"Dolbeer donkey engine."

This model, in 1/48 scale, is of a Dolbeer donkey engine. I based it on a Westside Lumber Company prototype, and the skids and many parts are scratch-built to conform to the photographs of the actual machine found in the book "They Felled the Redwoods." This model started out as a Hetch-Hetchy kit.

These engines were used to skid logs out of the woods and replaced donkeys, mules, horses and oxen, hence the name. The operator was called a donkey-puncher. The man who hooked the cable choker to the logs was called a whistle punk. The cable was wound around the revolving capstan and the log was then reeled in. This one was fueled with oil, but many used wood and sometimes coal.