NP2626 {snip} At Ludington, her sister ship the Wolverine was still sitting awaiting whatever her fate may be. {snip}
{snip}
At Ludington, her sister ship the Wolverine was still sitting awaiting whatever her fate may be.
Minor correction: The Badger's sister ship is the Spartan.
Given the competition beween Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, in some circles it can be kind of an important distinction
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
Archimedes77 I have always been interested in modeling a rail-marine line. I am researching proto-typical rail-marine lines, but so far the only one I have been able to find is the Ann Arbor RR.... .... Sea ports would not normally have a rail-marine line, which leads me to look at lines around the Great Lakes. Does anyone know of lines that employed rail-marine services?
I have always been interested in modeling a rail-marine line. I am researching proto-typical rail-marine lines, but so far the only one I have been able to find is the Ann Arbor RR....
.... Sea ports would not normally have a rail-marine line, which leads me to look at lines around the Great Lakes. Does anyone know of lines that employed rail-marine services?
Look under the C&O name for railferry operations. More specifically the 'Pere Marquette' rail ferrys (originator of the ferry operations). There is alot of info available from the C&OHS and the PMHS on this.
The PM was a Michigan Class 1 carrier which utilized large ferry operations on both sides of Michigan. When the PM was merged into the C&O in 1947, they inherited the ferry business aswell as the PM.
There are a few PM books out there that give detailed info on the scope of the service. If your interested in Great Lakes ferrys, the PM is a good operation to look at. Rail, autos, and people inclusive.
Heres a promo video from the C&O about the service. Skip to 1:15 to avoid the Beaver Cleaver salesmanship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf3hwxDJze0
PM Railfan
Incan Superior from Superior WI to Thunder Bay ON.
Greetings,
Sorry I'm late to the party, been out of town. In the quick scan I did of this thread I did not see the Wabash Detroit River car ferries mentioned that connected US operations with the Canadian.
Happy modeling,
Bob L.
Modeling in N scale: Rock Island freight and passenger, with a touch of the following; Wabash Cannon Ball, CB&Q passenger, and ATSF freight and passenger. I played in Peoria (Heights).
What was a rail ferry line which crossed Lake Michigan from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on the S.S. Badger, a steam powered ferry boat (Ship) is still in service. This vessel was a part of the C&O system and carried freight cars, which thereby missed the congestion of the Chicago area. This vessel still plies Lake Michigan making 2 round trips across the lake per day. It is around a 70 mile one way trip and takes 4 hours to complete. The vessel now carries trucks, automobiles and passengers. When you enter the vessel you can still see the rails buried in the asphalt from when she hauled rail cars. At Ludington, her sister ship the Wolverine was still sitting awaiting whatever her fate may be.
It is a fun and interesting trip to make. On her lee side, you may walk the deck and actually get a cinder in your eye! I did!
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
Here is the Google Street View of the barge in Whittier, AK.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
It appears that people have been continuing to research the Alaska Valdez operation, and it started in the 1960s, about when the earliest Alaska rail barge service started http://alaskarails.org/historical/valdez/RB/index.html but it pretty much went dormant after the completion of the pipeline.
Definitely not on the Great Lakes; and, sadly, not in current operation, but:
A few shots of rails on the (San Francisco) Bay
View of old Santa Fe slip in Richmond (CA) with SF in background left:
At Port Costa, a bit up the Sacramento River from the Bay:
The arrival point in San Francisco for ferrys leaving the above dock in Richmond:
And here we have a Western Pacific train at the Oakland Mole, where passengers will transfer to a people-ferry to cross the Bay:
Ed
The newest Rail-Marine operation os CG Railways that carries freight cars over the Gulf of Mexico between Alabama and Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, every four days. Shipping a freight car directly over the Gulf saves a lot of time as opposed to routing it through Texas and south through Mexico.
The sips involved are really quite large.
The URL for the company is:
http://www.cgrailway.com/
Good Hunting
Kevin
There are currently barges carrying rail freight cars between Seattle, Prince Rupert, BC, and Whittier, AK, very active routes. Rail barges also formerly served Valdez, AK during construction of the Alaska Pipeline, as well as a paper plant railroad in Ketchikan. There is also a barge operation between Mobile, AL and Ponce, Puerto Rico, about twice a month.
UPDATE: I looked into this a little more and discovered that there is in fact other rail barge operation in southeast Alaska and coastal BC http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,258338
Until the 1950s, the Pacific Great Eastern (later BC Rail) barged all its freight between Vancouver and Squamish, BC. There is also rail barge service to Vancouver Island.
Depends on your era.
If you are modeling pre-1930's or pre-WW1 there were a lot of rail barge lines across rivers. A few of the ones across major rivers lasted until the 1970's (e.g. MP at Vicksburg across the Mississippi). A lot of eastern roads had ferry lines in the major eastern cities, especially New York very late, a few still operate as shortlines.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Maine Central had marine ferrys operating on the Kennebec River at Bath Maine until the late 20s, cars were taken from Bath across the river to Woolwich, the line ran up to Rockland.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Lots of stuff about NYC harbor/marine railroad operations out there. Here's a few links.
http://www.oldnyc.com/
http://www.trainweb.org/bedt/IndustrialLocos.html
Barge kits
http://www.laserkit.com/railmarine2.htm
A major rail-barge link is between Seattle (and other locations in Canada) and Alaska. It only begain operating in 1962.
http://www.oil-electric.com/2009/10/boxcars-go-to-sea-6-alaska-railroad.html
http://www.alaskarails.org/ARR-industries.html
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
There were also rail/barge operations on the St. Clair and Detroit rivers between Michigan and Canada. These lasted up until early 1990s.
Milwaukee Road in Puget Sound.
There were also a few in the Bay Area.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I am in the planning stages of a layout. I have always been interested in modeling a rail-marine line. I am researching proto-typical rail-marine lines, but so far the only one I have been able to find is the Ann Arbor RR. I have assumed rail-marine lines (with car barges) are not found along major river systems, as bridges solve the problem of moving rail traffic. Sea ports would not normally have a rail-marine line, which leads me to look at lines around the Great Lakes. Does anyone know of lines that employed rail-marine services? If I have to go freelance I will, but I would still like to base my layout on a proto-type.