In the most recent issue of Model Railroader there is a one-page advertisement for paper industry-related models, including pulpwood flatcars, woodchip hopers, woodchip loaders, and a re-issue of the paper mill. I've got woodchip gons and woodracks, so I'm covered there, but the woodchip loader is gonna save me time scratchbuilding one for the Spring River. Now my question is- has anyone built the paper mill kit? How much space will it take for, say, this kit plus tracks to serve it? I've got some space on the Spring River that's begging for a large building. TIA
About six years ago, right after the Walthers paper mill came out, MR ran a couple articles on building a small HO railroad based on the paper mill and saw mill. They basicially built a 6'x6' railroad, with each scene taking up half the railroad (almost). So in their compact scene, the paper used about 3'x4'. I've built the paper mill and rotary unloader, but have yet to install them on a railroad (not enough room until I expand it ). Figure that if you lay out the scene linearly, you'll need at least 4', probably 6', x 2' deep minimum. Also, you're going to want a lot of auxiliary buildings, because the few you get in that kit aren't quite enough. See if you can find the book Walthers published along with the timber series six years ago. I know Walthers still lists it, and I think I see in on sale in their monthly flyer I tend to receive (even though I never purchase from Terminal). I got a copy when I purchased the complete series, and there are a bunch of photos and ideas on modeling paper mills. Also, Craftsman had an article on the Ketchikan Pulp mill during the late 1990s. It's got a few good photos, and might help a bit. Pat
The Paper Mill is a great kit and is not hard to put together. The Rotary Dump is farily straight forward, but if you paint it be sure to mask the teeth off well on the edge or file them out completely afterwards. If you don't you will never get it to operate smoothly. Be sure to have plenty of room for this industry, it is large and will require a lot of space.
