Some info about logging railroads.

[Kitsune Dawn]

This is more directed at players, as opposed to the developer. Ha ha. I am a model railroader who, for some time modeled a logging railroad. Specifically, the type of logging railroad I modeled is something called a "swamp railroad" (hint hint, future DLC idea). Swamp railroads were logging railroads that were... well, in swampy areas. Typically the railroad was harvesting pine, and cypress trees, and had an inordinate amount of trestles.

However while you might think that a swamp railroad would have nothing to do with this railroad... well you'd be wrong. Logging railroads, though yes, each one differed from the next, there were similarities.

So, first off, let's start with what is typical across the various companies.

Most logging railroads were, for lack of a better word, fly by night type operations. They featured rickety, rarely maintained track, odd gauges, and rolling stock and locomotives that were, very often, barely held together by duct tape and baling wire. No, seriously. There were only a small few operations that were more permanent.

Typically, a logging railroad would only exist as long as there wasn't something better to transport the logs.

Rolling stock was also hit and miss. You had a whole host of different types of cars. Some railroads had the type of logging cars you see in the game, others had simple 'skeleton' cars that were little better than a frame with some supports to hold logs. They even lacked stakes. Logs were kept in place by sheer weight, well that and sharpened 'knives' that bit into the bottom of the log.

Skeleton log car:
http://trovestar.com/images/Collections/0/gallery/tsg_65926_1_1.jpg

The most interesting type of car, was called a disconnect. Disconnect cars were essentially just a bogey with a knife like edge in the top, and a slight swivel to their log support. In use, you'd have a pair of disconnect cars under the logs... and nothing between them. Sometimes you might have a bar or chain coupling, but that was rare. Sheer weight kept the cars from coming apart.

Disconnect car:
http://www.pwrr.org/prototype/members/jesse_koski/disconnect_log.jpg

Disconnects actually fell out of favor, over time, as they required more work to use than framed cars. When not carrying logs, you had to couple all the disconnects together. Then when loading you uncoupled, pulled forward and a crane had to load them. A crane also had to unload them. They tended to be only used until the railroad could afford something better, usually a wooden frame skeleton car.

Like the cars, locomotives tended to vary, based on what the railroad or the sawmill felt they needed. That and what kinds of trackwork or grades the company was dealing with. Those with relatively easy, or light gradients, would make use of non-geared locomotives, with both types of porter being common, as well as anything they could reasonably get their hands on. Smaller operations tended to prefer tank locomotives, while larger operations had tender engines, and even a few mallet articulated (2-6-6-2) locomotives, some with tenders, many just with tanks.

Where the track was more steeply graded, or the curves were sharper, geared locomotives like the Climax, Shay, and Heisler came into use. Though, those railroads could also start with non-geared locomotives.

Climax was preferred by most railroads, as its chain drive didn't have the same tendency to derail as the outside geared shay did. In fact, while the shay might be more powerful, due to the torque produced by having the gearing on one side of each bogie, Shays had a difficult time going around right hand curves, at least sharp ones. They tended to crab the railhead and derail. Heisler sought to solve this by having a central drive shaft with pistons in a V formation under the boiler.

Shay:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/ClassCShaySonoraJuly2006.jpg

Heisler:
https://www.american-rails.com/images/xnh719198471ywiqkny1674656.jpg

The odd hump on the boiler of the heisler is to clear the pistons.

Gauge also varied by company. Some actually used a standard gauge, of 4'8.5", while others went as narrow as 2 feet. Typically, those that were standard had a direct connection to the outside world, while the narrower ones would rarely move far beyond their company or the forests. Narrow gauge was also cheaper, as it didn't require as much grading to lay track, and the equipment could be smaller.

