Like many model railroaders, Chuck started with a Lionel train set given to him by his dad. It expanded each year until Chuck was in third-grade and met his lifelong train buddy, the late Bruce Nelson. Bruce modeled in HO and Chuck could not get over just how real Bruce's trains looked compared to his Lionels. So,the Lionel was sold and HO became the Chuck Lind scale of choice. That same year with no Lionel in the plans for Christmas, Chuck's mother gave him the book Short Line to Paradise about the Yosemite Valley Railroad. That book made Chuck fall in love with California Logging. 1992 was a milestone year for Chuck with a new wife and a scale change to On3. Chuck says both his wife and On3 have worked out very well.
Chuck is a Life Member of the NMRA and a Master Model Railroader. He has earned all 11 certificates for MMR. He enjoys scratch building and spending time in the Narrow Gauge contest rooms participating and studying models.
Chuck was a co-chair of the Narrow Gauge Convention in Houston, TX in 2015.
CLINIC - Crowell Spencer Lumber Company, Long Leaf, Louisiana
Chuck's clinic presentation will go over the long history of the Crowell and Spencer Lumber Company and their railroad, The Red River and Gulf Railroad.
C.T. Crowell arrived in the area that would later become the town of Long Leaf, Louisiana in the late 1890s. He was in the lumber business in Arkansas and was told of the vast virgin forests in Louisiana. He built his main mill in Long Leaf and went on to build other mills in the Louisiana towns of Meridian and Alco.
The clinic will review the changes to the mill over the years from its beginning in the 1890’s until it finally closed in the 1960’s. The mill's closure is not the end of the story. Today the Crowell legacy lives on. In the late 1990’s the Crowell family gave the complex to a non-profit organization in the state. So, that rich history lives on as the Southern Forest Heritage Museum.
Chuck Lind has been one of the archivist at the museum and a board member for over 20 years. So, the clinic will take a look at what the museum has become including a brief look at some of the museum's exhibits. This is the only complete saw mill complex museum in the United States including the sawmill, planer mill, and belt driven machinery. Many of the machines have been brought back to life to help with the museum's many projects.
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