Road Trip 2010: Day 56 (pt. 3): The Museum of Railroads and Forestry

The Museum of Railroads and Forestry seems to have been constructed out of massive pieces: the bigger the better. Most of them need a great deal of TLC before they become so many piles of rust, but it doesn't look like they will get any soon.

A wooden snowplow.

The life span (or at least time between derailments) of a snowplow such as this could be counted in days in the really snowy country. That any survive is nothing short of a miracle. The museum also has a more recent metal plow that is build along the same lines only larger and heavier; the better to blast its way through the drifts.

Steam locomotive.

A track grader.

This baby was designed to extend its wings (those long rusty plates along the sides), angle them properly, and then scrape the sides of the embankment the tracks lay upon. More impressive to me was that this particular piece was in service into the 1990s. It looks like it belongs in the 1890s.

Steam powered crane.

A larger, more modern (comparatively) crane for lifting locomotives back on the track sits over by the round table.

Gang saw

This sucker would take a squared off log and saw it into 8 or 10 pieces of 2-by (2x12, 2x10, 2x8, etc.) The equally massive band saw that would square the logs sat next to this piece. I just forgot to photograph it.

Beehive oven

Cutting logs into boards produces lots of saw dust and wood scrap. before the days of chip board and wood pellets for stove fuel, this waste had to be disposed of. It was usually burned in ovens like this. Sometimes the head might be used to dry the newly cut boards.

Log truck unloader

This beast which looks like a preying mantis could pickup all of the logs on a logging truck and stack them neatly on the side of the yard. This one was built in 1965 and operated until 1968 when a better idea came along.


In addition to trains and lumbering/logging equipment there are a few odds and ends like this old Rumley tractor.

Antique Rumley Tractor