Real early Ro Ro (sidewheel ferries)

[KC6OLD]

The other night on television I saw in a movie (fiction) a steam
driven, one lane, sidewheel ferry it carried one stagecoach & team
and seemed to have little more room.
It had one deck, no wheelhouse, no superstructure. it appeared to
have been built on-site utilizing a steam donkey with vertical boiler
as motive power on something resembleing a cargo barge.
As this is a logical possability does anyone here know if it ever
really happened this way?

de Dave

[Mike Mayhew]

Having worked on films and TV as a set designer for maritime productions in
the past, anything is possible to get the atmosphere right for the plot.
What you describe sounds very like the the setup used for the very early
Torpoint Ferry. Save that it was connected to a rope across the river.
Verticle boilers were often used, Highland Puffers are an example, where
space was limited.[African Queen] and a simple 'Mill engine'type was used to
drive a shaft either to a paddle or a winch.[ The BD1 Bristol dock scraper
dredger.] why not make a model of it? be unusual..Best Regards ..... Mike
Mayhew
33 Kenn Moor Drive,
Clevedon.
North Somerset. BS21 5AR
http://www.waverleymodels.co.uk