Books Available from
Western Scale Models
Western Scale Models
is proud to carry a series of books aimed at helping you understand the
machinery and techniques that our models represent. Each book is meant to assist
you in creating the most accurate models possible.
The Sierra Railroad Machine Shop, the Anatomy of an early 20th Century
Railroad Machine Shop: an Aid to Modeling
Written by Bill Gustafson, this book describes the Sierra Railroad Machine
Shop and provides a floor plan showing the placement of machines in the shop.
The overhead belt system is explained and a picture of each machine shows how it
is connected to and run from the overhead belt system. Pulley dimensions are
provided for each machine. This book is an excellent reference if you are
planning to build a machine shop for your railroad. (40 pages, comb-bound, Book
P-1)
The Stationary Steam Engine, a brief look at their history, development, and
how they work
Written by William Gustafson, this book looks at the development of the
stationary steam engine from the early atmospheric engines of Savery, Newcomen,
and Watt, through the Corliss, and finally to the Uniflow engines of the early
20th Century. Brief sections include a look at railroad steam locomotives and
marine engines. Ten appendixes help the reader to understand how a steam engine
works, steam valves, governors, condensers and boilers. It even includes a
section on how to start and run a stationary steam engine. This book should
answer many of the questions you may have had about steam engines. (59 pages, 46
figures, comb-bound, Book P-2)
Complete set of plans for the Hull-Oakes Lumber Company, Monroe, Oregon
Prepared by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) to document
historically significant engineering, industrial, and maritime works in the
United States. The field work, measured drawings, and historical report was
prepared under the direction of Eric DeLony, Chief, HAER, in 1998. The set
includes 12 11" X 17" pages with plans, drawings, and descriptions of
the entire Hull Oakes Lumber Company operation. (Book P-3)
Modeling the Mining Industry: Gold and Silver Stamp Mills
This book, written by William Gustafson, describes the gravity stamp mills
used to process gold and silver ores from the time gold was first discovered in
the western United States in 1848 until the early 1900's when cyanide was used
to supplement the stamp milling process. Various regions including the Sierra
Nevada Motherlode, Gilpin County, Colorado, and the Homestate Mine, South Dakota
are compared to see how stamp mills have been modified to process the different
types of ores found in each region. Included are detailed descriptions of mill
equipment and how they were used in the mills. A complete set of plans and
templates are provided to assemble a 20-stamp mill. 102 pages, 74 figures plus
14 pages of templates, comb-bound. (Book P-4)
Modeling the Mining Industry: Compressed Air, its
Generation and Use in Mining
The use of compressed air has been indispensable in mining since the
invention of the pneumatic rock drill in the 1860's. Compressed air is
used in every facet of mining from the drilling of the tunnel, to transportation
of ore by hoist or haulage and is even used in the milling operation. This
book discusses in detail the production of compressed air by various types of
air compressors, the transmission of compressed air, and then looks at the
applications of compressed air in mining. Applications include rock-drills
and hammers, coal mining machines, hoists, compressed air locomotives for mine
haulage, pumping of liquids and the use of compressed air in machine shops.
The use of compressed air at various mines is described. 75 pages, 56
figures, comb-bound. (Book P-5)
Gold and Silver Stamp Mills: A detailed look at mill interiors with emphasis
on the Standard Gold Mill, Bodie, California
This book takes a detailed look at the interior of the Standard gold mill and
Gray's mill at Bodie, California. The Standard gold mill is an intact
example of the "model California stamp mill". The building houses the full
array of equipment that exemplified stamp-milling practice at the turn of the
twentieth century. Gray's mill is an excellent example of a small 7-stamp
mill, similar to hundreds of small mills that once flourished across western
America. 50 pages, 57 color pictures, 14 figures, comb-bound. (Book
P-6)
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