and
the results more predictable) than using
stains. Sifted dirt from the real West
Side, along with ground foam by AMSI
and Woodland Scenics, help provide
the basic ground cover. At Tuolumne, I
added fake fur to simulate California’s
golden grass.
On the forested area of the layout
I’ve tried to avoid the “all trees are the
same brand” look by combining several
different techniques and manufacturers’
products. The ground cover in this area
is mainly dirt, with small shrubs and
crushed rock. Except for meadows,
there is very little grass on the Sierra’s
Western slopes.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my trip back
in time to the final years of the West
Side Lumber Co. It’s been a lot of fun
setting the Wayback Machine (for you
Bullwinkle fans) back to 1958 to once
again see the West Side in all its glory. 1
6. Shay no. 9 arrives at Buffalo Landing, 37
miles from – and 2,500 feet higher than –
Tuolumne. Trucks bring the logs from the
cutting area here, which was carved out of a
hillside in the Clavey Canyon. The logs are
then transferred to 38-foot-long skeleton log
cars by a “crotch-line” loading system.