In a scene inspired by West Side Lumber Company’s River Bridge, Climax No. 13 is bringing a string of loads to the mill (above left). Lumber companies often built spectacular or unusu- al bridges. They had access to the timber for their own needs– and they needed access to more timber to keep the mills running.


Lou began the Coon Creek Lumber Company in the mid-1980’s in a 20- by 22-foot space in his home on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. Set in the Cascades, about as far as one can get from Flori- da in the Lower 48, he filled the room with dramatic scenery and highly-de- tailed structures and equipment por- traying not only the lumber industry, but how railroads tied into it. This was no diorama; it was a kinetic, three-di- mensional story line. When he was attending Purdue Uni-


versity, Lou, a native Floridian, joined the model railroad club. There, he en- countered a photo of a Shay and said “What’s that?” A lifelong interest in the logging industry began.


The Coon Creek Lumber Company used established construction meth- ods: L-girder benchwork, hard shell scenery, and handlaid and flexible track. Since On3 turnouts were not widely available, most were hand made. The locos were mostly brass, and


RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 41


Trestles were cheaper than fills and only had to last as long as the cutting did. Above,No. 9’s fluted domes, I-beam frame and truss rods are typical of the smaller Shays (up to about 30 or 40 tons) built by Lima before 1900. This tank engine on the standard gauge connection (below) is bringing general freight up to the CCLCo.


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