De Steenwaard brickworks NG train 'ferry'

[Dunalastair]

One of my favourite images on the Industrial Railway Record web collection of early issues is this, from No. 25  in June 1969. Despite having a search on the web, I have never managed to find any more images, though there is probably enough in this photograph to build a simple model. There is more information on the typical Dutch brickworks at the other end of the line. 

 

A question to the IRS forum drew a blank - hardly surprising considering that 54 years have passed. Considering that an image of Loch nan Uamh viaduct under construction only turned up after I had built my model of it, the same might happen with this, so I'll ask the question here, not really expecting any more information.

 

https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/25/Overseas_9_Holland.htm

 

"De Steenwaard" Brickworks, near Wageningen     Diesel or no, this 700mm gauge "train ferry" makes a charming and unusual scene. Orenstein & Koppel 25652 of 1955 heads for the brickworks whilst the barge returns to the clay pits.         (R.J. Brettschneider)

[Jeremy Cumberland]

What an interesting photograph.

 

The caption appears to have lost something in translation. Quite likely the locomotive will head to the brickworks and the ferry will return to the clay pits, but not just yet. The loco needs to draw the loaded skip wagons off the boat first, and perhaps some empty wagons will then be loaded before the boat makes its journey back. Alternatively, this is at the clay pits just after the wagons have been loaded, but that makes less sense if the caption is to be believed.

 

It looks like the loco is right on the edge of a fixed jetty and immediately in front of it is a ramp that is part of the boat. The end of the ramp is suspended from a beam, but I can't tell how. It looks like a fixed link, but I'd expect something for adjusting the height. I imagine the end of the ramp rests on the end of the jetty, and that there's something securing it in place. I can't see any ropes going to the boat. If this is a river, then surely a rope would be needed from the back of the boat to the shore on the upstream side at the very least.

 

There is a rope or bar from just in front of the locomotive going into the water, which looks like it might be securing an I beam, that is used as a buffing plate.

[Dunalastair]

Yes, that was my thought on the caption. Useful observations on the river dock and mooring. I did wonder if the link span on which the loco is sitting might have been a pontoon structure.

 

I have just received a copy of the 1968 'Train Ferries of Western Europe', but this is rather at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to most of the vessels in the book. 

 

Although not evident in the photograph, such locos often did not work onto small ferries, using chains and / or poles to work the wagons. 

[Jeremy Cumberland]

21 minutes ago, Dunalastair said:

I did wonder if the link span on which the loco is sitting might have been a pontoon structure.

It might be - I don't think we can tell from the photograph - but it seems unnecessary on a river when it is easier for the ferry ramp to be adjustable. A pontoon would need another ramp to the land, and how would you ensure the rails lined up? Spoon points, perhaps? Usually pontoon ramps can move back and forth on the pontoon, which seems to rule out any form of butt joint.

 

I doubt there would be any problem for the loco to work onto the ferry. It looks much the same size as a Ruston 48DL, which weighs about 7 tons. The skip wagons look a little bigger than 1 cubic yard (but not as big as 2 cy. yd) so probably weigh about 2-3 tons laden.

[Dunalastair]

Thankyou again for those suggestions.

 

Any more for any more on the image front? Seems less than likely now.

 

In the absence of any more photographs, and that always looked unlikely, I have been playing with a simple 3D design for the ferry / barge. An initial screenshot follows.

 

The scale is about 1:100, on the basis that I have a set of 6.5mm gauge skip wagons which look similar to the Steenwaard rolling stock, more so than my 9mm gauge Peco skips. Given that the prototype is identified as 700mm, that makes close enough to 1:100. 

 

Getting the curve on the bulwarks, upwards towards the bow, required a little experimentation. It would not have looked the same as a rectilinear shape. The next stage will be to add an indicative pier and loco, to get the proportions right, before I start to think about more detailing.

 

I am thinking in terms of another A4 size diorama, in which the barge would occupy most of the space, and will move this to the diorama section in due course.

[Jeremy Cumberland]

That looks very nice, and I like the curve on the hull. The box in front of the wheelhouse in the photograph is alongside the track, not behind it. Also, there looks to be a greater deck area behind the bridge than you have in your model - there is certainly a cleat behind the bridge (and three others along the side) - and I imagined the stern deck to be a semicircle. Both the wheelhouse and the box appear to sit inside the hull, and there is a footrail on the inside of the side deck here, The side deck stops at the front of the box.

[Dunalastair]

4 hours ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

That looks very nice, and I like the curve on the hull. The box in front of the wheelhouse in the photograph is alongside the track, not behind it. Also, there looks to be a greater deck area behind the bridge than you have in your model - there is certainly a cleat behind the bridge (and three others along the side) - and I imagined the stern deck to be a semicircle. Both the wheelhouse and the box appear to sit inside the hull, and there is a footrail on the inside of the side deck here, The side deck stops at the front of the box.

 

 

Useful feedback, thankyou. I have made some changes as per the attached render, this time perspective rather than isometric.

 

>The box in front of the wheelhouse in the photograph is alongside the track, not behind it.

