Harbor scene... ideas?

[TrainNut]

You didn't mention what geographical area you want to model.... You could make the river your aisle, and model just one small terminal.

Russ, I think the latter part of that is what I'm leaning towards. I like the idea of being coastal. Maybe a protected inlet. I also like the clearer waters near the coast and don't care much for the dirty waters of a river. That would work for a lightweight coastal freighter but I'm not sure if they use small barges along either coastline. Could be somewhere along the great lakes I guess.
I dunno. Every time I start to focus in, another aspect becomes appealing.

[nachoman]

You didn't mention what geographical area you want to model.... You could make the river your aisle, and model just one small terminal.

Russ, I think the latter part of that is what I'm leaning towards. I like the idea of being coastal. Maybe a protected inlet. I also like the clearer waters near the coast and don't care much for the dirty waters of a river. That would work for a lightweight coastal freighter but I'm not sure if they use small barges along either coastline. Could be somewhere along the great lakes I guess.
I dunno. Every time I start to focus in, another aspect becomes appealing.

Barges are used in many estuaries in the Eastern US, and in the intercoastal waterway.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway</a><!-- m -->

[Russ Bellinis]

Stockton, Ca. is a deep water port on the Sacramento River South of Sacramento. I don't think they receive the really big container ships, but you will find small freighters at the docks in Stockton. I had forgotten about Stockton until just now. There may also be a deep water port in Sacramento, or between Stockton and Sacramento since they need to keep the river dredged out deep enough for ship traffic from the San Francisco Bay to Stockton. I think they ship a lot of grain out of Stockton, I'm not sure what else they ship.

[steinjr]

Here are some potentially inspiring pictures from a small harbor in an inlet on a Norwegian layout (by Norwegian modeler "aha" on the forum http://www.mjf.no/forum):



With a ship test fitted along the quayside:


A dock/harbor scene doesn't have to be huge or complex - as evidenced by the very neat oil terminal Ralph has on his layout. Btw - Ralph - got some aerial shots of your oil barge scene area?

Smile,
Stein

[Sumpter250]

With a ship test fitted along the quayside:
Smile,
Stein

Nice ship, who makes the (looks like resin) kit?

[Sumpter250]

Many years ago, I was sorting through a box of used model railroad junk and ran across some barges and tugboats that were obviously too small for HO scale. I have also seen them at train shows from time to time. Searching google to find out the manufacturer, I ran across this place: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bluejacketinc.com/honscale.htm">http://www.bluejacketinc.com/honscale.htm</a><!-- m -->

The Friendship Sloop kit is the one I've finished for the new modules.
   

And if you want one of these in G scale? the Midwest, "Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack" kit is 1:24 scale.

[steinjr]

With a ship test fitted along the quayside:
Smile,
Stein

Nice ship, who makes the (looks like resin) kit?

The dutch company Artitec (http://www.artitec.nl) used to make this kit. Kit was called the "Noordborg". Can't see it on their web site right now.

Never mind - found it. Here: http://www.artitec.nl/index.php/en/artit...h0-coaster

Smile,
Stein

[Ralph]

...A dock/harbor scene doesn't have to be huge or complex - as evidenced by the very neat oil terminal Ralph has on his layout. Btw - Ralph - got some aerial shots of your oil barge scene area?

Smile,
Stein

Thanks for the compliments Stein! Here are some dizzying flyovers of the KOSCO loading dock on the Hudson.





Ralph

[Sumpter250]

The dutch company Artitec (http://www.artitec.nl) used to make this kit. Kit was called the "Noordborg". Can't see it on their web site right now.
Never mind - found it. Here: http://www.artitec.nl/index.php/en/artit...h0-coaster
Smile,
Stein

Thanks for that link!!!, They make some nice ship and boat kits, in both HO and N scale!

[sgtcarl1]

Well, I don't know how much help this may be, but my father worked on the last stern-wheeled commercial river boat back in the forties. It's name was "The Lone Star, and it pushed barges of sand and gravel up stream or downstream on the Mississippi river. It's sister ship, The "Ella Mae" was the boat that was used to push coal barges. There were many other types of ships and boats up and down the river. There were oil barges that delivered oil and gasoline to tank farms, cargo ships that delivered JI Case and Farmall farm equipment south and north from their factories in Bettendorf, (where I lived,) and Moline, Ill. And even some John Deere equipment and parts went by barge, also. This was still going on in the late fifties. A good sized ship/boat could push four or more barges of coal, sand or gravel, and occasionally grain. As late as just a few years ago, the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers still had commercial boats pushing barges up and down them on a regular basis.

[steinjr]

Here are some barge prototype pics (copied and pasted from my layout building thread):

Some prototype pictures of the Municipal Barge Terminal in Minneapolis:
Overview barge terminal: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=81148
Closeup 1: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=102086
Closeup 2: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=81513
Closeup 3: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=81486
Aerial view: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=150170

Crane lifting stuff between barges and cars (or the other way around):
Unloading coke from barges: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=77010
Loading coal into gondolas: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=170270
Loading shipping containers onto barges: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=163371
Unloading tractors from flatcars: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=198404
Loading pipes onto barges: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=170241

Interesting railroad loads:
Oil barge on flatcar: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=30843

Interesting barges:
"Boxcar barge": http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=18504
Oil barge at terminal: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=152742
Oil barge on river: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...eid=151380
Coal barge: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=77011
Grain barge: http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresour...geid=97361

Smile,
Stein

[TrainNut]

Thanks guys. Sorry I've not responded back sooner but I've been out of town...
The pictures are great... all of them.

Stein, I like the shot of the small harbor right at the edge of the layout. The portable crane is a good idea for loading/unloading. I also checked out each photo in each link you supplied. There is some really neat stuff there and fodder for lots of ideas. Thanks for taking the time to do that. I got the best ideas from the terminal shots. One of those taken from an aerial perspective looked like the river was really ripping along based on the amount of white water. I'm guessing there wasn't much barge activity that day.

Sgt. Carl, I never really thought about what you'd ship on a barge other than coal and garbage. It makes complete sense now that you talk about all of those other things.

Ralph, thanks for the shots of your dock as well. Good stuff. Do you find that you have to dust the water often to keep it looking like water?

[Ralph]

...Ralph, thanks for the shots of your dock as well. Good stuff. Do you find that you have to dust the water often to keep it looking like water?

Yes I do! I'll dry wipe it and sometimes use a little soapy water and a brush to clean it off and keep it shiny. My water is made from acrylic gloss medium. It looks best when actually "glossy". It sure looks bad when there is enough dust for some one to write "wash me" with their finger tip.

Ralph