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Photo of The Day

Started by marc_reusser, December 18, 2009, 06:08:01 PM

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marc_reusser

Something to model....(Chester probably already has. ;) )

MR
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

marc_reusser

...ah...somehow these just seems wrong.  :-\ ;D


MR
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

JohnP

Marc, I hardly have enough time to read the threads on this forum and fit in some modeling too. In between Vallejo huffs you are spending too much time on the Intertubes looking for...well...weird stuff.

On the other hand, the 7/8ths Lounge forum has a good thread on larger scale figure modeling. Start with a tin foil armature, apply the putty, etc.
John Palecki

RoughboyModelworks

Well that tree trunk slide or whatever it is, is just plain creepy... looks like something designed by a pedophile.

RoughboyModelworks

Well as we seem to have devolved into the creepy and bizarre... here's one in the spirit of the season  ;) ;D

Paul

marc_reusser

Quote....here's one in the spirit of the season

My sentiments exactly ;) ;D



Below:
Unloading logs. Benson Timber Co.. Clatskanie OR., The double boom unloader was a special design by Benson, for unloading the extra long logs they were known for.
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

marc_reusser

#21
What....you don't believe that Benson had long logs!??.....


...well then...get a load of these.


Benson TCO. Shay #2231, with log load, on trestle at Clatskanie, OR.

MR
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

Ray Dunakin

Cool pics, as usual. I'm intrigued by the object located between the switch stand and the unloader, in the first image. Looks like some sort of discarded, small, T-shaped boiler.

Visit my website to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad!

Ray Dunakin's World

Belg

Marc, these two last shots are just fantastic. Do you know how exactly these unloaders get the logs off the rolling stock wether it was a skeleton or a flatcar? Thanks Pat

NORCALLOGGER

Belg,
I can't say for positive in that picture but most often chokers or lead lines were anchored to the brow log and slid across the car under the logs and hooked to the lift lines on the a frame or what ever.  Taking up on the lift lines lifted the logs up and out rolling them over the brow log and into the pond
Later
Rick

marc_reusser

Pat,

It's pretty much what Rick says.  The job of crawling inder the loads to fasten the unloading cables is not one I would have wanted.

I have seen images where the cars themselves were hooked down to the off-brow side of the track, to keep them from tipping/derailing when the logs were rolled off. I do not know how common this was.

The cars in the image are disconnects (I know Benson used Russel Wheel & Foundry disconnects....they may have used Seattle Car & Foundry as well......not sure.)


...and for Todays Images...the subject is "Oooops!".

Top image is in West Virginia (probably 'Dry Fork RR.')
Bottom Image is 'Eastern & Western Lumber Co.' at Eufala, WA., in 1906.  Loco is a Climax, SN-272
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

JohnP

The olden days were fun. Anytime there was a train wreck, big or small, deaths included, the local workers and townspeople would gather on the wreckage for a Kodak moment. We all have seen the photos of the women with their parasols and the suited men on top of the smashed, overturned machinery. Now you can hardly get near a good, fresh train wreck.

I like these photos because you can see what the drivetrain was like on a geared loco.

Wasn't the Benson operation covered in the past in one of the annuals or mags?

John
John Palecki

marc_reusser

#27
Quote from: JohnP on December 28, 2009, 05:16:24 PM
Wasn't the Benson operation covered in the past in one of the annuals or mags?

John

Not that I am aware of. It's sort of out of the realm of RR's/operations that Russ would publish.

Benson was best known for their ocean going log rafts, here is the text from the "Rafts" page on my old website:

History of The Robertson Log Raft
(Reproduced from "The Timberman" Jan. 1929)

Seagoing log rafts of the cigar-shaped type, such as used between the Columbia River and San Diego, Cal.,, had their origin in St. John, New Brunswick. A patent covering their construction was issued March 1886, to Capt. Hugh Roderic Robertson of that city. With one or two important exceptions the Robertson raft is essentially the same today as it was over 40 years ago. A number of refinements were added to the original design and incorporated in other patents.  All Robertson designs carried the center or backbone chain, to which chains passing through the mass of logs were attached to circle chains binding the whole structure into one solid body.

Capt. Robertson's original idea was to build these rafts on ship ways and launch them like vessels. His first patent drawings illustrate this feature. In fact his first two rafts were launched in this fashion with fairly good results. He did, however stipulate that such rafts might be built in floating "cradles", a practice which was later adapted. Capt. Robertson describes his first raft substantially as follows:

"My object is to form a raft that may be towed comparatively easily, and being securely bound together, will be stiff and strong and have little tendency to chafe or work loose. This I accomplished by laying up the logs lengthwise into a cylindrical or oval cross section, and of any desired length, the logs breaking joint with each-other continually. I also lay a heavy chain or chains lengthwise through the body of the structure and along the sides and attached thereto. I attach to the said longitudinal chains, cross-chains or radial chains, which run between the logs across the pile, and, being drawn tight, are attached at their other ends to encircling chains, which I use to gird the structure tightly, round and round. At the ends I may build on short sections of cribwork to take and distribute the, strains of the tow line or moorings, cross-blockings having a hole through the center and to form a sort of prow in front. In building the raft I put it together in cradles, which will keep it in the desired form until it is securely girt about."

