Trainferries and Carfloats.....

[shortliner]

http://www.carendt.us/scrapbook/page97/index.html

[Oldddudders]

http://www.carendt.us/scrapbook/page97/index.html

I seem to recall in one of the Kalmbach books a pic of a chap - Paul Scholes? - carrying his carfloat to or from its berth, which evidently happens a couple of times per operating session. It is certainly a very valid offstage feature. Sadly, UK modellers don't have many small examples to inspire them - e.g. Harwich and Dover are a bit daunting! Perhaps an Emerald Isle connection in Wales or Scotland could feel plausible. Other European countries may have more examples, too. Even landlocked Switzerland has numerous lakes with excellent steamer services, although I can't recall any train ferries.

 

It certainly makes a variation on a BLT.

[298]

Carl's feature (or maybe it should be Jack's this month) only covers the tip of the iceberg of this fascinating subject. New York was a famous area as was Western Canada, in one case there was an isolated shortline in British Columbia that was operated by the crew taking the entire train, including loco and caboose, on the barge...!! Popular belief thinks that locos weren't allowed on barges or linking bridges because of their weight, but this isn't an issue as long as the carfloat is properly loaded and within it's limits. The real reason is because the traction forces of a powered axle transitioning from the fixed rails on land to the carfloat could push it away from it's moorings.

 

I'm building a Tug from a Lindberg plastic kit, it's 1:82 scale is close enough to HO not to matter. It'll be for a Pacific Northwest carfloat operation, I did think about using a Walthers carfloat that would have been modified by deepening the hull, but instead went for a commercial vac formed hull.

 

Here are a couple of relevant links:

 

http://www.mrcd.org/puget_sound_barges.html

 

http://www.boatnerd.com/model/tug/kilkenny/

[pH]

in one case there was an isolated shortline in British Columbia that was operated by the crew taking the entire train, including loco and caboose, on the barge...!!

This was on Slocan Lake, and lasted into the 1980s. Here's a picture of the barge slip at Rosebery. In 1948, a barge sank with a train on board - there's a CPR 2-8-0 at the bottom of Slocan Lake.

[jamie92208]

One British example was the WW1 train ferries from Richborough. I believe that the slip was later moved to Harwich.

 

However to be off the wall you could go the other way and model Stanley Ferry where the boat was put on the train, in this case Tom puddings.

Jamie

[br2975]

For cheap car inshoorance - check the market dot com !

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For car floats - check this:- http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html

.

Visit this site, then Carl Arendt's site, and if you can't find an excuse for a minimum space, US uraban switching layout, you've failed !

.

Brian R

[DavidB-AU]

There was a short lived train ferry from Hayling Island to the Isle of Wight. There was also one across the Firth of Forth before the bridge was built.

 

A reasonably realistic "what if" could be a train ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway.

 

I wonder if a New York Harlem River style isolated yard might work if set somewhere on the Thames/Humber/Clyde/etc?

 

Cheers

David

[AMJ]

What if there had been a ferry linking both sides of the Humber? We all know about the BR passenger ferry that ran Hull-New Holland until the Humber bridge opened. I can't imagine that there is much freight from Hull - Immingham/Grimsby but as a what if you could have a ferry with say 2 lines each for say 5 wagons.

 

How about a hypothetical rail line on Skye with a ferry to Oban.

[PhilJ W]

There was a short lived train ferry from Hayling Island to the Isle of Wight. There was also one across the Firth of Forth before the bridge was built.

 

A reasonably realistic "what if" could be a train ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway.

 

I wonder if a New York Harlem River style isolated yard might work if set somewhere on the Thames/Humber/Clyde/etc?

 

Cheers

David

There was one in the Thames. It was used to transfer guns for testing between the Royal Arsenal and Shoeburyness. Parts of the Shoeburyness dock still exists but it went out of use between the wars. It used two special barges called 'Gog' and 'Magog'.

[halfwit]

'Industries Along The Tracks 4' (Kalmbach) has a chapter on waterfront operations, which includes carflats and ferries. Worth seeking out (as are the other 3 in the series).