Caroline N by mbp521 - Scale 1:64 - Mississippi River Towboat

[mbp521]

Greetings everyone, I am finally ready to get going on my next build. This time I am going a bit more modern and taking a step into the 20th Century.

 

A friend of mine asked if I minded building him a model of the Caroline N, a Mississippi River Towboat that his father-in-law named after his daughter. This sounded like nice challenge, and an excellent chance to hone my scratch building skills, not to mention I have never built any boat newer than the late 19th Century, so I accepted.

 

The Caroline N was built by the Jeffboat Company out of Jefferson, IN. She is 134' long with a weight of 946gt. She was originally laid down in 1973 as the Louis H. Meece for the American Commercial Barge Line. She was later purchased by the Triple M Transportation Company and renamed the Caroline N in 2004. She was sold to SCF Marine in 2012 and in 2018 she was leased by Marquette Transportation and renamed Titletown USA. As of the start of this build, she is still being operated by Marquette Transportation. She is powered by two GM Diesel engines, a 4.192:1 reduction gear box, turning two fixed pitch screws in kort nozzles and rated at 6,140hp.

 

I will be building this model at 1:64 scale which will put the model at just over 25" long. The hull will be POB and most of the construction will be basswood & MDF. I'm sure there will be other materials thrown in for good measure as I go along. Her paint scheme will be the blue and white from her Triple M Transportation days, as pictured below. I am currently working on getting the plans scaled to size and will be using reference photos from the actual Caroline N, as well as her sister boats the Charles Lehman (now Limestone Lady) and Richard C. Young (now Miss. Kris) for additional details.

 

 

The plans that I will be using are the original Jeffboat General Arrangement plans of her configuration in 1981 for sizing. These match up best with the photos as far as placement of critical features such as windows, doors, stacks and other details.

 

With all that being said, it's about time to get this build started. I'll hopefully be back shortly with the scaled plans and ready to start making some sawdust.

 

So pull up a chair and stay tuned.

 

-Brian 

Edited February 7, 2023 by mbp521

[Keith Black]

 Shotgun! 

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Look forward to it - glad you’re on the mend!

 

Don

[gsdpic]

Interesting and unusual subject.  After seeing what you did with the Cairo, I'll be following along with interest.  

[Cathead]

Great choice for a unique model. Can’t wait to learn from this.

[BANYAN]

Another interesting subject to model.  Look forward to this one also; hopefully you will be fully recovered soon.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

There haven't been many towboat builds and a favorite pastime some decades ago was to watch the tows and barges on the Mississippi River.  I'm in.

[Cathead]

Mark, I agree. It’s long befuddled me why kit makers almost completely ignore river craft. A towboat or steamboat isn’t any more obscure than some of the centuries-old sailing vessels that get churned out. Canoeing on the Missouri River last year, we passed a rare tow and it was cool to see it up close and experience just how powerful those engines are; the effects of its wake lasted a long way downriver as they reverberated from bank to bank. Anyway, rambling way to cheer on this choice of model by someone who will do it justice.

[leclaire]

Brian, I followed your last build with great interest and will be most definitely be along for the ride on this one. I am in full agreement with Eric on the issue of more river craft from the kit makers. Since I live on the Mississippi in Leclaire Iowa I see the modern version of towboats every day during the shipping season. I have thought about trying my hand at a scratch build of the the Lone Star, an old stern wheeler finally retired in 1966 after almost 100 years on the job. It now resides in the Buffalo Bill museum here in Leclaire and would be very easy to use as a "template" for a model. All I need to do is now get the three kits I currently have under way finally finished.

 

Good luck on the new project.

 

Bob

[mbp521]

14 hours ago, mtaylor said:

There haven't been many towboat builds and a favorite pastime some decades ago was to watch the tows and barges on the Mississippi River.

Growing up on the Mississippi River as a kid I used to love going to the old ferry landing and watching the ships go by. Baton Rouge was the final stop for some of the really big cargo ships and there were always towboats headed upriver with their cargos. I would sit in amazement that one tiny boat could push so many barges, sometimes with 50 or more strung together. 
 

13 hours ago, Cathead said:

we passed a rare tow and it was cool to see it up close and experience just how powerful those engines are; the effects of its wake lasted a long way downriver as they reverberated from bank to bank.

As I grew up my buddies and I would always see how high we could jump our flat bottom boat on the wake of the barges in the Intracoastal Canal. This was a lock controlled tributary off the Mississippi that we frequently fished, swam and knee boarded in. These boats sure could churn up the waters in their wake. 
 

