Some finishing details...

[doctorwayne]

Not argue a point, I've also come across several photos like this one...



...and scratch my head and think, "That can't be right? That has to be too much weight on one side!"

In this case, not really. its a very small barge, and the cars might be empty. You'll also notice that its only two tracks on the center of the barge. Some barges have three, four, or even 5 tracks on board. If you look at, say, the Walthers Cornerstone Rail barge, that one would be more prone to listing issues, since the side tracks are practically off the edge.

You're right: both tetters' model and the prototype are quite narrow and have the tracks toward the centre. That would lessen the chance of tipping.

The only thing I'm missing, that I dare not try to model, is the float listing to each side as each track is loaded or the appearance of the slip "twisting" due to the weight of... well everything getting pushed or pulled across it.

Actually, you do need one more thing to prevent twisting... Idler cars!

I recognize your video was just a test run to show that it works, but i did not see any in your consist. You'll notice in the above photo three flat cars used as idlers. These were used to "reach" onto the barge to place cars. At the very least, this kept the excessive weight of the locomotive off the barge and float bridge, reducing listing.

If I'm not mistaken, the operation shown, or another part of it, transported the train and the loco on the barge. That particular branch was a series of track sections connected by lakes (or lakes connected by track sections.

Wayne