Manufacturer: Little Railways, 1621 Cherry Street, Williamsport, PA 17701. Price: RS-276 ready-to-run, wooden logging trucks, $42.00 per pair. Pennsylvania residents please add 6-percent sales tax. All orders please include an additional $2.50 for shipping.

First a word about logging trucks. Many loggers built individual trucks, or disconnects, instead of complete cars to haul timber. The weight of the logs on each pair of trucks kept them from pulling apart, and the lack of a rigid connection let the lumberjacks haul timber of any length. The log bunk rested above and parallel to the truck bolster. Both sat perpendicular to the rails. The bunk swiveled so the load would remain stable on curves. Early disconnects had no brakes or other hardware and the lumber companies usually built them from wood beams in their own "shops".

Little Railways' model reflects such trucks. The "beams" are precision-cut hardwood with a realistic, weathered, slightly dirty gray finish. An acrylic coating protects the wood parts. The nut/bolt/washer castings are metal. So are the axle journals, couplings, and the log retaining chalks on the bunks. The wheels are plastic but the metallic silver finish on our sample closely resembles steel. The NBW castings and all but the wheel treads on our sample had a rust colored paint finish. The bunk chalks and hook-and-chain couplers have a rusty, chemically etched finish. The whole model is very attractive.

Each truck measures 4 1/2 inches long by 3 1/16 inches wide or a scale 7 feet 6 inches by 5 feet 1 inch.

The simplicity of the model suggests Little Railways' owner, Tony Ferraro, may have cut a corner on detail-but no. The prototype is equally uncomplicated. How do we know? Tony always includes a packet of confirming photographs.

So when the logging disconnects arrived, so did a dozen historical photo reprints proving the trucks are virtual dead-ringers for both Pennsylvania and California prototypes. My two favorites show an odd little 0-4-0 "gypsy" saddle tank locomotive belonging to the Madera Sugar Pine Lumber Company hauling a string of disconnects through the woods.

They appear to be identical to Little Railways' trucks in every respect but two. First, they have link-and-pin couplers instead of the hook-and-chain type Little Railways chose to model. Second, a pair of bolts, one above the other, secures each end beam to the side sills. One photo of a Pennsylvania log train shows disconnects with such bolts, the other shows cars without them. Similarly, one Pennsylvania photo suggests link-and-pin couplers, the other hook-and-chain. You have to wake up very early to out-research Ferraro.

If you prefer the additional bolt detail, spend a dollar, buy a bag of parts, and have a ball. If you want link-and-pin couplers, though, you are out of luck. Nobody manufactures an appropriate coupler short enough to mount flush against the end sill without extending past the end buffers. All mount under the end sill.

Incidentally, the hook-and-chain couplings are perfectly authentic, they work fine indoors or out, and connect easily to LGB-type hook/loop couplers.

The disconnects look wonderful behind 1:20 scale Lehmann and Bachmann Porters. An ideal train would consist of an odd number of pairs, probably five or seven, with or without timber loads. The quality of the cars is very good, they will roll through curves too tight for any locomotive, and make up an interesting and unusual train.

Little Railways scores again with a durable, unassuming, authentic, and attractive product.-RR