Haupt, United States Military Railway Department. Construction And Transportation. No. 1. TRANSPORTATION ON THE POTOMAC. – Cars loaded at Alexandria can be carried on barges or arks to Aquia Creek, and sent to stations where the Army of the Potomac is supplied, without break of bulk. This plan has been adapted for forwarding cars, engines, and materials for the construction of roads and bridges, but has not been applied to transportation in the quartermasterÂ’s department. It works well, and in many cases may save much of the expense incurred in the ordinary system, permitting steamers and transports to be dispensed with, and rendering large warehouses and numerous employees for transhipment of stores unnecessary.
A pair of barges, as in plate 1, will carry 8 cars; but it would be preferable to lash together 4 arks, each 20 feet by 60 feet, making an area of 40 by 120 feet, capable of carrying a train of 16 cars, all of which can be loaded and unloaded without changing the position of the arks. Four tracks on the wharf, four on the arks, and four movable bridges, will be required to complete this arrangement; with it a train of cars can be loaded or unloaded in 15 minutes. A dock for loading and unloading the cars from the arks can be formed by driving a few piles on each side.
USMRR box car No. 1162 and seven others are transported by barge. Photographed at the US Military Railroad wharf on the Potomac River at Alexandria, VA. At left are the tracks on a similar pair of barges. Pioneer Mills can be seen faintly in the right background.
