Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Faller River Cargo Boat

Faller Barge kit
 
In the United Kingdom, most people tend to think of river transport in terms of narrow boats. Abroad, large barges still ply their trade on many watercourses which is why Faller produce this kit for a Dutch Barge.

The model can be built in two lengths, the longest being 36cm. 102 parts, mostly moulded in suitable coloured plastic should make for speedy assembly.

You might not think a foreign barge is what your model railway needs but plenty of people would disagree. I'm pretty certain that Chris Nevard has used something similar on one of his layouts, although needless to say I can't find a photo to back this up at the moment.

Not to worry. A quick perusal of "Britian's canal and river craft" throws up a number of UK possibilities. Both the Aire and Calder Navigation and Bridgewater Canal saw craft that looked just like this. In fact I'd be reasonably happy to build the model straight out of the box and use it this way.

With a little more imagination, the kit could be the basis for a decent live-aboard. Dutch barges are very popular in this respect - the width makes the insides more akin to a real house rather than the corridor living a narrow boat forces on its occupants. While that broad beam reduces the number of waterways open to you, at least being able to lover the roof and windows of the wheelhouse means bridges hold no fears.

Faller selection via Idealo
 

5 comments:

Zabdiel said...

You're right about Chris using something that looks similar - here's a picture

Phil Parker said...

That's the one !

Thanks

Richard Hannay said...

Here's one in the UK - my favourite pub when I lived in Leeds! http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drydock_pub,_Woodhouse_Lane,_Leeds_-_DSC07684.JPG

Richard Hannay said...

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drydock_pub,_Woodhouse_Lane,_Leeds_-_DSC07684.JPG - here's one, my favourite pub when I was in Leeds!

Phil Parker said...

Richard - Nice photo. There's another one out there too but I can't remember where.