Four designs for 360 HP diesel powered sternwheel towboats, 1926-1927
Ward Engineering was one of the first firms to apply diesel power to drive sternwheelers
in the 1920s. I have identified these designs as A, B, C, & D. Designs B & C are very similar
with different drive set-ups for coupling the paddlewheel to the engine. One has internal
gear drives; the other an external jackshaft and connecting rod set-up. Design D is the most
attractive vessel of the four and again has a gear drive arrangement. All four designs specified
the same type of engine; a 360 HP Fairbanks-Morse 6 cylinder unit that probably weighed about 12
tons! Two of the designs have been built as models. Each
of the 1/48th scale drawings is on a single sheet and consists of an outboard profile and deck
plan. Designs B, C, & D have the "Ward modified scow bow". Although there are no hull lines,
the shape is not hard to figure out. Hull A has a plain barge type hull.
