Planning Mill

[NW Modeling List]

One difference would be that the input stock would be rough lumber, whereas the output stock would be finished, probably dimensional, lumber.  On the former, you could have significant waning (as opposed to wanning), and the surfaces would show tooth marks from the huge circular or bandsaw sawing blades that might have 3 teeth per inch.  On the latter, you would have smoother finished surfaces, and almost no waning.

A planing facility would have blades that have many more teeth per inch on its sawblades than a rough sizing facility, and its output would be stacked and banded in uniform sizes.

Probably the most noticeable distinction is that the planing mill would NOT use logs as input stock—so you wouldn’t have the typical log piles, skids, chain & dog –equipped ramps, etc.

These details, except for the last, wouldn’t be very observable in HO scale, and maybe not even in O scale.  That said, modelers should be inured to the plight that they incorporate details into their models and scenes that only the super-cognoscenti would notice, let alone recognize.  Why should the distinction between a planing mill and a roughing mill be any different?

BTW, there are some good soft-cover books available from the Cass Railroad Museum on the mill facilities at Cass.  And the remains of the extensive mill properties are still somewhat extant at Cass, WV—which is a really excellent RR experience all around!

-Eric Bott

From: NW-Modeling-List [mailto:nw-modeling-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Modeling List via NW-Modeling-List
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 8:28 PM
To: nw-modeling-list at nwhs.org
Cc: NW Modeling List
Subject: Planning Mill



Regarding the inquiry on lumber planing mills ... Alex Schust wrote ...

>>>   Attached is a photo for East Portsmouth yard planing mill.

http://nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=20653     <<<

My take and question ...

Sure nuf ... the mill photo looks like a lumber facility, but how would I -- a Lazy-Boy addict -- tell this planing mill from any other lumber facility. Are there any give-away aspects in the photo that tell us that ... YES .... OH SURE ... this is a planing mill?

The way the lumber is stacked?

The silo and tower at left?

The roof architecture?

The four guys loading the box cars?

The out buildings?

The hand-written inscription?

BTW ... that brings up spelling and pronouncing correctness.

Is it spelled (in the pix) P-L-E-N-I-N-G? Or is that third letter an "A" squared at the top? In either case, are there one or two letters "N" in planing?

Also, how is this word pronounced? Like one who plans ... planning? Like one who does things with airplanes ... plane-ing? Or like one who does things with plens ... plenning ... whatever that might be?

My question is: How can this fellow create a planing mill such that other modelers would clearly recognize it as a planing mill? Don't all the fresh wood working sites look more or less the same (with that big round blade, often hidden)?

Should the modeler go to the effort of planing-mill-or-bust to create a lumber facility that, in the end, viewers might or might not see it as a planing facility? Or, should he just go for the least expensive lumber mill kit he can find? Would most any lumber facility kit be close enough, at least as a starter?

As with this Portsmouth pix, to me the only thing that says planing mill is the hand written title. Maybe the give-away points escape me, but to me this is a "plain" old lumber site. How can the modeler dress it up so it says "planing mill" to the viewers?

I operate on a friend's terrific railroad that well represents the Poky, Bluefield to Williamson. I love it that I recognize so many facilities on his railroad from the days in the 90s when I produced a video about most of that stretch of track. Recognition of a real facility come-to-life on a model railroad is cool ... very neat to see and it is a great compliment to the modeler that he/she created something that looks enough like the real thing such that the guys recognize it.

In this planing mill case, I'm just curious how the modeler who inquired about a planing mill will be able to unequivocally show that it is a planing facility and not just another sawmill or particle board plant or 2-by-4 cutter? I think he has his work cut out for himself. I wish this modeler well.

A plain old planing mill for planes? ... Bob

Bob Loehne
7028 Tallent Court
Sherrill's Ford, NC 28673
800-611-1218
oezbob at aol.com<mailto:oezbob at aol.com>
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