Railroad Ferry The Solano

A video of the scale model of the Solano here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikb_bpO7Y54

@postmastermc

Thanks that’s great. The man that is being interviewed was also in the video that I posted.

@pennsyfan posted:

A while ago there was an ongoing thread about building a scale model of a Great Lakes ferry. I'm not sure where that thread was; so I'm posting this here.

I thought of that last night after watching this video that a friend sent to me.

The Solano was a large railroad ferry, built as a reinforced paddle steamer with independently powered sidewheels by the Central Pacific Railroad, that carried entire trains across the Carquinez Strait between Benicia and Port Costa in California, daily for 51 years from 1879 to 1930. When launched, the Solano was the largest ferry of its kind in the world, a record held for 35 years until 1914 when she was joined by her sister ship, the Contra Costa, which was 13 feet longer.

https://www.kcet.org/shows/cal...s/solano-train-ferry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solano_(ferry)

The Solano lies mostly submerged in Antioch, CA. One of the A-frames of her walking beam engine protrudes from the water. I managed to spot it briefly from a northbound Amtrak San Joaquin, a few minutes before our Martinez stop.

@Nick Chillianis posted:

The Solano lies mostly submerged in Antioch, CA. One of the A-frames of her walking beam engine protrudes from the water. I managed to spot it briefly from a northbound Amtrak San Joaquin, a few minutes before our Martinez stop.

Yes that is covered in the video. It was scuttled to make a barrier reef after it was retired. In 1983 it was set on fire by someone setting off fireworks. It burned down to the waterline.