Seaman that he was, Captain Robertson sought to further improve his raft in his second patent, taken out on November 13, 1888. This he covered by interesting claims, which later proved wholly unnecessary, and seem rather curious in light of future developments. Having retained the principle of the broken joints, the cylindrical shape and the center chain, he proceeded to change the radial chains as follows: "I prefer that a single radial chain should run out horizontally to each encircling chain alternately from either side; and at intervals along the central chain I set short for the longitudinal chain to play through, and which may be formed of two pieces set one over the other and notched out in the center to form the hole."

In his new patent issue, elaborate provisions are made to safeguard the raft against the action of the sea. In laying the outer skin he now proceeded to scarf the ends of the abutting logs and drive treenails to secure them together. He also specified withes or brush in various directions throughout the mass of logs, "which being interlaced and crushed down  will further bind the whole together. I also scribe notches in the ex- posed sides of the outer pieces in lines encircling the raft at frequent intervals."

Captain Robertson built one raft at St. John, which was successfully launched and towed to sea with New York harbor as its destination. Disaster attended this venture and the raft was lost at sea, but not until the soundness of the general theory of construction had been fairly well proved. It is said that portions of this raft drifted across the Atlantic and piled up on the Scandinavian coast.

Captain Robertson next appears on the Pacific Coast. It was about 1890 that he took up residence at Alameda, Cal., where he again devoted his attention to ocean rafting. On September 21, 1897, he obtained a new patent covering cradle construction, after several earlier experiments which proved successful.

By means of floating pontoons or heavy timber masses along the bottom of the cradle he provided a method of laying up the logs in the water and sinking the structure as the work progressed. The cradle was latched along the center-line and by means of cables the framework could be pulled apart when the raft was completed and ready for launching. He followed this patent with still another covering timber rafts. This also had a center chain, attached to a rear bulkhead, which by an ingenious system of rigging formed a continuous bridle in connection with two other chains attached to the top of the raft.

Shortly after arrival on the Pacific Coast, Captain Robertson succeeded in interesting capital in the construction of a raft at Fort Bragg, Cal. According to C. R. Johnson of the Union Lumber Co., for whose account the raft was built, the attempt was a failure on account of the inability to launch it from the shipways on which it was assembled. The date of this venture is given as 1891, by Mr. Johnson. Robertson moved north to Coos Bay, Oregon, where he built a smaller raft and tried out his cradle launching idea for the first time. This raft was successfully floated and gave every promise of reward. Difficulty was experienced at the bar and the vessel lost her tow in crossing out to sea. The raft soon broke up and the sea piled logs for miles along the sand spits at the entrance to harbor. A second one reached destination safely, according to one account.

Operations Begin on Columbia:

Still undaunted and confident of the ultimate success of the idea, Captain Robertson came to the Columbia River in 1894 for another attempt. He engaged John A. Fastabend, an Astoria contractor to build a cradle, which was completed at Alderbrook, a short distance from ,Astoria, and towed to Stella, Wash., 40 miles up the river, the site selected for the rafting operations. Here ensued a series of successes and failures in four or five attempts. In 1896 the Stella cradle was towed over to Westport, Ore., where one raft was produced and the scene again changed to Stella. Fastabeind joined Robertson enterprise as construction foreman in 1898 and later became rafting contractor. In the fall of the same year John M. Ayres also joined the company, bringing two new ideas in construction which contributed much to the success of the Robertson raft. In this year Captain Robertson enlisted the support of the lumber firm of Pope & Talbot in the construction of a piling raft for delivery in 1899. The Robertson Raft Co., under which the business was conducted, was composed of the followings G. F. Kennedy, president; Lester Herrick, secretary; H. R. Robertson, manager; C. S. Holmes, C. A. Hooper and A. W. Jackson, directors.

Mr. Ayres induced Captain Robertson to modify the arrangement of the inner chains, which connect the backbone chain to the outer circle chains. Instead of running these straight out to the sides of the raft, Ayres specified that they be run diagonally or herringbone fashion. The advantage of this system of laying the chains was at once apparent to Captain Robertson, who adopted the idea forthwith. In this method of construction the strain of the tow line is immediately transmitted to the herringbone chains and the tighter the pull on the hawser., the tighter the chains grip the logs. Since this system was adopted the danger of rafts breaking up at sea has been reduced to a minimum.

