"I helped Dad make ties. We used oak, both white and black. Once in a while a walnut or a hickory. Some of the companies preferred to use them (walnut and hickory) at the switching places. Cedar trees... seldom got big enough to make ties. They was used to make fence posts out of instead. They'd last a long time. We also cut stove wood after the ties was rafted down the river every spring. We made almost as much cutting and selling stove wood as we did hackin' ties for the railroads. It was hard work, but it was honest"- George McGinnis (deceased.), son of a woodcutter and tie hacker on the Osage River, c. 1927
The scenes modeled below were inspired by the quote above and are based upon historical photos of tie hacking and living conditions in the Missouri Ozarks prior to and throughout the years of the Great Depression. "The Tie-Hacker's Yard" was built as a stand-alone diorama and is not part of the CM&S/OVT&L layout.It is completely scratch built (except for those details which are obviously commercially available.
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