32 Craig's Camp

The high line curves around the back corner of the layout above Burgess Beef and Farmers Cooperative.  A short stub was installed here to serve a small logging camp.  The challenge was how to fill in the corner and create a plausible scene.

Figure 1  Future Site of Craig's Camp

Small mountains were created to fill in the corner.  Even though they are 3-dimensional the attempt was to make them appear to be further away than they are. We are still debating how to make them appear pine covered without causing them to appear closer.  The scenery in front of the camp is behind Farmer's Cooperative and Burgess Beef.  A freight train is passing on the upper main line behind the camp.

Figure 2  Craig's Camp with upper main behind.

Craig Harding, a model railroad club member spent many hours helping construct the return loop in the staging yard under the location of the logging camp.  In honor of this arduous task the lumber camp was named in his honor.  The camp consists of a small shed, a logging crane, and a log pond.  Figure 3 shows a set of scratch built log buggies behind a Bachmann three truck Shay locomotive.  To the far left is a Barnhart log loader that rides on the top of rails on the log buggies.  This small crane can then crawl from car to car as it loads the logs.  How can you have a log camp without any trees in the vicinity.  Hopefully some trees will spring up in this location in the near future.  

Figure 3  Craig's Camp 

Figure 3 is a Helicon photograph of Craig's Camp as described in other posts (See Post 30).