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Car float

January 10, 2024

A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter[1] with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a tugboat or pushed by a towboat.

A railroad car float in the Upper New York Bay, 1919. A tugboat (towboat) stack is visible behind the middle car.
1912 PRR map showing the Greenville Terminal and its car float operations, also the current crossing

This is distinguished from a train ferry, which is self-powered.

Historical operations edit

U.S. East Coast edit

During the Civil War, Union general Herman Haupt, a civil engineer, used huge barges fitted with tracks to enable military trains to cross the Rappahannock River in support of the Army of the Potomac.[2]

Beginning in the 1830s, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) operated a car float across the Potomac River, just south of Washington, D.C., between Shepherds Landing on the east shore, and Alexandria, Virginia on the west. The ferry operation ended in 1906.[3] The B&O operated a car float across the Baltimore Inner Harbor until the mid-1890s. It connected trains from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., and points to the west. The operation ended after the opening of the Baltimore Belt Line in 1895.[3]

The Port of New York and New Jersey had many car float operations, which lost ground to the post-World War II expansion of trucking, but held out until the rise of containerization in the 1970s.[4]

These car floats operated between the Class 1 railroads terminals on the west bank of Hudson River in Hudson County, New Jersey and the numerous online and offline terminals located in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Manhattan.[5][6] Class 1 railroads in the New York Harbor area providing car float services were:

As well as the offline terminal railroads:

Car float service was also provided to many pier stations and waterfront warehouse facilities (that did not engage in car floating service directly) by the above-mentioned railroads.

At their peak, the railroads had 3,400 employees operating small fleets totalling 323 car floats, plus 1,094 other barges, towed by 150 tugboats between New Jersey and New York City.

Abandoned float bridges are preserved as part of this history at:

Several other abandoned but unrestored float bridges exist in other locations around New York Harbor. A complete list is available at Surviving Float Bridges of New York Harbor

The Bay Coast Railroad formerly operated a 2-barge car float connecting Virginia's Eastern Shore with the city of Norfolk, Virginia across the Chesapeake Bay.

U.S. Midwest edit

 
An Erie tugboat and barge on the Chicago River in 1917

Between 1912 and 1936, the Erie Railroad operated a car float service on the Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois.[34]

U.S. West Coast edit

Canada edit

 
Woodfibre, British Columbia
 
Car float in Howe Sound

Existing operations edit

Alaska edit

The Alaska Railroad provides the Alaska Rail Marine rail barge service from downtown Seattle to Whittier on the central Alaskan mainland.[39]', CN Rail provided the Aquatrain rail barge service from Prince Rupert, British Columbia to Whittier.[40] Service ended in April 2021.[35]

New York / New Jersey edit

 
The car float docks at Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York.

The only remaining car float service in operation in the Port of New York and New Jersey is operated by New York New Jersey Rail. This company, operated by the bi-state government agency Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is the successor to the New York Cross Harbor Railroad. Car float service operates between 65th Street / Bay Ridge Yard in Brooklyn and Greenville Yard in Jersey City, New Jersey.[41] The service exists because freight cars do not run in the East River Tunnels nor the North River Tunnels (under the Hudson River), in part due to inadequate tunnel clearances of the New York Tunnel Extension.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Lederer, Eugene H. (1945). Port Terminal Operation: Port Terminal Management, Stevedoring, Stowage, Lighterage and Harbor Boats. New York, NY: Cornell Maritime Press. pp. 291–292.
  2. ^ Wolmar, Christian (2012). Engines of War. London: Atlantic Books. p. 49. ISBN 9781848871731.
  3. ^ a b Harwood, Herbert H. Jr. (1979). Impossible Challenge: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Maryland. Baltimore, MD: Barnard, Roberts. ISBN 0-934118-17-5.
  4. ^ Cudahy, Brian J. (2006). Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed the World. New York, NY: Fordham University Press. pp. 45–47. ISBN 0-8232-2568-2.
  5. ^ Flagg, Thomas R. (2000). New York Harbor Railroads in Color, Volume 1. Scotch Plains, NJ: Morning Sun Books. ISBN 1-58248-082-6.
  6. ^ Flagg, Thomas R. (2002). New York Harbor Railroads in Color, Volume 2. Scotch Plains, NJ: Morning Sun Books. ISBN 1-58248-048-6.
  7. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 16–23.
  8. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 26–29.
  9. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 24–33.
  10. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 38–39.
  11. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 34–45.
  12. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 40–51.
  13. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 46–55.
  14. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 52–57.
  15. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 56–61.
  16. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 58–63.
  17. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 62–65.
  18. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 64–67.
  19. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 66–83.
  20. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 68–93.
  21. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 84–91.
  22. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 94–97.
  23. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 92–101.
  24. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 98–109.
  25. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 30–37.
  26. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 110–116.
  27. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 118–125.
  28. ^ Flagg, 2002, pp. 120–127.
  29. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 126–127.
  30. ^ Flagg, 2002, p. 118.
  31. ^ Flagg, 2000, pp. 110–117.
  32. ^ Flagg, 2002, p. 119.
  33. ^ a b Flagg, 2002, p. 117.
  34. ^ Sennstrom, Bernard H. (1992). "Erie Railroad's Chicago River Service". The Diamond. 7 (1): 4–10.
  35. ^ a b "The Last AquaTrain". 2021.
  36. ^ The Pere Marquette Marine Fleet, Pere Marquette Historical Society, 10-MAY-2011, accessed July 16, 2012
  37. ^ . Archived from the original on 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  38. ^ Greg George
  39. ^ Alaska Rail Marine[dead link] December 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  40. ^ . Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  41. ^ "Route Map". New York New Jersey Rail, LLC. Retrieved 2017-06-03.

