Sternwheeler and Barge From the Susquehanna River's Hard Coal Navy by Keith Black - FINISHED - 1:120 Scale

[Keith Black]

5 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

Doesn't look grotty enough yet, Keith, but I'm sure you have that well in hand.

 No it doesn't, John. But hopefully It'll get a lot more grotty in the next couple of days. 

[GrandpaPhil]

The barge and your steamers look great!

[Canute]

I really like how your barge is progressing. Waiting to see how your load turns out. 👍

[Keith Black]

6 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

The barge and your steamers look great!

 Thank you, Phil.

 

6 hours ago, Canute said:

I really like how your barge is progressing. Waiting to see how your load turns out. 👍

 Thank you, ken. 

[Javelin]

Great colouring.

 

Not sure on not putting boundaries forward and aft though. From the pictures it seems they had at least vertical beams with some regular planks to heighten the boundary. Seems some planks were missing, I believe they might have used it to guide overflow to a certain direction. That would perhaps also influence the weathering, since more material and dirt would be left behind in flow path. 

 

That is just an idea though. 

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, Javelin said:

Great colouring.

 

Not sure on not putting boundaries forward and aft though. From the pictures it seems they had at least vertical beams with some regular planks to heighten the boundary. Seems some planks were missing, I believe they might have used it to guide overflow to a certain direction. That would perhaps also influence the weathering, since more material and dirt would be left behind in flow path. 

 

That is just an idea though. 

 Thank you for your input, Roel. Regarding the cord containment at either end. having had some experience with this sort of thing, even though loose once those boards are in place they either never come back out or never go back in after the first load due to material getting between the boards and the vertical slides. 

Edited Friday at 09:53 AM by Keith Black

[Keith Black]

 Thank you everyone for the support with your comments and likes.

 

 

 "Doesn't look grotty enough yet" I think I moved the needle on the grotty meter, John. 

 

 The barge load of material weighs approximately 300 tons. 

 

 The material is still curing/drying out. I tried adding acrylic craft paint to tint the material's color, I didn't quite get there, it's kinda ugly. I'll have to add color once everything has dried. I'll also poly coat everything that needs to look wet. 

 

 The deckhand used the steam gun to clean around the bollards before tying up.

 

 

 

 Thanks guys and gals for following along.

 

   keith

[Glen McGuire]

Looks cruddy and very realistic.  Nice work, Keith!

[Canute]

Those coal spoils look good. Don't know if that stuff could be culm. That was the rock and stone remains around the breakers, after the mine run chunks were broken into commercial sizes and loaded into twin bay open hoppers. There were culm hills in the Scranton area with all the leftovers. Locals mined these hills to extract any remaining hard coal. I had friends who still heated their homes with this anthracite.

[Keith Black]

6 minutes ago, Glen McGuire said:

Looks cruddy and very realistic.  Nice work, Keith!

 Thank you very much, Glen. After loading the barge it took me a couple of hours getting the level to what looked like the right height and sculpted to the correct shape and then getting the correct amount of spillage on the outside edges. if I had it to do over I don't know if there's anything I could have done differently? Being the first time it was trial and error, hopefully I was able to minimized the error part.

[Keith Black]

5 minutes ago, Canute said:

Those coal spoils look good. Don't know if that stuff could be culm. That was the rock and stone remains around the breakers, after the mine run chunks were broken into commercial sizes and loaded into twin bay open hoppers. There were culm hills in the Scranton area with all the leftovers. Locals mined these hills to extract any remaining hard coal. I had friends who still heated their homes with this anthracite.

 Thank you, Ken. 

[John Ruy]

Great job Keith… Holds up to closeup photograph. Very cool! 😎

Cheers 🍻 

[Keith Black]

12 minutes ago, John Ruy said:

Great job Keith… Holds up to closeup photograph. Very cool! 😎

Cheers 🍻 

 Thank you kindly, John. 

[clearway]

looks great Keith- maybe a couple of dark brown gloss washes and some clear gloss varnish will get it looking varied and wet looking.

 

Keith

[wefalck]

Looks really grotty ... as intended 👍🏻 

 

I play around with gloss acrylic varnish and gloss acrylic gel to get the impression of something being wet, but I think I mentioned this already.

 

NB, I wasn't aware that in the anglo-saxon world, culm means the gangue or tailings from coal-sorting or -washing. For me as a geologist Culm is a particular type of rock-formation (containing little coal actually) of the Carboniferous.

[Keith Black]

44 minutes ago, clearway said:

looks great Keith- maybe a couple of dark brown gloss washes and some clear gloss varnish will get it looking varied and wet looking.

 Thank you, Keith. I can't wait till the material dries where I can start playing with pastels and poly.

 

21 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Looks really grotty ... as intended 👍🏻 

 

I play around with gloss acrylic varnish and gloss acrylic gel to get the impression of something being wet, but I think I mentioned this already.

 

NB, I wasn't aware that in the anglo-saxon world, culm means the gangue or tailings from coal-sorting or -washing. For me as a geologist Culm is a particular type of rock-formation (containing little coal actually) of the Carboniferous.

 Thank you, Eberhard. Ken threw that "culm" fastball right past me as well, I had to Google that unfamiliar word for the meaning. Thank you again, Ken.    

[Cathead]

18 hours ago, wefalck said:

NB, I wasn't aware that in the anglo-saxon world, culm means the gangue or tailings from coal-sorting or -washing. For me as a geologist Culm is a particular type of rock-formation (containing little coal actually) of the Carboniferous.

