Lehigh Valley Barge No 79

[marklayton]

Last month I had a unique opportunity to take a cruise in the New York City harbor on Lehigh Valley Barge #17 in tow of tug Pegasus.  The barge is the last extant example of an all-wooden cargo barge, out of the large fleet operated by the railroads.  It was built in 1917, and now lives in Red Hook in Brooklyn, serving as a floating venue for performances, mostly for school children.  Pegasus was built in 1907 as Standard Oil #1, and was operating in revenue service until 1997.  It is now a museum boat.

I took a lot of detail photos for a 1:32 scale floating model.  The barge captain had a scale drawing that came from the Antracite Railroads Historical Society, so I have dimensions.

Mark

[Malachi Constant]

Cool project and sounds like you've got all the info lined up ... look forward to it.

Cheers,
Dallas

[JohnP]

Indeed this will be something different. The floating aspect will add another dimension as well. Plus you had the opportunity to visit the real thing.

I always liked the Lehigh Valley. It was a good, working man's Eastern railroad. No frills but had all the right stuff from the coal to the passenger trains.

Keep us informed Mark.

John

[marc_reusser]

Look forward to seeing your build thread.

Marc

[TRAINS1941]

Mark

Looks like an interesting thread.  Will be following along.

Jerry