small railroad ferry - real world MOC - City set 60119 inspired model

[Murdoch17]

(I was torn between Train Tech and Town forums for this thread, so if it needs moving - don't hesitate to move it, mods!)

Recently a Flickr user named elijahleestewart commented on one of my riverboat pictures asking about me making a Ninjago ferry from season 4. I said I already had City set 60119 (Ferry) and was not interested in making another. But this conversation got wheels turning, and about two hours later I came up with this vessel you see here, which was made by tearing apart my original Ferry to revise it.

The port / left side of the vessel. From here you can see the ladder to access the bridge.

The starboard (or right side).

The opening gates no longer fold down (as in the original set 60119), but they do split apart to allow train cars to be loaded two at a time. You can load two of the bigger cars (24 or 28 studs long), three 16-long cars, or a single 34 stud long depressed center car on this ferry or you can mix and match. (The last 34 stud long car type is too long to have two of it's kind on there, but it can fit one 34 long and another of anything shorter than that such as a 16, 24 or 28.)

The roof section of the bridge is removable to place figures at the controls.

Another source of inspiration was the Albatross, a former Vicksburg-area railroad ferry from 1907 that was converted to a St. Louis river cruising ship (one of the largest vessels ever on the river) called the Admiral in the late 1930's which then became a casino and then was sadly scrapped in 2011. You can read about the Admiral here on Wikipedia, and view a picture of the Albatross on Flickr here, courtesy of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library. (You can loose a few hours perusing through steamboats on that Flickr page!)

...That's all I got.

Thoughts, comments, opinions, and questions welcome!

Edited July 8, 2024 by Murdoch17

[Feuer Zug]

Interesting modification. Not many railroad ferries are in use. I remember going on a ferry from Lubeck to Sweden and seeing railroad tracks set in the floor.

[Murdoch17]

3 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Interesting modification. Not many railroad ferries are in use. I remember going on a ferry from Lubeck to Sweden and seeing railroad tracks set in the floor.

Thanks @Feuer Zug! I was also inspired by the Albatross, a former Vicksburg-area railroad ferry from 1907 that was converted to a St. Louis river cruising ship (one of the largest vessels ever on the river) called the Admiral in the late 1930's which then became a casino and then was sadly scrapped in 2011. You can read about the Admiral here on Wikipedia, and view a picture of the Albatross on Flickr here, courtesy of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library. (You can loose a few hours perusing through steamboats on that Flickr page!)

[ivanlan9]

Nice.  Like the colors, too.  Except for the end gates.  I'm pretty sure the prototype ferrys never used that system.  I think they were all the drop-down type--but of course I could be wrong.  Not a ferry expert!

[Murdoch17]

10 hours ago, ivanlan9 said:

Nice.  Like the colors, too.  Except for the end gates.  I'm pretty sure the prototype ferrys never used that system.  I think they were all the drop-down type--but of course I could be wrong.  Not a ferry expert!

@ivanlan9 Thanks! The reason the end gates are the way they are is so the ferry can connect to the tracks on land and load cars. I couldn't think of a way to get it to work otherwise.

[Barry_Smith]

On 7/8/2024 at 4:26 PM, Murdoch17 said:

(I was torn between Train Tech and Town forums for this thread, so if it needs moving - don't hesitate to move it, mods!)

Recently a Flickr user named elijahleestewart commented on one of my riverboat pictures asking about me making a Ninjago ferry from season 4. I said I already had City set 60119 (Ferry) and was not interested in making another. But this conversation got wheels turning, and about two hours later I came up with this vessel you see here, which was made by tearing apart my original Ferry to revise it.

The port / left side of the vessel. From here you can see the ladder to access the bridge.

The starboard (or right side).

The opening gates no longer fold down (as in the original set 60119), but they do split apart to allow train cars to be loaded two at a time. You can load two of the bigger cars (24 or 28 studs long), three 16-long cars, or a single 34 stud long depressed center car on this ferry or you can mix and match. (The last 34 stud long car type is too long to have two of it's kind on there, but it can fit one 34 long and another of anything shorter than that such as a 16, 24 or 28.)

The roof section of the bridge is removable to place figures at the controls.

Another source of inspiration was the Albatross, a former Vicksburg-area railroad ferry from 1907 that was converted to a St. Louis river cruising ship (one of the largest vessels ever on the river) called the Admiral in the late 1930's which then became a casino and then was sadly scrapped in 2011. You can read about the Admiral here on Wikipedia, and view a picture of the Albatross on Flickr here, courtesy of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library. (You can loose a few hours perusing through steamboats on that Flickr page!)

...That's all I got.

Thoughts, comments, opinions, and questions welcome!

I like that there is a lot of space left on it. There will be room to put something there or add something.

[Murdoch17]

1 hour ago, Barry_Smith said:

I like that there is a lot of space left on it. There will be room to put something there or add something.

Thanks @Barry_Smith! That was my line of thinking as well.