I actually think that's an American-ism, not an Anglo-Saxon-ism. As an American geologist, I'd never heard of the formation you're talking about and had to look it up. According to Wikipedia it's a somewhat obscure British formation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culm_Measures) and so not something we learn about unless we get a tipoff! But since "culm" supposedly derives from a Welsh word for coal, it's quite believable that it took on a new but related meaning over in the US, like so many other words.

 

For the naturalists out there, like me, it also refers to the hollow stem of a grass or sedge, like bamboo or wheat (think straw).

 

I'm certainly pleased to see the culmination of this build!

Edited Saturday at 12:22 PM by Cathead

[Canute]

I learned the term from railroaders explaining the once widespread heaps in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area. The heaps are gone now, as is the haze from the heavy industries of that area.

[sheepsail]

5 hours ago, Cathead said:

But since "culm" supposedly derives from a Welsh word for coal,

Most of the local coal mining done at the base of Mt Diablo was done by Welsh immigrants.   I think they did some of the hard rock mining as well.

 

One of my elementary school teachers was a descendant from the mining families. Would tell stories of the abandoned mining towns.   So some of the localization may have percolated through.   I myself visited Wales, and can see why they saw similarities in the east bay hills.

 

There may be thin coal seams in the hill I live on which is sandstone.  Usually though the cores of these hills are limestone with lots of shell fossils.   When they took down a small mountain to cut the interstate through the west of town, we got a bunch of that spoil.   I think the coal is under the limestone.

 

One thinks of the pacific northwest as more volcanic.   This area though is a mix of both. Something called Franciscan formation after the nearby city.   There are quite a few hot springs in the area.   The faults turn the stuff on it's side so the geology here is all wonky.   I look out the windows to the north and see the dormant Mayacma volcano peaks of the Napa Valley on the other side of the straights.

 

-julie

 

 

 

 

[Keith Black]

On 10/25/2025 at 8:17 AM, Cathead said:

I'm certainly pleased to see the culmination of this build!

 News and photos at six!

 

On 10/25/2025 at 12:12 PM, Canute said:

I learned the term from railroaders explaining the once widespread heaps in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area. The heaps are gone now, as is the haze from the heavy industries of that area.

 Ken, thank you for sharing.

 

On 10/25/2025 at 2:31 PM, sheepsail said:

Most of the local coal mining done at the base of Mt Diablo was done by Welsh immigrants.   I think they did some of the hard rock mining as well.

 

One of my elementary school teachers was a descendant from the mining families. Would tell stories of the abandoned mining towns.   So some of the localization may have percolated through.   I myself visited Wales, and can see why they saw similarities in the east bay hills.

 

There may be thin coal seams in the hill I live on which is sandstone.  Usually though the cores of these hills are limestone with lots of shell fossils.   When they took down a small mountain to cut the interstate through the west of town, we got a bunch of that spoil.   I think the coal is under the limestone.

 

One thinks of the pacific northwest as more volcanic.   This area though is a mix of both. Something called Franciscan formation after the nearby city.   There are quite a few hot springs in the area.   The faults turn the stuff on it's side so the geology here is all wonky.   I look out the windows to the north and see the dormant Mayacma volcano peaks of the Napa Valley on the other side of the straights.

 Thank you for posting, Julie.  

[Keith Black]

To all of you who have supported me during this build with your comments and likes, thank you. I have enjoyed each of you being part of the journey. 

 

 TA DA! Tis done. 

 

  I fought trying to get the color of the dredge material to what I thought it should look like. Eric, you know the Susquehanna better than most, I hope I'm close because it's too late now.

 

 It's crazy in that the colors change depending on the light, in fact you see evidence of that in the photos, one to another.   

 

 I tried making the material at the ends and outside of the side wall  look like drying sand while keeping the center of the load looking wetter.  

 

I made the barge floating lower due to load and the fact that it's a soggy ole barge, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so this journey ends, I hope you were able to find a smile along the way.  

 

  Keith

 

 

 ps. I mentioned displaying Lula and the pile driver with the Susquehanna River sternwheeler and barge. Here are a couple of photos showing my thoughts. on that.  

 

 Note the color of the material in these two photos. 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Well done, Keith. It's been a real pleasure to follow along with the genesis of this great project.

 

I wonder how you top it?

 

John

[MAGIC's Craig]

Great fun to watch your progression as well as admiration for the craftsmanship at this wee scale.  Thanks for your frequent posting to keep the lot of us enthralled, Keith.

I also quite enjoy seeing both projects together.

 

Craig

[Coyote_6]

Wow.  Those belong in a museum somewhere!   Truly spectacular!!  Just wow.

 

And then one considers the scale and the mind is totally blown...

Edited 15 hours ago by Coyote_6

[John Ruy]

My mind is blown 🤯 wow!!!

 

A great work of art Keith. Congratulations, excellent work. 
 

Cheers 🍻 

[Cathead]

Absolutely spectacular job on that load. Wouldn't change a thing. Looks so good. In fact, I'm going to show these photos to a bunch of people and tell them to "get a load of this!"

 

(American slang from my youth for those who might not get it, meaning "take a look at this").

 

I would look to see another photo of the fleet with an item for scale, you know, like a pinhead or something.

 

This has been so fun and rewarding to follow and I thoroughly enjoy the niche you've carved out for yourself in these workboats.

[JacquesCousteau]

Congratulations, what a great build! Excellent eye for detail on the drying sand and the barge floating low. It's been very fun to follow along, and a good reminder of just how much detail you can fit at even a tiny scale.

[Knocklouder]

Very nice indeed,  this was a lot of fun to whatch, thanks for posting this   😀 

Knocklouder 😁 

[gjdale]

Congratulations Keith on completing another fine build. It’s been a real pleasure to follow along with this one.

[LJP]

Unbelievable work! Always love your builds and your great subjects. Can hardly wait for the next one.....

 

LJP