Rail barge and dock

Very much prototypical.

Njcjoe that was the one that used to run from brooklyn to Manhattan or jersey if I'm not mistaken correct? At the foot of 65st. I remember seeing it when I was a kid. I think its all gone now last I heard I think it was owned by the Jamaica rr which I think is still operating.  I could be wrong though. Won't be the first time. I have to pass there 1 Fay this week to see what's there now.

Yea .... that is freakin cool!

And, they had such carfloat operations in your neck of the woods, too. B&O RR did it at Locust Point in Baltimore.

(When I had a large HO layout, I did the whole Walthers' carfloat/apron/tug thing. Fun stuff.)

I would love for someone to make an O Scale Kit for a transfer bridge similar to one these...

Absolutely prototypical. In keeping with the Port theme on part of the club layout, we have one similar to the one T4TT posted above. We even have idler flat cars lying around to move cars on and off the barge.

Loading/unloading a car float was an exercise in balance to keep it from sinking. I don't know if any are in use today.

AGHRMatt posted:

Absolutely prototypical. In keeping with the Port theme on part of the club layout, we have one similar to the one T4TT posted above. We even have idler flat cars lying around to move cars on and off the barge.

Loading/unloading a car float was an exercise in balance to keep it from sinking. I don't know if any are in use today.

Its fantastic that you guys are doing that! I think marine operations is such an interesting aspect of railroading.

The once prolific, and very cool, carfloat operations between New Jersey and New York City are all but gone. Pretty sure that the only present one is New York New Jersey Rail ... a short line owned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey .... and it crosses New York Harbor between Jersey City, NJ and Brooklyn, NY.

maybe something like this in O scale

another photo

I did the research, scratch built a semi scaled float bridge and rail barge in O scale. I followed methods of loading and unloading near prototypical  practice. I took the layout down in years ago with some new waterfront idea plans, some more concise simple track plan with handlaid trackage and turnouts made. This project is  still on the drawing board(shelf). I additionally made some barges and a small steam ship to accompany the next phase. All equipment in the dreaded standby mode. This means shelved, standstill and possibly near liquidation phase if too much time slips by! One experiences the excitement of the build and operations of this kind with the hope that the next build may have a finer  operational scheme. It will still be a point to point to point operation. The rail float acts like a yard connected diagonally to a series of tracks that go from east to west with two other yards at either end. Additionally there was an entry/exit turnout to some staging for a road switcher to bring loaded train for rail barge delivery or  exchange for empties in the two yards aforementioned.A seperate switcher was on duty for exclusive barge service and yard duties on the waterfront.

It  was really very entertaining to load or un load the rail barge. It would take about 30 to 40 minutes for this operation.  Then another amount of time loading or emptying the yards. Safe and careful.

Some day I expect to weather the float bridge. That's going to take a lot of time.

Leroof

Leroof posted:

maybe something like this in O scale

 

Nice apron and hoist structure. Who did the build?

Leroof posted:

maybe something like this in O scale

Very nice. Outstanding work!

How long did you make your carfloat? They take up a lot of real estate. The plastic HO Walthers models were 280 scale feet long.

It is a lot of fun to load/unload them. I powered the rails on the carfloat so I could .... unprototypically .... actually run an engine onto it, for fun.

Check out the Seattle port and the ocean barges that get moved to Alaska. The show on the Destination channel about the Alaska railroad has a very interesting episode on the ocean barge unloading. The ocean tugs are amazing.

getting the cars on and off is not an easy thing to accomplish.

Anyway, this is still something that is a lifeline for Alaska.

Whittier Loading Dock

I posted previously about J&L Steel in Pgh. moving rail cars on barges on the rivers from the Southside Works to the Aliquipa mill.  That would bee cool for a smaller or O gauge layout.

Leroof,
Your car float/transfer bridge is spectacular!  I wish I had the talent to build that from scratch.

Nice work Mr Leroof ! Much better detailed than mine congratulations mate.

Mine ended up in the trash bin so ending an era of waterfront operations, ten years of modelling and research, two days of smashing and bashing and it was gone. Roo.

ROO, thanks for your compliments!  without your construction article in the premier issue of OST I would not have known where to start!  Your bridge artcle opened up a great new Modelling interest. I recommend it to anyone interested in building one. My float bridge is just an extension of your model, same basic structure and mode d'emploi. I Just added a few thingamajigs here and there.Thanks for the photos, I am sorry to see it met its demise! I should have attempted to rescue it!  

All your modeling  is always an inspiration, All my best mate.

Leroof (Pierre)

EBT JIM    My rail float is 73.5 inches by 10 inches. 

It is just a few pieces of 1x2's framed,  some old homosote, a lot of weathering and some deck hardware. I will dig out some photos.

T4TT, you certainly  can build one. See the construction article in Premier OST for the steps. I had never built anything before, no special talent needed. Read article and slowly take time to make construction a reality. You can embellish the float bridge over time or just keep it basic. YOU CAN DO IT.

Leroof

Btw, The talent part of this construction is credited to ROO who had vision to see it and build it part at a time, then share it.

 this is the link for the float bridge construction article.

http://www.oscalemag.com/docs/ost_1.pdf

go to page 31, 32, and 33.

Leroof

just a couple more photos.

 have a great weekend.