a crude logging bridge, that got the job done. Photo by the famous logging photographer Darius Kinsey. Glacier Creek in Whatcom county

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=8862369673808901&set=gm.2084330018703858&idorvanity=398268110643399

I learned of Kinsey's logging photos in 2015, and they are impressive https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=Darius+Kinsey

The Shacks - rail cars that functioned as temporary mobile housing and for supplies that followed loggers into the forested wilds of north-central Pennsylvania during the late 19th-century

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=383296974482185&set=a.368696449275571

1910ish wooden railroad rails and log ties. I've never seen this before

https://woodchuckcanuck.com/2021/10/23/vintage-logging-railroads-3/

a donkey engine pulled a cable controlling the logging railcars, of the Greenpoint Logging Company in the Harrison Lake area circa 1930's.

https://www.facebook.com/EricBrightonNostalgia/photos/p.202221038840626/202221038840626/?type=3

when you run out of train cars, what are you going to do to get those logs delivered? Improvise.

 

large logs can be pushed ahead of a steam engine, or pulled behind while loaded on flatcars. 

The pushing option of course requires a low-friction surface of some type between the rails, to allow the heavy logs to slide easily. 

 This photo was taken near the mills at Bridal Veil, in the Columbia Gorge.

https://www.oldoregonphotos.com/subject/trains/two-ways-to-move-logs-by-raiload-1904.html

the little engine that could

 some where in the Yoop a long time ago. The photo was found in an old log cabin

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2332482086905081&set=a.132377116915600

1900's Oregon logging train photo colorized by the amazing "Imbued With Hues"

 I hope you click on it for a full screen look, it's a stunning large bridge of logs they constructed, from experience, without computers

https://www.facebook.com/204043959763699/photos/a.204047289763366/1958148951019849/

another cool logging photo from Clark Kinsey

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vehicle_on_pole_road,_Warren_Spruce_Company,_Seaside,_ca_1918_(KINSEY_2645).jpeg

I posted another a couple years ago, https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/but-have-you-seen-yarding-donkey.html and was surprised to learn there were two guys with the last name Kinsey who were logging photographers, Clark and Darius

pole road for logging during WW1

I'll guess you haven't seen this before

https://www.blackdiamondnow.net/black-diamond-now/2017/05/no-money-for-rail-build-a-pole-road.html

this ought to be shown on Dieselpunk sites, the Clyde four-line skidder used in Mississippi logging

J. J. Newman’s Clyde four-line skidder at work in Jefferson Davis County.

J. J. Newman had huge sawmills at Hattiesburg and Sumrall, the sawmill town built by J. J. Newman.

The Clyde skidder could gather fallen timber from as far as 1,000 feet from either side of the rail logging spur. Logs were stacked next to the spur and later loaded on log trains.

Photo from S. E. Moreton, Jr. , Collection of Tony Howe-Gilbert Hoffman-David Price.

http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/171/growth-of-the-lumber-industry-1840-to-%091930

https://www.msrailroads.com/Foster_Creek.ht

there was an extensive narrow gauge railway along the coast of New Zealand installed only to remove kauri lumber, and during the removal, gold reefs were discovered by accident when using "driving dams" to flood canyons and float out the logs

I came across this logging railroad photo on a Russian blog, and looked for a cleaner (this one) image than the fuzzy overly reposted image they featured.

the locomotive engine was called the Sandfly

Then I learned all about the rare huge trees in New Zealand that were on the remote coast, that a Dr bought the forest range containing them, and then spent 30 years trying to get the timber out.

It was so difficult, that they tried every thing, even driving dams (flood a canyon, use it to float the logs, then burst dam after dam along the way to float the logs to the ocean in stages.... a lot of log jams, not much progress!

in the 1800s the main interest in Piha were the fine stands of kauri. The problem, however, was that much of it, even if harvested, would be difficult or near impossible to transport, first out of the forest, then to the sawmill in Karekare, some eight kilometers away. Once in Karekare, the wood would still need to be transported down the coast another eight kilometers or so to where ships could pick up and transport the lumber.

In 1860s the kauri forest in Piha Valley was bought by a Dr. Stockwell, and for twenty years he unsuccessfully tried to log and transport the kauri out of the remote valley. Once he had gotten the logs out of the forest, part of this plan entailed strapping the logs to rafts, dragging the rafts out to sea and then down the coast. His efforts failed. Thirty years passed.

Finally the problems were solved by building a sawmill in Piha—processed lumber was far easier to transport than kauri logs—and a steam powered tramway was constructed that lifted lumber out of the Piha valley up 300 meters with a grade of 1:1.45 (22%) and then lowered it down a grade to Karekare, a grade of 1:2.5 (36%), over a total distance of about 8 kilometers.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:W._G._Bagnall_locomotives
https://movin2newzealand.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/the-piha-tramway-piha-karekare-and-whatipu/
https://ritkanlathatotortenelem.blog.hu/2018/11/04/napi_erdekes_571

In 1904, Smyth Bros. found gold in one of their driving streams, Omoho Creek, exposed by the action of the floating kauri logs about 4 miles north of the Royal Oak Mine. By driving timber down the Omoho Creek towards Kennedy Bay the creek channel had been scoured clean, thus revealing many fine reefs and leaders. The leader discovered crossed the creek in north-southerly direction. Strong gold was visible in the stone for over 30 feet, the size of the reef being up to 6 inches in thickness, so that an experienced prospector was contracted to retrieve the gold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messrs._Smyth_Brothers%27_Tramway

one way to move logs out of the forest, to the trains, was simple bogeys on rails not fitted with too many ties, but quickly laid in any direction the loggers were working in

above is a demo of the bogeys on a log, but ignore the 4 x 4s

as there certainly weren't many ties in the forest floor

https://untamedmaine.com/explore-the-abandoned-ghost-trains-of-the-north-maine-woods/

1922 logging railroad, no plates, and with the ties not even sawn. That's some mighty fast slapdash quickbuild of local resources to get a train in and out without messing about

the tents are the eating bench area beside the cook's shed (learned by looking at other photos of this logging camp), and the wagon is unloading barrels of beer

https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsnorth/id/9135/rec/29

one spike on either side of the rail, total 4 per log

https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsnorth/id/11163/rec/21

I'd bet that they didn't grade in a rail bed either.

https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsnorth/id/9221/rec/77

https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsnorth/id/8895/rec/221

Steam-powered Lombard Log Hauler, it was relocated to the USA by a collector in the 1950's and rebuilt to running condition from Hudson Bay SK as three were there and abandoned

https://www.facebook.com/groups/472456403800111/posts/974414090271004/

read about it at https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/01/21/bangor/bangor-culture/alvin-lombard-invented-precursor-to-snowmobile-joam40zk0w

thanks George! 

Riding the logging train. 1906

http://back-then.tumblr.com/post/83816923689/riding-the-logging-train-1906

coastal logging, a small outfit of 5 locomotives, 200 hundred lumberjacks, and a couple of the first dozers (1930s - early 40s)

1914 Logging train, Kellogg Lumber Company, Antigo Wisconsin

http://hazelhomeartandantiques.blogspot.com/2015/01/kellog-lumber-company-log-train-season.html

immediately reminded me of http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/06/snow-tractor-converted-steam-locomotive.html a very similar machine... very dieselpunk

Thanks Denis!

snow tractor converted steam locomotive? Or steam tractor?

https://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/image/159199074627

steam powered rail road crane used in logging

https://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/

2 horsepower logging effort was a lot cheaper than a small locomotive

http://www.blackdiamondnow.net/black-diamond-now/2013/11/big-logs-enumclaw-circa-1918.html