Loading of logs:

One of the curious aspects of logging railroads, which a visitor in the early days of it would note, would be the fact that there would be logs scattered everywhere along the railroad. These logs were those which had fallen from passing trains. This wasn't because the rolling stock was falling apart, but because railroads had a practice of loading everything they could onto the cars.

http://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/3/cibola/cultres6/images/fig13.jpg

So... it wasn't uncommon for one or more logs to simply roll off. It was all about profit. The more logs you could shift, the more you got paid. Thus, if you could cram more logs onto a car than it should really carry, and you could get away with it... railroads would do it.

It's late as I post this, and I need rest. So, if you have any questions about operation, rolling stock, locomotives, or logging practices, feel free to ask. I will respond when I can.


Edit:

Updated notes:

Logging railroads tended to keep their speeds relatively slow. By slow, we're talking really really slow. Speeds under 10 mph were common, though as slow as 5mph might be more common. This was due to two factors. First the track. Typically, you had really light rails, and they weren't laid perfectly well. Rickety, bent up, and far from level. However, it got the job done, so that's all what mattered. The second reason is most of the geared locomotives were built for power, not speed. They needed to pull long, heavy trains of logs out of really inaccessible places up grades that most locomotives would have a seriously hard time operating on. Many featured brutal grades of up to 11% that conventional railroads could economically not traverse. So speed wasn't key, as much as getting the train up the grade.

Some people are probably wondering why larger rod (non geared) locomotives weren't as common then. Well, those grades are the main reason. While a rod locomotive might have more pulling power, they lacked the overall ability to easily traverse steeper grades. Small locomotives, called 'contractor' locomotives built by porter (0-4-0, 0-4-2, and 0-4-4) did see use, especially in the early development of the logging railroads; but as more powerful geared locomotives came into use, those rod engines would be relegated to switching, yards, and unloading operations.

Eventually, as operations got larger, you would see large rod locomotives, some articulated mallet types, start to see use. Typically, these locomotives would be relegated to taking cars from a transfer point called a 'dry sort yard' where the geared locomotives would bring cars out of the forest, dump their loads for sorting, and then return. The logs at the dry sorting yard would be broken down from their bulk loads, and placed in various stacks around the yard, sorted by size or "grade" of log. The logs would wait there, drying out and seasoning, while the rod locomotives would be used then to build a train of log cars, which would be loaded by size, and then taken to the mill. This consolidation allowed the company to meet the needs of whatever clients they had. For example, if they received an order for large structural timbers, then a train of large logs might be built. Alternatively, if they needed a to meet an order of planks and 2 by 4's, then smaller logs would be shipped.

Interestingly, the dry sort yards also sometimes processed smaller logs into 'pulp' wood which would be loaded into special cars. This pulp wood would be shipped as is, off the property and was used to make paper.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z-CrRyKhZyA/Vvcp4LN79wI/AAAAAAAAMRU/EkPprCZwhmcUXMKhQpVyoL1N-Edr1IrFQ/s640/Pulpwood%2Bcar%2B590.jpg

Pulp wood was, typically, any log which was damaged, split, or too small to be used for any structural lumber.

Some might be wondering what all type of rolling stock you would find on a logging railroad. Was it only log cars? The short answer is no. You would often find tank cars, box cars, and gondola cars. Sometimes you'd even have coal cars.

So what would they be used for?

Tank cars were often used as water cars.

https://images41.fotki.com/v826/photos/7/777399/3162757/DSCF6471C-vi.jpg

Water cars would be used to bring water from a central point, such as a water tower, out to the various log dump or harvesting areas. They'd have their contents pumped up into a water tower to be used by the various steam engines (locomotive or otherwise) in the area, as finding wells was always difficult.

Box cars saw various types of uses. Everything from moving finished lumber to the transfer point with standard gauge railroads (most logging operations were narrow gauge), to moving tools around to the work sites.

http://www.santacruzlumberco.com/RollingStockPhotos/Boxcar/Boxcar1.jpg

Their most common use though, was being converted into 'camp' cars where loggers would stay when not back at their camp homes.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49341/49341-h/images/fig_077.jpg

Gondolas tended to see use moving coal around, as while logs were used in the early days of logging railroads, most converted to coal firing or oil firing.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49341/49341-h/images/fig_077.jpg

Hoppers would eventually replace gondolas, but also saw some use removing chips or sawdust which would come into use to make OSB (oriented Strand Board) or "particle board". Particle board was known about from the late 1800's, but didn't see widespread use until the second world war.