11 hours ago, leclaire said:

I have thought about trying my hand at a scratch build of the the Lone Star, an old stern wheeler finally retired in 1966 after almost 100 years on the job.

Bob you should definitely give it a go. I have a keen interest in some of the more obscure builds, and would love to follow along on that voyage.

 

I’m also right there with you, I have seven kits that I’ve purchased over the years that need to be built. Hopefully some day I’ll get to them. Right now I’m having too much fun with the scratch builds though. 
 

-Brian

[gak1965]

Following as well.

[KeithAug]

Brain,

 

looks interesting in a blunt sort of a way. I'm signing up .😀

[Keith Black]

 Brian, I can't tell from the drawing if the two largest diesel tanks on either side are 30,000 or 50,000 gallon tanks? If 50,000, in todays world filling up dry tanks in Pass Christian, MS (the cheapest I could find) at $3.959 per gallon would cost just over $456,000 dollars and just shy of $298,000 if those are 30,000 gallon tanks. Oh my. 

[mbp521]

Keith, they are 30,000 gallon tanks. So 60,000 gallons of fuel oil on board. At $3.959 per gallon that’s quite pricey. No wonder prices to ship goods has gone up. I can only imagine how far two full tanks will get them, I’m sure the mpg on those twin diesels is not the most fuel efficient. 😁

 

-Brian

[Keith Black]

 Brian, there are also two 7,600 gallon tanks just aft of the 30,000 gallon tanks for a total of 75,200 gallons of diesel. There were two 2,700 gallon day tanks between the 7,600 and the 30,000 gallon tanks so she was designed to use a possible 5,400 gallons of fuel per day = almost $21,400 worth of fuel cost per day in todays world. That would be an expensive day trip. 

 

  The two 30,000 gallon diesel tanks were the main tanks and the two 7,600 gallon diesel tanks must have been the reserve tanks. She had a run time (including reserve tanks) just under 14 days. 

 

 Operating cost on fuel alone would have been a third cheaper in 2004 VS that of today,

 

 Then there were the motor oil tanks, water tanks, and ballast tank.  

Edited February 4, 2023 by Keith Black

[mtaylor]

I'm not sure what the fuel costs would be for these boats.  As I understand it, there's no road taxes, but might be sales taxes involved.  It would still take a good sized pile of cash to fill one though.

[KeithAug]

9 hours ago, Keith Black said:

almost $21,400 worth of fuel cost per day in todays world. That would be an expensive day trip. 

Frightening. Maybe they need to consider fitting sails😀

[Keith Black]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/tugboats

 

Per Mr Google a tug with tow travels  8 miles per hour. The distance from St. Louis to New Orleans is 1,278 river miles requiring 160 hours.

 

https://www.marquettetrans.com/SiteContent/Documents//RiverFleetPDF//TTU_v1_JUL2019.pdf

 

 Marquette Transportation list fuel capacity as 102,900 gallons. 

 

https://jennymarine.com/product/emd-r16-645e7-engine-2875-bhp-900-rpm/

 

Brian, I hope you don't feel like I'm trying to steal your show. I grew up in flatland Texas and the only waterway nearby was a creek which ran dry at the height of summer. Your build and barge travel on the Mississippi is all new to me. I'm sharing what I find as I educate myself, I hope it's okay to do so. 

[FlyingFish]

Just worked out that here in the UK we pay $6.79 a gallon.... wonder if she could make it across the pond; we could share the profits.

[Canute]

Brian, I'm in also. Looks to be quite an interesting build.

[mbp521]

11 hours ago, Keith Black said:

I hope you don't feel like I'm trying to steal your show.

Keith, by no means do I feel that way. I love the conversation and information. These details are something that I hadn’t really given much thought to, I have been more focused on the structure itself. I’m alway happy to learn and discuss more of the intricacies of the boats I’m building.  

 

13 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Maybe they need to consider fitting sails

Funny you mention that. As soon as Keith Black threw those fuel costs out there, my first thought was they had the right idea back in the day, sail power was so much cheaper. A lot slower, but considerably cheaper. 
 

-Brian. 

[kurtvd19]

The data below is from a report by the Maritime Administration of the US Dept. of Transportation titled "Environmental Advantages of Inland Barge Transportation".

