The Prototype
Rock from the Bishop Peak quarry, located about 10 miles from Port San Luis (PSL) was transported on PCR flat cars to the PSL pier, where it was transferred to a barge and used to extend the San Luis Obispo Bay breakwater. The barge had stiff-legged derrick powered by a steam donkey engine for loading and unloading the rock. I wanted to include the rail to barge operation in my PSL scene. My primary references were the following photo borrowed from Westcott and Johnson book, plus the articles by Pete Smith about the pier-mounted stiff leg derrick on his Loon Lake Railway and Navigation Company published July/August and September/October 2022 issues of the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette. The rest of the details I imagine-ered.
My Model Rock Barge
I kit-bashed my rock barge by adapting a Crow River Products O-scale Stiff Leg Derrick kit to fit on a Frenchman River Multi-scale Wooden Deck Scow Kit. The former is a nice wood and pewter castings kit and the latter a very nice one piece resin cast hull and deck. The adaptation required adjusting the height of the mast and and length of the boom to fit the scow dimensions. I added a Bachmann donkey engine and figured out how it's two drums, plus auxiliary winch would be used to raise the hook and raise and rotate the boom. I decided that since the PCRwy had modified all of its locos to burn fuel oil instead of wood or coal, that the same would've been done with this donkey engine, and I did confirm through an internet search that this was a feasible modification. I added all the appropriate cabling, plus fuel oil and water tanks, piping and valves, anchors, misc. lengths of chain, mooring lines, an operating crew, and quarry rock made from broken Hydrocal rock castings.
Model rock barge
After installation in my scene, I added sea gulls, a skiff and a 24 ft steam tug, also made from Frenchman River kits.
More Background - Where in the Heck Are We?
I had a request from one of you following my first blog post, which I neglected to address, and that was to provide an additional map to show in the greater world where the PCRwy was located. The PCRwy ran between Port San Luis and Los Olivos about half way between Los Angeles and San Jose, CA, just NNW of Santa Barbara. The following map, again from the Westcott and Johnson book, should clarify this.
Till Next Time
Thanks again for reading. Please give me your comments and feedback.
