Thank you so much for the kind words!

Dennis, thanks so much for the kind words!

Yeah, I hope they do bring it back in HO. Over the years, it has appeared in several layout articles in the model railroad press, and always looked good. In case they might come in handy some day, here's a link to the photos I took during assembly of my HO sawmill. 1drv.ms/u/s!Amh3E1S2P_vCgaktabBi2ZsHreoPXw?e=iIQeyZ

Thanks so much for the note. It's been very gratifying to see all the positive responses to my little layout, i.e. not a basement-filling layout. They don't have to be great big!

Thanks for the compliment. Yes, when you add it up there's some real money invested, so it's better not to add it up! Besides locomotives decoders, and the DCC system, other big money-eaters are the craftsman structures and the turnouts (for each one, the turnout itself plus the Blue Point actuator plus the switch stand). But worth it......

Thanks so much for the kind words. Made my day!

Me, too! (obviously, perhaps). There are a lot of S- and O-scale narrow gauge layouts that are truly impressive, and bigger than mine. Thanks for the kind words. Carl

Well, actually true operation would be difficult at night because the uncoupler positions, turnout position, and labels on the turnout controls would all be hard to see. But it's great for "showing off" to visitors!

Thanks for the kind words. And best wishes on your layout build.

Thanks! They were made from a material kit from Coastmans Scenic Products. They have a lot of good stuff for modeling Pacific Northwest forests.

Stephen, thanks for the kind words, and best wishes on your own build.

Jack, well, the logs are actually completely natural. I find "twigs" that have fallen from the pine trees around here, and I look for ones that look to be about the right size and that are reasonably straight. Then I harvest them and cut them to the right length for the log cars. I glue them together in groups of three for loading on the log cars. So "pine tree twigs" is the answer. They're not perfect, but seem good enough.

@@CarlBrainerd Thanks Carl. Pine twigs are a really great idea. Down side is being here in SW MO there is a bit of a shortage unless I raid someone's front yard. Not the best idea. Or maybe I can just buy a xmas tree in a few months and cut my own? I also need to decide if I am going to do a theme swap as the big city industrial layout that I have going is uninspiring and isn't getting me to the work bench. I have had an interest in logging since 1967 when MR mag did a layout story. Might be time for diorama experiment.

Thanks for that information. Good to know!

Sure. Here's a link to the original concept sketch 1drv.ms/b/s!Amh3E1S2P_vCgapGLfzt55n15uf65w?e=RZeiG9 and here's a link to the final plan that was documented (there were a few differences as-built) 1drv.ms/u/s!Amh3E1S2P_vCgao_5vEfXw1ltDUNdg?e=dyUhBs. Such as it is.....

Thank you very much. I've always wanted to build a small layout based on the logging/scenic railroad in Cass West Virginia and your layout is giving me many ideas. I bought bachmann shays, climax and a rivarossi heisler many years ago but haven't built the layout yet. This may be my inspiration to finally get to it

Hi, Louie. Thanks for commenting. I was 69 when I started building the railroad (77 now). You can do it! I don't have a book, so my videos on the my KZfaq channel will have to do. You might want to check out the one about building the railroad. I used Micro Engineering code 70 #6 turnouts. My flex track is code 70, whatever I had on hand (I think mostly Shinohara/Walthers). I used Blue Point turnout controllers connected directly to knobs on the fascia via dowel rods. For the "pine" trees I used material kits from Coastmans Scenic Products. They probably cost more than using Caspia fern branches from the craft store, but I think they went together a lot faster. Good luck on building yours.

Thanks for the info! Pacific Northwest mining doesn't seem to be something that appears in the media, so I wasn't aware. Now my mind can rest easy....