External links edit

  • , Andreas Feininger, 1940. Still Photograph Archive, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.
  • – official site
  • Industrial & Offline Terminal Railroads of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx & Manhattan

January 10, 2024
float, railroad, float, rail, barge, specialised, form, lighter, with, railway, tracks, mounted, deck, used, move, rolling, stock, across, water, obstacles, locations, they, could, otherwise, unpowered, barge, towed, tugboat, pushed, towboat, railroad, float, . A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter 1 with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles or to locations they could not otherwise go An unpowered barge it is towed by a tugboat or pushed by a towboat A railroad car float in the Upper New York Bay 1919 A tugboat towboat stack is visible behind the middle car 1912 PRR map showing the Greenville Terminal and its car float operations also the current crossingThis is distinguished from a train ferry which is self powered Contents 1 Historical operations 1 1 U S East Coast 1 2 U S Midwest 1 3 U S West Coast 1 4 Canada 2 Existing operations 2 1 Alaska 2 2 New York New Jersey 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksHistorical operations editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message U S East Coast edit During the Civil War Union general Herman Haupt a civil engineer used huge barges fitted with tracks to enable military trains to cross the Rappahannock River in support of the Army of the Potomac 2 Beginning in the 1830s the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad B amp O operated a car float across the Potomac River just south of Washington D C between Shepherds Landing on the east shore and Alexandria Virginia on the west The ferry operation ended in 1906 3 The B amp O operated a car float across the Baltimore Inner Harbor until the mid 1890s It connected trains from Philadelphia to Washington D C and points to the west The operation ended after the opening of the Baltimore Belt Line in 1895 3 The Port of New York and New Jersey had many car float operations which lost ground to the post World War II expansion of trucking but held out until the rise of containerization in the 1970s 4 These car floats operated between the Class 1 railroads terminals on the west bank of Hudson River in Hudson County New Jersey and the numerous online and offline terminals located in Brooklyn Queens Staten Island the Bronx and Manhattan 5 6 Class 1 railroads in the New York Harbor area providing car float services were Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 7 8 Bay Coast Railroad Central Railroad of New Jersey 9 10 Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad 11 12 Erie Railroad and Erie Lackawanna Railroad 13 14 Lehigh Valley Railroad 15 16 Long Island Rail Road 17 18 New York Central Railroad 19 20 New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad 21 22 Pennsylvania Railroad 23 24 Reading Railroad 25 As well as the offline terminal railroads Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 26 Bush Terminal Industry City 27 28 Brooklyn Army Terminal Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad 29 Jay Street Connecting Railroad 30 New York Dock Railway 31 32 Pouch Terminal 33 East Jersey Railroad and Terminal Co 33 Car float service was also provided to many pier stations and waterfront warehouse facilities that did not engage in car floating service directly by the above mentioned railroads At their peak the railroads had 3 400 employees operating small fleets totalling 323 car floats plus 1 094 other barges towed by 150 tugboats between New Jersey and New York City Abandoned float bridges are preserved as part of this history at Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City Queens former Long Island Railroad West 26th Street float bridge former Baltimore amp Ohio and the only surviving wood Howe truss float bridge in New York Harbor North River Pier 66a and 69th Street Transfer Bridge former New York Central Several other abandoned but unrestored float bridges exist in other locations around New York Harbor A complete list is available at Surviving Float Bridges of New York HarborThe Bay Coast Railroad formerly operated a 2 barge car float connecting Virginia s Eastern Shore with the city of Norfolk Virginia across the Chesapeake Bay U S Midwest edit nbsp An Erie tugboat and barge on the Chicago River in 1917Between 1912 and 1936 the Erie Railroad operated a car float service on the Chicago River in Chicago Illinois 34 U S West Coast edit Santa Fe Railroad San Francisco Southern Pacific Railroad Union Pacific Railroad Western Pacific Railroad San Francisco Chicago