1. The Reading Tug – Schuylkill By: Barry Hensel
My Reading Lines – Central Division layout has needed a tug boat for the Port Richmond coal dock scene for some time. I finally found a Walthers Tug kit for a reasonable price at a local train show. And that has started this journey and clinic…. I am not trying to model a Reading Tug precisely, but make this model enough of a Reading Tug to be recognized as a Reading Tug.
Here is the kit which is the starting point. The Reading Railroad had a tug fleet of 6 tugs in two different classes. This kit closely matches the first class, of which the Schuylkill is also a class 1 Reading Tug.

2. Some specifications of the Schuylkill, a class 1 Reading Tug.

5. Here are two pictures of the different classes –
Note the differences in the upper deck and pilot house areas. Class 1 – top photo is very much like the model with a pilot house in the front only. Class 2 – bottom photo has an extended pilot house with stairs on both sides to a side door. I’m also taking a bit of modelers/layout owner license, as the Schuylkill tug did not operate in the Port Richmond area, but it will be stationed there on my layout. Now that some basic research has been done (Thanks to the members of the Reading Modeler web-forum!) we can get started with the build.

6. Here’s some of the basic kit components… these are the hull parts, which is built first. The right side of the hull gets glued to the bottom after some supports are glued in. The bottom edge between the hull and bottom does not have tabs so be careful when aligning these parts. I used some ACC to hold them together more quickly.

7. One would think you glue the left hull to this assembly – NO
One would think you glue the left hull to this assembly – NO!! the deck must now be glued to the right side and bottom. This is because the hull sides are wrapped over the decking and you would never get the deck installed if the hull was glued together. BE VERY careful lining up the deck with the hull side!! (don’t ask me how I know…)
The deck is curved so some weights were added to help hold it down while the glue dried. My mistake was not being careful when aligning the desk and it was too far forward – See how I did not get the front lined-up properly!

8. Gluing the left side hull on I again used ACC to tack it in place, as you have to line it up and there are no good tabs to do that. Now when you try to glue the left side hull on, you end up with a gap at the front -
One possible solution would have been to trim the deck to a new point to match the right side hull piece. But I figured that tug boats would not need a sharp hull point, plus when you add the fender (the large mass at the front of a tug that it uses to push with) it would help hide my mistake. I proceeded to fill the gap with some strip styrene and putty -
Again, it doesn’t look too bad and most will be covered anyway. It was my mistake, just didn't take the extra minute to be sure it was lined-up correctly. It looks OK at the rear, but you have to double check the front... as I found out!

9. I then turned to the lower cabin construction
I then turned to the lower cabin construction. I decided to deviate from the instructions and build the lower cabin onto the upper deck instead of gluing everything to the lower deck. I believe this will help with painting later on.
Looking at many pictures I noticed that the lower cabin is not rounded like the kit, but more square. I cut some off of the upper deck and squared the corners with a file – to get a good straight cut I measured from a feature, drew a line and cut with an xacto knife.

10. Next, also realized through photos, the Reading Tugs did not have the inside stairways to the upper deck as on the model. Thus the holes in the deck were filled and the stairs not installed, but I did install the walls. To help in a bit less trimming, I installed the two side walls on the opposite sides, so the stairway support would be on the inside. Thus the wall showing through the open doors will be flat.

11. Back to the cabin sides, glued them in place and again, used weights to hold them together because the walls are curved to match the main deck.
Had to modify the front wall – remember, the kit is quite curved and we’ve flattened the deck contour to be more straight. I took the wall and blasted it with a hair dryer on HOT and pushed down on the wall piece to try to flatten it. This worked fairly well and the wall was flatter but still had a bit of curve.
Next, since we flattened the wall it “grew” in length, so it had to be trimmed to match the side wall opening. I trimmed about 1/8” or so, trial and error is best here. Below you can see the wall glued on and the pieces I trimmed off. You can also see the squared off deck here too.

12. With the lower cabin basics completed, we return to the main deck and modify the ribbing, which was curved to match the stock walls, so we trim them short so the modified wall fits.
Then also on the upper deck, trim off some of the stack ribbing.

13. Using plain styrene I fashioned the upper deck extension.
I drilled holes for the port-holes, but did not do the best job I could... It will due.

14. Adding a piece of stairway to the front and placing the pieces together to get a preview of the tug! I had also built the stack and used a roof vent from my scrap box to make the stack top vent. I filed it to shape as best as possible looking at photos for guidance.
Because of the paint scheme, I have not glued many of these pieces together yet.

15. Here’s my attempt to do the hand rails, per kit instructions
Here’s my attempt to do the hand rails, per kit instructions. They are supposed to simply bend in place – right!!
I also tried a hair dryer and melted a few spots.
Not happy, I stripped these off of the model and sought out some Central Valley railings.

16. Using a pot of hot water, it was easy to bend the railings to near perfect size! In the upper right photo is one railing that has been bent, the other waiting to be bent. Then I bent one railing piece for the entire back.
This left a gap on
each side which
was filled with
extra railing pieces.
Here’s the railings
completed. And I
added the stairway
railings.

17. The BIG questions is...
Do I modify the railings to be like the prototype?
The Central Valley railings are in thirds, as opposed to the real railings that are in half’s. So do I cut out the middle railings? The overall height of the railings is correct, as seen in the pictures.
Not sure at this time which way I’ll go – cut or leave as is...

18. Starting on the pilot house. The rear wall needs modifications
Starting on the pilot house. The rear wall needs modifications. Again referring to pictures, there are four windows, not the two that are in the model. I cut out the wall window space and glued strips in place to create the four windows. Then I glued the walls to the roof.