Large Scale Central

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art

General Discussion
#1

I subscribe to The Center for Railroad Photography & Art and I get a magazine with the most gorgeous and interesting photos. The Center is accepting collections and digitizing them, a very worthwhile project in my opinion.

http://www.railphoto-art.org/

Anyway, they sent me an email with this photo which I wanted to share, as it is quite an unusual subject.

Steam yacht, “Ellide," rides a flatcar down the makeshift launching track by the steamboat dock at Baldwin, near the northern end of Lake George (New York), circa 1890.Photograph by Fred Thatcher from the Jim Shaughnessy Collection.

#2

Beautiful. I will need to check them out since I’m still looking for good quality railroad / industrial scenes I can use as backdrops.

I don’t know if you have ever been to Lake George, NY, but they still have a number of these steam yachts running around along with several steam powered stern wheelers that carry tourists.

#3

I don’t know if you have ever been to Lake George, NY, but they still have a number of these steam yachts running around along with several steam powered stern wheelers that carry tourists.

We took many delightful vacations at Bolton Landing on the lake when my kids were young. Even took our boat there one year.

#4

Pete,

Very interesting picture. I don’t know if it is as much a make shift launching ramp, as you stated. Looks to me like those rails are a rather permanent “marine railway”. Also, the cars seem to be made/modified for their purpose. I think I’m seeing 3 railroad cars with the yacht sitting on the middle one. It looks like the one closest to the engine may have a winch on it. The middle one holds the boat’s cradle or a yard cradle, that the boat was staged on and the car closest to the bulkhead of the ramp, probably is just a sliding platform and probably only has the coupler pocket on the engine end. The cable between the boat and the cradle from the winch is interesting and is most likely on a block and tackle system to move the boat and cradle towards the water. Just like building a pyramid, one block at a time.

#5

a make shift launching ramp, as you stated.

Ric, they wrote the caption, not me. But I agree with your observations. It does look as if the boat is tied to a cradle typical of a marine railway (just like an ordinary railway, except broad gauge and it runs into the water. I have pics of the extensive marine railway in Rock Hall, if anyone is interested.) The rear flatcar looks to be the interface between the wide gauge ‘railway’ on the middle flatcar carrying the boat, and the actual rail tracks that lead in to the water.

From the fact that the loco is on track that looks fairly permanent, this may have been a trans-shipment point for boats being hauled between the lakes and other places. Just as we now use flatbed trailers.

So I googled “delaware and hudson boat launch in baldwin, NY” (the loco has D & …) and found that not only was there a boat yard in Baldwin, but the big lake steamboats were built there. The same photo is on the page (see link below) and has a more descriptive label:

The Delaware and Hudson Railroad assigns a Dickson-built Mogul No. 313 to deliver the steam yacht “Ellide” to Baldwin Dock in the 1890s. The boat rides on a flatcar along a makeshift launching track near the steamboat dock. A winch on the flat car allows the boat to roll gently down the ramp into the water. The D&H maintained a similar permanent “marine track” in the village of Lake George (Caldwell). (Fred Thatcher photo, Delaware & Hudson by Jim Shaughnessy, M. Wright collection)

http://www.tibranch.com/tibranchmain.html

#6

So I googled “D&H “marine track” Caldwell” (ain’t it lucky we have nothing else to do,) and got this: Couldn’t have been good for the RR car?

At the far end of the station area, the D&H built a track which ran out under the water for about 200 feet. This so-called “marine track” was used at Lake George to launch small pleasure boats brought in on flat cars. A locomotive, with idler flat cars between, would push the flat car out onto this siding, which ran under water. This allowed the boat to be floated off the railroad car.