A very interesting industry

[Colorado_Mac]

Here is something that would make an eye-catching "industry" for modelers of waterfront areas (won't work for my WVA-themed layout).  White Star Line pier in NYC, 1904.  To the right a string of cars is being delivered or removed from the dock.  The ship is the Baltic, at the time the largest ship in the world.

Link to the original photograph at Shorpy:  http://www.shorpy.com/node/12785?size=_original

[Eric97123]

very cool photo and it is amazing how much rail and shipping has come in 100 years

[BRAKIE]

Sean,Here's a fun fact about the RMS Baltic.

She was a White Star vessel and would on  April 14, 1912, send an ice warning to the RMS Titanic.

Thanks for posting that historical picture.

And yes that would make a great sea port switching layout.

[steinjr]

If you search for terms like:
railroad dock
railroad pier
railroad harbor
railroad ship
railroad waterfront

etc on Shorpy, you will find more pictures of waterfront railroading

One impressive one is a huge panoramic from the waterfront along the Maumee River in Toledo Ohio: http://www.shorpy.com/node/11519?size=_original.  Among other things, we see several cars from the Hocking Valley railroad, which I believe has been one of the roads Brakie has modeled before.

Another one is Lennart Elg's panoramic composed of several waterfront images from Duluth in 1905 stitched together: http://www.shorpy.com/node/9481?size=_original

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[Jamis]

Stein:  Thanks for the link to the Toledo Maumee shipping picture.  It is the first one I've seen from that perspective.  Not only does it show the TOC coal yard, but two other railroads on the other side of the image.  On the right, from the inlet to the right margin is the Manufacturer's Railway, which ran down the middle of Water Street for industrial customers.  This was a branch line of the PRR and was 14 blocks long.  On the left is the massive NYC freight house that held over 250 rail cars inside of its walls and eight tracks more on the outside.  Great link. 

[tomikawaTT]

Interesting, si!  Practical - ???

The White Star pier was a couple of hundred feet wide.  It would later be lengthened to 1000 feet to accomodate RMS Olympic, Britannic and Titanic

The headhouse spanned two New York City blocks.  That's just the one for the White Star pier, not including the one next door.

A couple of decades after this photo was taken the tracks disappeared, part of the rebuilding of the West Side line.  By the time I was spending time in the area, everything to and from the Hudson River piers moved on rubber wheels.

Just to model what's in the immediate foreground in HO (with an aisleway around it big enough for me to work from) would pretty well eat up the space in my double garage.

As I have mentioned before, anything having to do with oceangoing ships is HUGE!  Since most of us are trying to model the world in a space smaller than a Nimitz class carrier's flight deck...

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - fifty kilometers and two mountain ranges inland of water deep enough to float RMS Baltic)

 

[garyla]

Since most of us are trying to model the world in a space smaller than a Nimitz class carrier's flight deck. 

[/quote]

A 4.5-acre layout!  Oh, to have the time, energy, and money.

[ChadLRyan]

W  O  W  ! ! !

Great Photograph!!!

[tstage]

There are a lotta horses in that picture so I'm guessing it's probably turn (or pre-turn) of the 20th century vintage?

[Edit: Doh!  Obviously...since you mentioned it in the OT. ]

Tom

[ba&prr]

In Tacoma, WA just south of Seattle,there was a mile long dock and ware houses. All but a small building is gone. It's now a maritime museum. That would be quit the model!!!!   Joe.

[J.Rob]

Great pictures from our industrial past. It is just mind boggling to remember what we have lost.

[7j43k]

And check out the engine shoving the cut of cars!

 

Ed

[steinjr]

tomikawaTT

Interesting, si!  Practical - ???

 A more practical thing to model would be a river barge terminal, where you trans-load various stuff from barge to rail or the other way around.

 Here is a set of links pictures from the Minnesota Historical Society's Visual Records Collection, showing trans-loading at the municipal barge terminal on in Minneapolis (right click link and select open in new tab or open in new window to view images):

transferring shipping containers from flatcar to boxcar barge in Minneapolis: link
Fuel barge being unloaded: link
Moving scrap iron from gondola to barge:  link
Unloading coal from barge to gondola: link
Trans-loading tractors from flatcar to barge: link
Transferring pipes from gondolas to barge: link
Barge terminal overview: link
Another overview: link

Smile,
Stein

 

[rrinker]

 Couple of neat things in that photo. To the left is the CNJ freight station, notice the car floats behind the headhouse - but there are no tracks in or out of there, I presume they must have loaded and unloaded good direct to the freight cars sitting on the barges. To the right of that, between it and the White Star pier, all those canal boats! And the cars being shoved into the White Star pier - reefers, so it's the food for Baltic passengers, not cargo.

 Shorpy's is a gold mine of information from a bygone era, I can spend hours pouring over photos there trying to catch all the fine detail.

                        --Randy

 

[steinjr]

rrinker

 Shorpy's is a gold mine of information from a bygone era, I can spend hours pouring over photos there trying to catch all the fine detail.

 Wouldn't that eventually make your computer screen short out? :-)

 (Just teasing - I understood that you meant "poring")

 Grin,
 Stein

 

[Atlantic and Hibernia]

More waterfront railroading photographs posted to Flickr with the following titles:

www.Flickr.com

United Fruit Banana wharf 196

NYC pier 6 West New York 1965

LV Grain Barges Claremont 1965

 

There are additional photographs at:

http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~olsenk/Ship%20loading%20and%20unloading.html

 

Enjoy,

 

Kevin

 

[steinjr]

Atlantic and Hibernia

More waterfront railroading photographs posted to Flickr with the following titles:

www.Flickr.com

United Fruit Banana wharf 1965: 

NYC pier 6 West New York 1965:

LV Grain Barges Claremont 1965: 

There are additional photographs at:

http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~olsenk/Ship%20loading%20and%20unloading.html

Enjoy,
Kevin

 Direct links added for flickr images, last link activated. Nice photos, indeed - especially the third Flickr photo of the LV floating elevator!

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[steemtrayn]

steinjr

Atlantic and Hibernia:

More waterfront railroading photographs posted to Flickr with the following titles:

 

United Fruit Banana wharf 1965: 

 

http://binged.it/JXEZR9