¶ The Thomas and William Rubarth "Solano" Ferry Model Papers contain photographs, clippings of articles, information panels, and other materials, written and digital, related to the Southern Pacific-operated ferryboat, "Solano", as well as copies of magazines that cover the subject of model railroading and ships. Included in the collection there are also photos, articles, and copies of maps of Port Costa in the San Francisco Bay area where the "Solano" and another ship, "Contra Costa", operated during their use between the 1870s to the 1930s. The dates of the materials in this collection range from 1900 to 2021.¶

¶ Some time in the 1980s, brothers William and Thomas Rubarth commissioned master model builder, and close friend, Jim Tuner to build an HO-scale (1:87) model of the Solano, a railroad transfer paddlewheel ferry boat, which Turner hand built and completed in 2003. The brothers were initially unable to find much in the way of photos or information on the ferryboat, until they consulted the California State Railroad Museum and the San Francisco Maritime Museum, both of which were able to supply some photos. During a trip to the Bay Area, the brothers were able to visit the wreck of the "Solano", and found scale drawings of the ferryboat in a 1890 article from the "Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers". These drawings formed the basis of the model built by Turner, who began slowly working on it, while the Rubarth brothers continued their research into the exact specifications of the ship. Since the ship was altered numerous times over the course of its existence, Turner and the Robarth brothers settled on recreating the 1930s configuration of the ferry since most photographs were of that version. While Turner worked on the ferryboat, William Rubarth constructed a model of the pier and the station at Port Costa, as well as minute details of the model, such as the rails, which required over four-thousand hand-placed spikes. ¶

1.67 Linear Feet 1 record carton + 1 OV box

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