Re: heislers

I beleive there were a few narrow guage McGifferts. There were no narrow guage Lidgerwood tower skidders however. As for the slide-back loaders (slide-ass loaders) several companies made them and I'm certain they were used in narrow guage.
Gypsy engines were popular in Redwood and pine country, also in early fir. Around the turn of the century they fell out of favor in fir country mostly because of larger machines. They would be more common in narrow guage mainly because most narrow guage logging was in pine (smaller trees) and much of it was early on in the 20th century.
Another changing dynamic involved the fact that after the 1920's smaller operations didn't generally use railroads for logging - going for trucks and cats. You'll find gypsy-style small loaders in non-rail logging up to the present.
By then if you could afford to log by rail you had a big enough operation to use bigger loading equipment. Lon
PACIFIC MODEL LOGGERS CONGRESS - Sat March 17 Camp 18 Elsie, Oregon (3rd annual)