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

[Keith Black]

19 minutes ago, Canute said:

The boats and barges look great. Kudos for the barge load you presented. Well done.

 Thank you for the kind words, Ken. 

[Keith Black]

 This is from a post by Eric, @Cathead regarding a photo (below) of a ferry I posted in my Billy build log. Because it's a ferry that operated on the Susquehanna I thought it should also be posted here because of the Susquehanna connection.

 

 

 Eric's post.

 

Late to this side theme because I've been away, but that looks like the Millersburg PA ferry that ran (and still operates) across the Susquehanna. I rode it many times growing up and it's still a going concern: https://www.visitcumberlandvalley.com/listing/the-millersburg-ferry/1818/

 

My memory is that it's a gas engine with some kind of chain drive to the wheels. It's a fascinating ride, the river is extremely wide there but also very shallow, most of the time you could walk across it without getting your head wet. Most of the crossing you can see the bottom of the river just a few feet below the ferry deck. It's a cobbled-together contraption out of a whimsical nightmare, and there are actually two different ferries, both similar but each their own.

Edited 5 hours ago by Keith Black

[wefalck]

Actually looks as if the dumb ferry is tied up to the sternwheeler?

 

Over here in Europe there were various places with sidewheel-ferries, I seem to remember having seen one on the Fal River in Cornwall in around 1978 and very vaguely also on the Danube in the early 1970s.

[Cathead]

Having been on it many times, I can confirm that it operates as one unit. It is more or less in two parts (the car deck and then the hull with engines, wheel, pilot house, etc) but they're functionally one whole. I can't remember exactly how they're joined, though my leaning is that they're actually physically joined and not just lashed, but regardless the "power" unit isn't really set up to operate on its own.

 

The last time I rode this was in 2003, with my first ride probably in the early 1980s.