Dioramaists, this is an intriguing scene for model railroaders. I think it would make a great diorama, too. This scene shows the parallel physical plants of three very different modes of transportation: waterway; railroad; auto road.
Layout Scenes: Railroad and Canal

Cool images Fred. Lots of inspiration and details for diorama builder. More of these please!!

Fred – To help support your suggestion, I did some poking around to see what I could find. I came across two period photos, both from Pennsylvania, and both showing coal being brought to a canal by train, where it’s dumped into a barge for the rest of its trip to commercial centers. However, there’s a large contrast in the scale of the two operations.





Canals had rather brief glory days in the U.S., as often the railroads soon followed and took away most of their business, except for bulk commodities that were not time sensitive. I found a website with a concise analysis of the different relationships between canals and railroads in the U.S. and Europe:

Canal - History

Charles

Charles, Frank,

Thanks for the replies. I'll be making up as many of these features as fast as I can.