Milwaukee St Paul and Pacific Railroad Seattle Tacoma Washington Bellingham Washington Port Townsend Washington Seattle and North Coast Railroad Seattle Port Townsend WashingtonCanada edit nbsp Woodfibre British Columbia nbsp Car float in Howe SoundPrince Rupert British Columbia Whittier Alaska Aquatrain Service ended in April 2021 35 Various inland lakes of British Columbia Okanagan citation needed Arrow citation needed Kootenay citation needed Canadian National Railway and CPR Port Maitland Ontario Erie Pennsylvania TH amp B Navigation Company Port Burwell Ontario Ashtabula Ohio CN Cobourg Ontario Rochester New York Ontario Car Ferry Company Sarnia Ontario Port Huron Michigan rail barge CN until the opening of the Paul Tellier Tunnel The rail ferries Pere Marquette 12 and Pere Marquette 10 were converted to barges PM 10 in 1974 PM 12 in the 1980s and used until 1995 to carry dangerous cargoes and oversize cars 36 Windsor Ontario Detroit Michigan Grand Trunk CN CPR Michigan Central Wabash until the 1980s citation needed BC Rail until 1955 railcars were barged from North Vancouver to Squamish A large number of isolated BC pulp mills had chemicals and freight moved by car floats In the Victoria Harbour to Ogden Point 37 38 Existing operations editAlaska edit The Alaska Railroad provides the Alaska Rail Marine rail barge service from downtown Seattle to Whittier on the central Alaskan mainland 39 CN Rail provided the Aquatrain rail barge service from Prince Rupert British Columbia to Whittier 40 Service ended in April 2021 35 New York New Jersey edit nbsp The car float docks at Bay Ridge Brooklyn New York The only remaining car float service in operation in the Port of New York and New Jersey is operated by New York New Jersey Rail This company operated by the bi state government agency Port Authority of New York amp New Jersey is the successor to the New York Cross Harbor Railroad Car float service operates between 65th Street Bay Ridge Yard in Brooklyn and Greenville Yard in Jersey City New Jersey 41 The service exists because freight cars do not run in the East River Tunnels nor the North River Tunnels under the Hudson River in part due to inadequate tunnel clearances of the New York Tunnel Extension See also editBay Ridge Branch Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel proposed Ferry slip includes examples of rail ferry and barge slips Linkspan New York tugboats Santa Fe Dock and Channel CompanyReferences edit Lederer Eugene H 1945 Port Terminal Operation Port Terminal Management Stevedoring Stowage Lighterage and Harbor Boats New York NY Cornell Maritime Press pp 291 292 Wolmar Christian 2012 Engines of War London Atlantic Books p 49 ISBN 9781848871731 a b Harwood Herbert H Jr 1979 Impossible Challenge The Baltimore amp Ohio Railroad in Maryland Baltimore MD Barnard Roberts ISBN 0 934118 17 5 Cudahy Brian J 2006 Box Boats How Container Ships Changed the World New York NY Fordham University Press pp 45 47 ISBN 0 8232 2568 2 Flagg Thomas R 2000 New York Harbor Railroads in Color Volume 1 Scotch Plains NJ Morning Sun Books ISBN 1 58248 082 6 Flagg Thomas R 2002 New York Harbor Railroads in Color Volume 2 Scotch Plains NJ Morning Sun Books ISBN 1 58248 048 6 Flagg 2000 pp 16 23 Flagg 2002 pp 26 29 Flagg 2000 pp 24 33 Flagg 2002 pp 38 39 Flagg 2000 pp 34 45 Flagg 2002 pp 40 51 Flagg 2000 pp 46 55 Flagg 2002 pp 52 57 Flagg 2000 pp 56 61 Flagg 2002 pp 58 63 Flagg 2000 pp 62 65 Flagg 2002 pp 64 67 Flagg 2000 pp 66 83 Flagg 2002 pp 68 93 Flagg 2000 pp 84 91 Flagg 2002 pp 94 97 Flagg 2000 pp 92 101 Flagg 2002 pp 98 109 Flagg 2002 pp 30 37 Flagg 2002 pp 110 116 Flagg 2000 pp 118 125 Flagg 2002 pp 120 127 Flagg 2000 pp 126 127 Flagg 2002 p 118 Flagg 2000 pp 110 117 Flagg 2002 p 119 a b Flagg 2002 p 117 Sennstrom Bernard H 1992 Erie Railroad s Chicago River Service The Diamond 7 1 4 10 a b The Last AquaTrain 2021 The Pere Marquette Marine Fleet Pere Marquette Historical Society 10 MAY 2011 accessed July 16 2012 car float Archived from the original on 2021 04 26 Retrieved 2021 04 26 Greg George Alaska Rail Marine dead link Archived December 21 2013 at the Wayback Machine Aqua train Archived from the original on 2018 09 30 Retrieved 2011 03 05 Route Map New York New Jersey Rail LLC Retrieved 2017 06 03 External links editRailroad ferry Hudson River New York Andreas Feininger 1940 Still Photograph Archive George Eastman House Rochester NY NYNJ Rail official site Industrial amp Offline Terminal Railroads of Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Bronx amp Manhattan Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Car float amp oldid 1187825499, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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