Boat Lunch Rail System?

[Keith123]

Any ideas on the age of this rail system that appears to have been used as a launch?

What size boats could have been launched from a system like this?

Seems too big of an operation to be for personal use, could it be commercial or military?

 

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[bradyboy]

personally, I would research what buildings , business was located at that address
the rail system runs to the water edge?
boat launch, floating dock/ diving platform
people have a lot of creative devices to retreive docks and floating platforms to pull out lakes before the lake freezes
any motor, winch at the end as a pully device?
IMO, the pic of water looks like a small pond
imo Brady

 

[Rmeav8r]

Agree with Bradyboy....those are used everywhere around lakes and bays. The ones I see most are for smaller boats 10-16 feet in length and are hand winched but are really up to the imagination of the builder. I’ve seen old boat trailers and such converted to this sort of use.

 

[Keith123]

personally, I would research what buildings , business was located at that address
the rail system runs to the water edge?
boat launch, floating dock/ diving platform
people have a lot of creative devices to retreive docks and floating platforms to pull out lakes before the lake freezes
any motor, winch at the end as a pully device?
IMO, the pic of water looks like a small pond
imo Brady

The rail system runs down into the water. It’s a sloped landing into a creek. The rails run into the water. No evidence of a motor, pulley, or winch but there is some heavy duty steel cable remains.

 

[Keith123]

Agree with Bradyboy....those are used everywhere around lakes and bays. The ones I see most are for smaller boats 10-16 feet in length and are hand winched but are really up to the imagination of the builder. I’ve seen old boat trailers and such converted to this sort of use.

Thanks for the reply. I never thought of a floating platform. The area is known for ship building so I assumed it was related to that industry.

 

[ticndig]

you can search Historical Aerials on the web and see what was there many years ago. and search their topo maps for even earlier info
photos for my area go back to 1958..

I would guess it was a ferry of sorts to cross the waterway.