My name's Pete - and I build model trains. There I said it...!

Never did a kit for a Lombard Log Hauler but I did once see one in action at a Pacific North West logging museum - Camp Nine on the journey between Seattle and Portland if I remember correctly. Those are the kind of odd-ball but fascinating contraptions that drew me to model logging.

During winter, the pony wheels up front on Lombards were replaced with skis. Must have been a white knuckle ride hauling a string of heavy sleds piled 20ft high with logs over snow & ice covered terrain. But I'd feel a lot more comfortable doing that in the Lombard's cab rather than sat behind a team of horses doing the same job in slightly earlier times. Can't have been much fun for the driver or team if the log-loaded sleds tried over-taking on downhill grades.
My wife Jen's dad left the UK during the depression and headed for Canada looking for work. Charlie spent 7 years in the forest logging industy and aboard Great Lakes steamers before heading home to the UK to settle down and raise a family.