 

As staggering as the fuel costs are, barges are the least expensive method of transportation.  I can't locate the pictorial chart the IL DOT uses to show the amount of the average barge loads of a common tow vs how many RR cars and semi-truck loads.   One barge can carry 1,500 Tons, while a single Railroad Hopper car can carry 100 Tons and a single Semi trailer can carry 25 Tons.  Or the average 1,500-ton barge carries the equivalent of fifteen 100 ton Rail cars or sixty 25 ton semi trucks.

Or the average load of a 15 barge tow has a capacity of 22,500 tons and will stretch for 1/4 of a mile. 

 

To match this capacity takes 225 rail cars = to 2 3/4 miles or 900 Twenty-five ton semis stretching 36 miles - assuming 150 feet between trucks.  The fuel used to move a ton of product is 59 miles by truck, 202 miles by rail car and 514 miles by barge.

 

Comparison on a ton-mile per gallon basis shows that a semi-trailer on the hwy carries a bit less than 300 pounds per HP.  A 175 car trainload of iron ore carries about 4,500 pounds per HP.  A 3,600 HP towboat propels some 30,000 tons of cargo which is = to 10,700 pound per HP.

 

Of course water of suitable depth must be usable from point A to B to use these comparisons.

 

[Keith Black]

31 minutes ago, kurtvd19 said:

I can't locate the pictorial chart the IL DOT uses to show the amount of the average barge loads of a common tow vs how many RR cars and semi-truck loads.

 

 

 

[kurtvd19]

That's it.  Thanks I think this is much clearer.

 

[mbp521]

@kurtvd19 @Keith Black Fascinating information!  When it gets broken down that way, it doesn't seem so expensive to transport goods via barge. Too bad barges are limited to the rivers and the trucks and rail cars are still needed to distribute to the other areas not accessible by river. Otherwise, prices of said goods would be considerably cheaper.

 

-Brian

[Keith Black]

 An explanation of "tow" listed in the chart above. A maximum tow is 42 barges lashed together, 6 barges across and 7 barges long. But lashed barges are not towed, they're pushed as there's less resistance pushing the barges than pulling them which begs the question, why call it a tow?

 

 

 And if you're facing a barge shortage, you just pile it higher. 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Keith Black

[mbp521]

Beautiful pictures Keith. The bridge in the top photo reminds me of the John James Audubon Bridge connecting New Roads, LA to St. Francisville, LA not too far upriver from where I grew up. The bridge wasn't built until 2011, but it is a beautiful example of a modern suspension bridge.

 

I often wondered (especially as a kid) who came up with the naming convention for these boats and what they were thinking.

 

Just some of my random thoughts running around in my little pea brain. 😁

 

Tugboat: somewhat makes sense, generally they tug on the lines of the larger ships.

However, they also push on the big ships as well.

 

Towboat, on the other hand, just pushes. That is just my presumption, since I have never seen them actually tow anything, just push.

 

Also, this was not an uncommon sight in Baton Rouge. 50+ barges going up/down the river.

 

I would guess (without researching it) that the amount of barges lashed together would only be limited to the pushing capacity of the boat, the narrowness of the river or locks, or the width of the bridge pilings. I would assume that there are maritime laws governing how many can be moved at one time for safety reasons. 

 

-Brian

 

[kurtvd19]

A lot more barges can be pushed with the current than against it.  Much also depends on the speed of the current and the angles of the turns.

 

[Keith Black]

5 minutes ago, mbp521 said:

I would assume that there are maritime laws governing how many can be moved at one time for safety reasons. 

 From earlier reading the Coast Guard is the governing body that places tow limits. I'm not sure if that is dependent on the stretch of river and river levels. At some point X number of barges in a tow is going to be potentially unmanageable and potentially dangerous.

 

 To my untrained flatlander eye that last picture you posted in the above of the 48 barge tow looks like port side disaster is at hand. 

[Cathead]

16 hours ago, Keith Black said:

why call it a tow?

Kurt or Roger may correct me, but as I recall, in the steamboat era, steamboats started towing extra rafts or other simple vessels behind them to carry more goods. This was very unwieldy and difficult to control, so as riverboat designs evolved, the extra barges shifted to the front of the vessels, but the phrase "tow" and "towboat" stuck around.

 

In other words, there was a slow evolution from the powered river vessel being the primary means of carrying cargo (classical steamboat) to the powered vessel towing some of the cargo in independent loads, to the powered vessel being adapted to push those separate loads (the beginning of the modern towboat), to the powered vessel becoming nothing BUT the power source (more like a railroad locomotive) for independent barges. But the original terminology never changed. Just like how we still "dial" phones.