For more car types, including various logging cars, and their plans:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49341/49341-h/49341-h.htm

[RainJar]

I already poked in the forum about log bogies (disconnected cars) too :P I think this game absoluely needs a Shay, it always felt like the most classic NG logging locomotive type to me. A heisler would be cool too, it was a screenshot of a Heisler on the Murchinson layout in Trainz 2004 "exchange" site that got me interested in the unusual geared locos so much...

[Kitsune Dawn]

Heislers weren't that common, in all honesty. They really only came about to compete with the Climax, but in the end, the design was severely limited in how much it could pull, and by the 1940's they stopped production.

They only produced, if memory serves, 17 total Heislers.

[keume]

Really interesting information you got there!
Do you actually have any information about the top speed of the geared locos?
I was doing some research but didn't find that much info.

[Kitsune Dawn]

I do actually.

Climax:

The gear ratios tended to keep them on the slow end, naturally.

Whatever the case, the top speed would vary by gear ratio, but I can give you some general speeds based on build type. (chain driven would be slower than shaft driven).

The early variants that came out around 1888, shortly after the patent was filed, had a two speed gearbox that was partially chain driven (to the bogies). They had a top speed of roughly 15 mph, but due to their construction, and chain drive, they lost speed in curves, maxing out at around 10mph. This type was the vertical boiler variant, and looked like this:

http://www.gearedsteam.com/climax/images/class-a-vertical.jpg

The chain portion was in the bogies themselves.

The climax was further refined, with the class A variant coming out. This replaced the early chain portions with bevel gears. It also changed the gear box giving a 9:1 and 4:5:1 gear choices. The former giving ng 13,200 pounds tractive effort and the high gear ratio was 4.5:1 resulting in 6,600 pounds tractive effort. They also had a neutral position which could be used to allow the locomotive to roll freely down grade by gravity. However, this was not recommended on steep grades. Top speed wasn't much better, maxing out at around 15mph, though unlike the first versions there was no loss of speed in curves. In the 9:1 gear ratio, 5mph was the best they could expect to do.

The next variant is the Class B type, which you have represented in the game.

It is worth noting that a Class C type was developed in the 1920's, which was larger (top speed around 30 mph) and eliminated most of the problems the type B had. Notably higher speeds causing vibration. The Class C look visually similar to the class B, though they could also be found having three powered trucks, with the last one carrying a water tender.

Shay:

The first real Shay variant to see widespread use, was the Class A type. The Class A variants were very powerful, when compared to the climax, but suffered from a tendency to derail on sharp curves. In any case, this type of locomotive maxed out at around 10 mph due to safety concerns.

http://www.gearedsteam.com/shay/sc_class_a.gif

Heisler:

The heisler was the fastest of the geared locomotive types. The Heisler consisted of 2 steam cylinders positioned in a "V" under the boiler about 3/4th the way back from the front . In the photo above, the left side cylinder can be seen below the brass bell. The piston rods came out of the cylinders and attached to a "crank shaft" located under the center of the boiler. Attached to either end of the crank shaft were drive shafts. The drive shafts were located below the center line of the engine. Speed wise, the Heisler could easily reach upwards of 40 mph, which is why they also saw service as passenger locomotives, and general freight with some railroads.

http://www.gearedsteam.com/heisler/images/k/kitchen_lbr_co_4-sn1473.jpg

[Kitsune Dawn]

I've been modeling logging railroads for years Keume, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I friended you to make it easier if you don't want to use the community discussion board.

I'm hoping to get the game first of next month, just fyi. That'll save me from having to head to my friend's house to play.