Mr. Ayres also devised an improved system of picking up the logs alongside the cradle. The lifting derrick was equipped with a reversible engine and gypsy head, and a line running the entire length of the cradle was attached at either end to a dolphin. The cable was passed three or four times around the gypsy head and by applying the power, the whole derrick could be moved rapidly up and down the length of the cradle, giving the raftsmen an opportunity to select any log they needed and quickly return it to the desired spot. Mr. Ayres patented the herringbone principle in letters patent No. 738,595 which was assigned to the Oregon Rafting Co. on December 16, 1902. The movable derrick feature was patented on September 8, 1903, and also assigned to the rafting company.

Hammond Interests Enlisted:

In 1901 the Hammond Lumber Co. purchased a half interest in the business which now was known as the Oregon Rafting Co., and A. B. Hammond assumed the presidency. In 1902 the company dispatched its first piling raft for the new account, which was towed to San Francisco by the steamer Arctic, Captain Reiner, in 14 days. The second raft under the Hammond management went out in 1903, towed by the steamer Francis

H. Leggett, commanded by Captain Johnson. The enterprise was eventually taken over entirely by the Hammond interests, and in 1911 became a division of the Hammond Lumber Co. The last raft built by this company went south in 1922.

Losses sustained by Hammond rafts amounted to less than 6 per cent during the entire period of rafting operations. Fifty-three rafts were safely landed in San Francisco bay from 1902 until the company ceased operations in 1922. One was lost in 1906 and two in 1911.

Upon the success of his operations on the Columbia River, Captain Robertson sought to extend his field of activity to Puget Sound. Mr. Ayers was sent to Seattle in 1899 to build a cradle at Alki Point. The builders did not reckon, presence of the teredo in the salt water of Puget Sound and after getting out two success and a partial loss to another the cradle was found too badly infested with teredos to be of further use and the operations were abandoned. Robertson, in the meantime, had gone to adjust a marine salvage loss and Ayers went back to help Fastabend at Stella.

In one of the rafts built in 1900 at Seattle, Captain Robertson applied a patent chain arrangement similar to that which he devised for timber rafts in 1898. In addition to the main outer chain, he provided two auxiliary ones.  The main chain of two-inch stud  links passed through the center as heretofore, but was fast, at the middle to a large spool,  the object of which was to lessen the strain. The smaller chains passing through from end to end were fastened buckles. Instead of binding the end logs into a rough fashioned bow, he fastened steel tubs 10 feet in diameter, to the ends of the raft, the object being to prevent small logs from warping out of the structure.

Voyage of "Seattle No.1" :

The first raft built at Seattle had a most remarkable voyage to San Francisco. With good weather it rounded Cape Flattery in tow of the steamer Czarina and made fair progress down the coast. Captain Robertson was aboard the Czarina as day watch and Mark Schwager assistant foreman, shipped as night watch.

Fearful of the inroads of the log rafting business on the lumber schooners, the seamen's union and other interests had already begun to bombard congress with bills and resolutions against ocean rafts as a menace to navigation. Whether these events had any bearing on the voyage of the Seattle raft must be left to the imagination.

When the raft reached the southern Oregon coast and all seemed to be going well Schwager went below at midnight for his coffee. When he came on deck a few minutes later, the raft was gone and the manila tow line was dangling. Schwager roused  Robertson, who in turn summoned the captain and demanded that the ship lay-to until daybreak  so the tow might be picked up. Instead the captain turned the ship into Eureka, Cal., declaring he was short of provisions. After putting back to sea the Czarina searched for two days and finding no sign of the raft proceeded to San Francisco.

The Red Stack line sent out two tugs which scoured the sea for two weeks without picking up a trace. Ayres meantime was called to San Francisco to await developments. While in the office of Pope & Talbot a sailor walked into the room where Ayres and the lumber company officials were discussing the affair, and asked if this was the headquarters of the company which lost a log raft at sea. The seaman proved to be a fireman on the steam schooner San Pedro. He stated that his vessel had picked up the raft and tried to tow it into San Francisco, but had run out of coal and had come back in to refill the bunkers preparatory to making another attempt.

Being asked what interest he had in relating these circumstances, he replied that he had imbibed too freely in an Embarcadero saloon and was promptly fired when he returned to his post and was taking this means of evening the score. Robertson gave him a check for $100 and told him to stay in San Francisco.

Sailor's Tip Followed Up:

Thinking the tip worth following up, Robertson ordered Ayres to charter a tug and take charge. The only order given the captain was to keep up steam and watch the San Pedro. When the San Pedro sailed the tug captain was to keep in sight and follow well back. True to the statement of the disgruntled seaman, who said the raft was not far off San Pedro harbor, the schooner proceeded steadily southward.

The tug, kept barely in sight of the schooner's running lights at night, and watched her through the glass by daylight. The schooner, capable of only nine knots, would be easy to overhaul by the tug which could make 14, if a spurt were needed.