 

Do you think so? If it did, then the V-tip wagons would seem to be forced right to one side, whereas it would make more sense for them to be central. I read that perspective as coming from the V-shape of the skip, with the 'box' with portholes housing the engine, like a smaller version of a puffer. I've stuck with that at least for now.

 

>Also, there looks to be a greater deck area behind the bridge than you have in your model - there is certainly a cleat behind the bridge (and three others along the side) - and I imagined the stern deck to be a semicircle.

 

I started off with a semicircular after-deck, then compressed it. There are cleats at the back, and I have now added some at the side - more are still needed when I improve the design. I may need to decompress that deck.

 

>Both the wheelhouse and the box appear to sit inside the hull

 

Again, I had tried to show that. Perhaps I need to make them still narrower.

 

>and there is a footrail on the inside of the side deck here,

 

I'm not sure what you mean - for me a 'footrail' is a mine in Staffordshire, as per a previous diorama of mine. Do you mean the handrail, or another feature?

 

>The side deck stops at the front of the box.

 

Yes, I had missed that the 'bulwarks' are narrower - have now done that. Will add some diagonal reinforcement.

 

Also - I am wondering if there were two girders - it seems logical that there should be, but it should be possible to see the end of the girder on the far side. Is there only one?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Dunalastair

[Jeremy Cumberland]

5 hours ago, Dunalastair said:

>The box in front of the wheelhouse in the photograph is alongside the track, not behind it.

 

Do you think so? If it did, then the V-tip wagons would seem to be forced right to one side, whereas it would make more sense for them to be central. I read that perspective as coming from the V-shape of the skip, with the 'box' with portholes housing the engine, like a smaller version of a puffer. I've stuck with that at least for now.

I've marked up what I see as the outlines of the furthest skip body and the "box". I reckon the front edge of the skip is a little forward of the front edge of the "box", and the "box" roof is perhaps slightly higher than the top edge of the skip side, but I am not at all sure on either count. The "box" roof might have a slope on it.

 

I can't tell whether the skips are in the middle or not, but I would expect them to be.

 

5 hours ago, Dunalastair said:

>and there is a footrail on the inside of the side deck here,

 

I'm not sure what you mean - for me a 'footrail' is a mine in Staffordshire, as per a previous diorama of mine. Do you mean the handrail, or another feature?

Sorry, I couldn't think of the right word. Toe board would be better, on the inside of the side deck alongside the wheelhouse and "box", but the more I look at the photo the less sure I am, and I might just be influenced by the raised lip often found around the edge of the hull space on British Waterways Board barges. Here is a photo of what I mean:

 

5 hours ago, Dunalastair said:

Also - I am wondering if there were two girders - it seems logical that there should be, but it should be possible to see the end of the girder on the far side. Is there only one?

I wondered about that, too, but I now think that the two sides are the same. We can see the cleats on the far side, matching those on the near side, but we can only just see the tops, implying the presence of a beam. The whole far side being in shadow also suggests that the inside face of the far side is underneath something. Unfortunately the front buffer of the loco obscures the front of the boat hull.

[Dunalastair]

All useful input, thankyou. I shall have to have a think. 

 

Meanwhile, I have restored the semicircular stern, added simple representations of the 6.5mm gauge tippers I have and added some more detail. At this scale, resolution is limited, so there is no point going to town on detail, I'd just like to get the proportions something like right. I find boat / ship hulls tricky in 3D design, so the relatively square shape of this barge helps.

 

[Dunalastair]

This is my attempt at interpreting the fuzzy shapes.

 

 

The wagon body appears to be undercut from the protruding lip, so looking at the lengths compared to the adjacent wagon, allowing for perspective shortening, I think that there might be enough space for the wagon to be in front of the box, rather than alongside. If it was alongside, then the ?portholes would not seem to make sense in such a small volume.

 

As to the bow, I think that I was seeing the loco buffer beam as the end of the barge bulwark. Thinking of it now as part of the loco, then the end of the bulwark (side) of the barge does indeed appear to be hidden, which allows for beam symmetry. Thankyou for putting my confusion on that to rest.

 

A lot of interpretation is needed from one blurry and shadowy image - that is why it would have been nice to have had another - but we have to work with what we have.

[Dunalastair]

Well, here is a turnup for the books. It was suggested on NGRM that I might contact the Gelders Smalspoormuseum, so I did, and they had a plan of a similar if slightly larger ferry / barge. Robin Jansen, Secretaris, has very kindly said that I can share the scanned blueprint - so here it is - a large scan file until I can work out how to compress it, but at least that means the Dutch language annotation can be read.

 

At least on this larger barge, the plan seems to confirm the 'box' arrangement which I was discussing with @Jeremy Cumberlandin previous posts. This seems to be a more streamlined version of the smaller barge in the IRS image.

 

 

Note the Bouch-style wheeled link to cope with variations in river level. 

 

And here is the latest design iteration, with an altered stern and a loco on the linkspan.

 

[Dunalastair]

I have now started a new thread in the diorama section to record a diorama design / build.

 

 

[decauville1126]

There was a similar system in Germany.

 

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=572849866&q=Jössen+Ziegelei&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirtbOIxfCBAxWcgP0HHSSwD0kQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1366&bih=619&dpr=1