North Coast Railroad

[deemery]

Goes to show which cereal company provided the Scouts with the best deal...

dave

[Dave Buchholz]

The funny part is, my cousin's husband was a supervisor at that General Mills plant until his retirement. I told him about what they serve. The plant didn't take advantage of the situation and lost the opportunity to advance their product to a  literally growing client base just a few stop lights away.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Interesting to get some background, Dave.

I remember MRR magazine having plans for a malt works back a few decades that was similar in design.  I always thought it would make a real show stopper of a structure, like yours.

Cheers, Mark.

[Dave Buchholz]

As my ADHD kicks in this morning. I go back to being like a butterfly, flittering from one project to another.

OH LOOK..A SQUIRREL!

I couldn't get the (soon to be) barge canal aspect of the North Coast Railroad out of my head. I found a starting point for a small barge tug in my collection of photos.  I have a suitable unfinished fishing boat kit which will be repurposed

[Dave Buchholz]

New York State equipment on the canal is typical state colors of navy blue and yellow. Just like Trooper cars and Highway equipment

[Dave Buchholz]

So far, this is the fleet of state barge vessels that will be afloat on the North Coast. The barges are from "Artitec" a European manufacturer. The big one is considered a self propelled Steam Barge. Although this is more of a design from European rivers, it's close enough to easily  be "Americanized". They also make a longer one, called The Spitz. But this size works nicely in the harbor.

[Dave Buchholz]

Another portion of the watercraft of Sodus Bay on the North Coast is the fishing and passenger craft. These are the major pieces along with a bunch of rowboats of various sizes.

[Dave Buchholz]

....and of course... The big one of the North Coast fleet

The Great Lakes grain freighter from Sylvan.

That's it for the pictorial update 11/01/2025

[Dave Buchholz]

I got a little progress done on what I'll call the " canal maintenance boat
 Im just using scraps found in the meriad of boxes and drawers in my basement lair. It looks like a bunch of spare parts throw together by the canal workers to make something useful for themselves. Oddly that's exactly what happened to create the model.

Not exactly a Museum quality build, but it will fill the need.

Fifth Dave to the right

[Pennman]

Dave,

That's quite a fleet of ships to have to finish. It appears you will be busy for
a while. That largest grain boat must be at least 3 to 1/2" wide isn't it?

You know I like building structures and I built only one boat so far, but
I never finished the rigging on it. To me, that seems to be the hardest part of it.
Good luck with your fleet. You can do it.

Rich

[Dave Buchholz]

Thanks Rich. At 74, it makes me wonder how many of these kits, boats, buildings, rolling stock, trackage  wiring and scenery I can finish before I kick the bucket.

The big fighter is from Sylvan Models is 4" abeam and 22" long. I made sure I knew it's dimensions while track planning to create a sufficient berth for it.

Greg Shinny (Ensign)did a huge post about building it  on the old forum. Hopefully he's around here somewhere. But the build thread long gone.

[Dave Buchholz]

This started off as a Sea Port Model Works 34ft lobster boat. There are no lobsters on Lake Ontario. So the kit and parts mingling got underway a few days ago.

Gotta add those yellow pieces to the upper edge of the hull uet. Not quite sure how I will clamp them while gluing?
Then add a few details

[Dave Buchholz]

I spotted this photo on a local site. It shows barrels of apples being loaded onto barges along the NYS barge canal. I thought it was full of modeling ideas.

It's from the  barge/railhead town of Medina NY just west of me on the prototype line I'm modeling. The Rome Watertown and Ogdensberg Railroad. ( Edited to correct name)

In my modeling world the RW&O becomes the North Coast Railroad.

[Pennman]

Dave,

Great picture. Can you imagine if all of those barrels of apples fermented and became hard cider?
I wonder how many of those drunken sailors would know who they were next morning or wonder if they
were alive.   

Rich

[deemery]

All those barrels reminds me how important coopers and cooperage was for 19th century transportation.  Everything from flour to apples to petroleum was moved in wood barrels.

dave