When the tug neared the position where the sailor reported the raft should be, the tug captain crowded on all speed to overtake the San Pedro. Noting this new activity of the tug the San Pedro's captain became suspicious and beaded his vessel due west,  hoping to draw the pursuer off the course. The tug however, declined to follow this maneuver, but went due south and succeeded in picking up the lost raft within an hour.

Having made fast to the raft the tug started back to San Francisco with her tow. The San Pedro in the meantime had put about and coming alongside demanded salvage rights, which were promptly denied. Six weeks from the time the raft was lost, it was safely tied up in San Francisco Bay. Caught in a southern current it had drifted 500 miles.

A few years after the Robertson operations began at Stella, Wash., the Benson Timber Co. took up the idea of rafting logs to San Diego, and constructing a cradle entered the business at Wallace Slough on the Oregon side of the river. John A. Fastabend, one of the early foremen for Robertson, took charge of the enterprise, which continues to function to this day, supplying about 30 million feet of logs every year for the Benson Lumber, Co., of San Diego, Cal. Upwards of 80 rafts have been dispatched with only two partial losses. In one case a portion of a raft fortunately went ashore near Santa Cruz, Cal., adjacent to a sawmill which was able to cut the logs with little loss to the rafting company. Towing is confined to the period between June 15 and September 15, when the seas are usually calm and the risk at its lowest point. Five to six rafts each containing five to six million feet of logs supply the San Diego sawmill with raw material for the greater part of the year. Piling and shingles are also transported as deck-loads on the rafts. The average towing time now is about 15 days from bar to bar. For safety the rafts are equipped with two range lights, which burn for 21 days without attention from the tug crew.

John A. Fastabend, since leaving the Robertson enterprise, has been continuously engaged in log raft building for the Benson company, and is one of the most outstanding figures in the rafting business today. Mr. Fastabenct made a number of improvements in cradle construction including a new center locking device and also improved on the original towing system. Mr. Fastabend in his 76th year is still in actual charge of the Benson rafting operations.

Benson Raft Construction:

The Benson raft, as the Robertson type is called today, is built in a floating cradle which is constructed in sections so that upon the completion of the raft the section can be removed from one side of the raft. The raft is then pulled out of the other half of the cradle which is moored to piling. When the completed raft is launched the sections are towed back into place and the center locks are set and the cradle is ready for the construction of the next raft. On the side of the cradle which is moored to the piling, a derrick moves back and forth on a running line as the random logs and piling are placed through the raft course upon course over the length of the cradle. All sizes and lengths of logs are used, but the strength of the raft depends upon a large portion of tree length material. The long logs give the necessary lap and backbone which resists the action in the water as the logs are loaded. When half of the raft is completed a two and one-half inch stud link anchor chain is run through the center of the raft from end to end, forming the backbone. Herring bone chains are shackled to the center chain and attached to the five circle chains at each end of the raft, and 180 feet of tow chain is attached to the middle of the third chain from each end of the raft. The third circle chain is the same size as the tow chain. This gives an emergency tow chain, which can be used if the tow chain in service becomes unshackled or fails for any cause. The raft tows equally well from either end. When pull is exerted on the tow chain the weight of the 180 feet of chain acts as an, equalizer in addition to the towing engine of the tug, and the pull of the tug is transmitted through the tow chain to the circle chain on the opposite end of the raft through the herring bone chains. Any slack created is taken up by the working of the raft in the sea which always tends to make it longer. After the tow chain is in place the process of piling in the logs continues until a depth of from 26 to 28 feet in the water is reached. Then the circle chains are fastened around the, raft and cinched up with the aid of a donkey engine and a set of six sheave blocks and grab shackles. The circle chains are of one and seven-eighths-inch stud link anchor chain and are placed at 12-foot intervals. The total weight of the chain on one of these rafts is about 175 tons. The raft dimensions are: width, 55 feet; maximum depth, 35 feet; length, 835 feet; draugh from 26 to 28 feet.

The great point in favor of this type of raft is that it is self-tightening, and there is no tendency for the mass to loosen. As soon as the raft is out of the cradle, it tends to flatten and tighten the circle chains, and when it is towed the process of tightening continues.




The top image below is of the construction of the "cradle" for one of Benson's rafts (a completed reft can be seen in the water behind the derrick.)
The bottom image is of an unknown completed raft waiting for tow.
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works

JohnP

Jeepers Marc thanks; that is excellent service. I swear I saw those photos somewhere recently. NGSLG? I guess I soaked those brain cells and now they're gone. :(
John Palecki

marc_reusser

To clarify a bit more, the two images show a log cradle being filled with logs....IE., the construction of the log raft.

MR
I am an unreliable witness to my own existence.

In the corners of my mind there is a circus....

M-Works