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Walthers Tugboat Buildup

On this page I will be documenting my build up of a Walthers Railroad Tug, Part 933-3153. The kit is an excellent representation of a Lehigh Valley Railroad boat. It is patterned after there Wilkes-Barre class, however the kit lacks the front pair of portholes that the real ones had, even though the box art has them. It also has scribe lines on the house and stack to allow one to lower them as per the LV's Cornell & Lehigh that were built lower for the Harlem River. The kit includes decals for a multitude of roads, even though only the LV, NYNH&H and Erie had this type, abit all slightly different.

History of this class of boat The prototype boat was built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1949 by Jakobson Shipyard, in Oyster Bay Long Island. Designed by Joe Hack of the renowned Tams Inc. naval architecture firm. They were 106' long, 27' wide and 12' deep. Power came from a Cleveland 1600HP 16-278A turning a 1200KW 525 Volt DC Main Generator, feeding a Westinghouse propulsion motor in turn spinning a Farrell reduction gear, connected to a 10' propeller. Auxiliary power was provided by a pair of Detroit 3-71s, as well an a piggyback shaft generator on top of the main generator. The four boats of this class were the Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Cornell & Lehigh. LV later received a pair more, the Bethlehem & Capmoore in 1952.

My Model

My model will be built as the Winter-Quarter for my fictional Gotham Towing Line. Winter Quarter was a lightship that gaurded Winter Quarter Shoal in Virginia. I will be incorperating alot of modern details on it, following the lines of modifications done to the real Cornell over the years. This includes removal of doors, addition of radars, lights, etc. I will also be putting on a "Diesel Stack" as seen on the Providence . This stack was added to many boats that have been rebuilt or repowered over the years. I will be offering a casting of this stack in the next few days for anyone else that may be interested in one. Another major step I will be doing, that I have yet to see anyone else do is addition of a diamond plate deck.

On to the project..

First thing I did was to shave off all of the doors. The originals were an old style water tight door. On many boats these were replaced as they rotted out. On the Cornell some were plated over entirely. I am updated the ones I am keeping to a modern style. Oh, and yes I am using my kitchen table..It has the most light!

In preparation for the diamond plate deck, Everything has to be removed. I started by drilling off the hatch covers. Next up are the line lockers and steering tubes.

Baseplate done, Doors plated over.

House doors done, Just need to add the dogs. New fire plugs added, fuel and suction fillers on there way.

Rear whaleback added. The prototype had no inside companionway from the house to the lower deck other then the outside ladders. This was modified on the Cornell with a whaleback like this. Added BLMA grab irons instead of a ladder. Also the new stack. The mockups are held on my half finished model of the actual Cornell.

Keep checking for more updates, I am doing my best to actually finish this project!

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