Paddle wheel railroad ferries

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for information and where I might find drawings of the railroad ferries that crossed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, MS in the early part of the 1900's. I believe one of them was named the Aolbatrose"

[dehusman]

Joe Collias' book, "Mopac power" has several pictures of MoP paddle wheel ferries on the Mississippi. There are several varieties. None of them were at Vicksburg, but the designs would be similar.

Dave H.

[dehusman]

You could search for St. Genevieve, Natchez or Carondolet and that might have some pix.

Dave H.

[jrbarney]

Pdoiron,
Welcome to the MR Forums !
You may want to check the site for Paddle Wheels and Props:
http://modelplans.steamboats.org
Can't remember if they have the exact plan for which you are searching. By the way, have you done a Google search ?
Think you will also want to visit this site:
http://www2pb.ip-soft.net/railinfo/car-floats/car-ferry-photos.html
Either explore it online or print a copy. Hope this helps.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[ndbprr]

IC also had one called the "Pelican"

[ben10ben]

You might check with Alan L. Bates( http://alan-bates.steamboats.org/modelplans.html) or John Fryant ( http://modelplans.steamboats.org/ ) for a set of very well drawn professional plans.

By the way, just as an interesting little tidbit of information, the Albatross is still around today, or at least the hull still is. It was rebuilt by Streckfuss Steamers into the art deco masterpiece sidewheeler the Admiral. The Admiral was converted to diesel power in the 1970s with one propeller in each paddlebox, and survives today as a casino boat.

[pcarrell]

What about the docks used to load the farries? Any info?

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell

What about the docks used to load the farries? Any info?

Pcarrell,
In no particular order, here are some articles:

Mississippi River Transfer Steamboat, Part Two, Alan L. Bates, Railroad Model Craftsman, January 1971, 49-53

The harbor on the KR&D, Construction of the car ferry and the loading apron, MR's project railroad: 6, Mile Ickowski, Model Railroader, August 1972, 32-36

The G. T. Chrey at Work, Paul Scoles, Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette, November/December 1995, 71-73

Canadian National's Point Ellis ferry slip, Patrick Lawson, Railroad Model Craftsman, March 1998, 68-73

The Making of Union Bay: Pt. II, Building the linkspan, Doug Geiger, Railroad Model Cratsman, May 1993, 83-86

There are probably other articles, and the design will vary depending to some extent depending on the locale, tides, etc.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[pcarrell]

I think I may have that Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette magazine. I'll have to look. The others I'll have to go out and find.

[exPalaceDog]

The Old Dog just happened to be going thru a pile of old RMC's. (Sorry MR), There must have been at least five articles on transfer boats. And the Old Dog seems the remember that MR published a great article on car transferr landings years ago.

Check the indexes for old volumes for both magazines.

Have fun

[Anonymous]

I want to thank each of you for the information. I've been out of town the past few weeks so I would have responded sooner.