Challenge 4 - C&O Canal Boat

[wm3798]

I'm going for something like this.

Model and photo by Wilbur Snyder and gleaned from the WMRY Modelers Group on the facetoobs.

Smaller Collier, will be in keeping with late 19th century canal traffic.  It will probably be more challenging to model the lock I want to put it in.
At any rate, let the entry commence!
All the best,
Lee

[CBQ Fan]

That scene is simply awesome!!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

My dad @EdKap2 has a good starting point. I'll reach out.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Also, can you imagine life at the pace that this type of setup indicates?

[DKS]

I'll reach out.

And touch someone...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Heard from the ol' man. His barge is an N Scale Architect kit:
https://thenarch.com/products/erie-canal-barge-n

From past conversations I want to mention that you MAY want to pay attention to the barge design. Apparently different canal systems had slightly different barge designs (I'm guessing it's about things like bridge clearance, lock size, etc...). You may or may not care about that.

[wm3798]

I did some cursory research, and found that C&O boats ran from about 40 feet to 70 feet, and the locks were 20' or so wide.
The length depended mostly on the creature comforts aboard (For ALL the creatures on board... crew, spare mules, etc.) as it did on the commodities shipped.  The Collier were generally shorter owing to the weight.
Trainers and merchandise boats would be longer with more cabin space for larger crews.
I'm also going to selectively compress my canal, so I'm going to start with a beam of 15' and a length of 50', or roughly the size of a modern boxcar.

I'd also like to model a lock.
Lee

[wm3798]

I guess this is progress


It turns out my handy NZT sanding wand is 100 scale feet long, and about 12 scale feet wide!  Canal locks on the C&O are 100 x 15, and boats were around 75x10, so this gives me a reasonable template to start with.

I'll probably build a selectively compressed lock first to make sure it looks reasonably good tucked into the scenery, then build the boat to dimensions that fit proportionally.

Better hurry, though.  Looks like the B&O is already stealing business!
Lee