Questions about logging railroads?

Here's a link.     Some useful information.   

It depends a lot on where you're looking at. On some logging lines, the trip from the area where logs were loaded to the sawmill was only a few miles. On other railroads, the trip could be much longer, like 60-70 miles.

Some logging lines connected directly to a larger railroad, others ended at a lake or river and the logs were floated to their destination that way. Here in Minnesota, one logging line brought logs to one side of Gull Lake, the logs were floated to the other side, and then loaded onto Northern Pacific flatcars for the trip to the Twin Cities for milling.

A railroad that interchanged with another railroad would have to follow all pertinent state and federal rules as far as equipment, some states mandated cabooses be a minimum length, have at least two four-axle trucks etc.

In Minnesota almost all logging railroads were 'common carrier' railroads, since their rail lines and other property was taxed at a lower rate than if it was a private railroad operation.

Keep in mind also that logging in the Great Lakes area was commonly done in the winter.

And some logging lines brought logs to the mill.  Mill processed logs to lumber. Lumber loaded onto Class 1 cars.  No interchange.

If the logging RR was/is not a common carrier, then the FRA laws would not apply       In the days that logging RRs were common, OSHA as we know it did not exist.    Safety rules would have existed maybe but much less stringent than we have today.   

Logging RRs have a reputation for building their own equipment.    Look for the book on the "Mann's Creek RR"  it has a lot of stuff on a narrow gauge logging operation.     There is some really crude homebuilt cars shown in photos in the book.     I think disconnect logging buggies would not be home-built however. 

As brakes, again the common carrier status is probably the most important.    I tbink if a common carrier, there may be a requirement for air brakes after a certain date.    If a private RR, then they could run with no brakes or hand brakes.    Obviously, in hilly mountain country, some sort of brakes were necessary.

I am familiar with steel mill RRs which in many cases are private RRs not common carriers.      And equipment that does not go into interchange service does not have to meet rules.   Many Steel mill operations bought old gons especially, and maybe flats for in plant use.    One of the first things they did was cut off all the brake rigging.    The plants were generally level and trains short, so engine brakes were enough.    And the big reason was that the stuff always needed maintence that they did not want to bother with.  

This is a late reply, but the Cummer and Sons Cypress Company operated two steam locomotives a 4-6-0 Porter and a 2-6-2, as well as a small diesel. They put down temporary lines into the swamps, which the trains would run to Lacoochee, Fl. There the wood was cut down and moved by the company to Trilby for an interchange with Seaboard.

The Museum I volunteer at has the 4-6-0 ( Pioneer Florida Museum) and the Florida Railroad Museum, has the 2-6-2. 

https://youtu.be/FgRuCJmI_XI

Only cars used in interchange service would have to meet the federal regulations. A private rail line whose equipment stayed on their own property could use archbar trucks, link-and-pin couplers, etc. long after those things were outlawed by federal regulations. So if a logging railroad brought logs to one side of a sawmill and the milled lumber was shipped out in boxcars of a mainline railroad on the other side, the logging cars wouldn't be in interchange service so could be out of regulation.