Railroad enthusiasts with interests in the Erie Railroad, the New Haven, and the Lehigh Valley, have probably noticed that the tugboats their favorite road operated in New York area carfloat operations look a lot like the tugs owned by the other railroads listed above. There is a reason for this. They were all designed by the same person. Well known in the marine industry, Joe Hack is not nearly as well known to railroad enthusiasts, but his excellence as a designer of workboats resulted in a number of attractive, practical, and economical tugboat designs operated by railroads in the Northeast. Joe's career spanned more than fifty years, from the design of tugs built by Jakobson Shipyard for many railroads, constructed in conjunction with General Motors in the late 1940s and early 1950s, through the driveline design work on the powerful shipdocking tugs CHESSIE and SEABOARD for the Chessie System, built in the 1980s, and into the 1990s. He also designed tugs for Moran Towing, and other commercial marine towing operators. Joe is retired now, but many of the superb towboats he designed continue to work every day.
