Hi All,
The height of a tree depends on the era modelled and where you are
modelling.
If you are modelling in the 1920's or earlier, the fir trees around
Northern Ontario and some parts of Southern Ontario rivalled the height
and girth of the great firs in British Colunbia and California. I
imagine at one time that was true everywhere in Eastern Canada and US.
The logging that took place was clear cut, meaning everything was cut
down and that which was considered of little use was left to rot. A lot
of erosion took place because of this method. The most popular logged
was clear white pine for the masts on ships and ship building. Next
came red pine. White pine has a somewhat smooth bark with long slender
needles in groups of 5. Red pine has a rough bark with long fatter
needles in groups of 2. Both trees generally grow very tall and
straight. The most hated pine was the Jack Pine which was never
straight, always left to rot. It looked like a Red Pine with shorter
needles but very curved branches. If you go to Algonquin Park Logging
museum, you will see a couple of cut white pines that have been
preserved. They are at least 8 feet across. These were left in the
woods to rot because they had checks in them. A check was a crack.
There were no reforestration programs until the 1950's.
The white and black spruce are more northern trees but could be found
down here. You can also model Larch and Hemlock as these are fairly
common. All these are soft woods, ideal for building.
Many of the large sawmills in Southern Ontario were gone by the 1940's.
Wiarton had one until 1940. The big trees were gone and so too the big
sawmills.
Some of this information was passed down to me by my father who grew up
in a logging camp in Wawa, Ontario in the early 1920's.
If you are modelling Galt, Ontario anytime after the 1930's, the trees
would be fairly new and not wild as everything would have been logged
out replaced by farmlands etc. I would go with trees between 6 and 12
inches in height for S scale. Some fir, like spruce and pine and lots
of deciduous, maples, birch, elm, oak etc. As a rule, the deciduous
grow in faster and then are replaced by the firs.
Alaska would be a different story depending on whether or not you are
above the treeline. Once you get above the treeline, all you get is
scrub trees and bush. Scrub trees would be only 2.5 to 4 inches at most
in S. Once again, it depends on where you are modelling and era. There
are websites devoted to logging and some books may be available. I have
one that shows North Vancouver with its clear cut logging. What a
waste.
I hope this helps.
And no, I am not a tree hugger. I own a Stihl 18" chainsaw. Very
dangerous but necessary up north at the camp/cottage. I just don't like
waste.
cheers,
Andy Malette
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