Zabco,
Thanks for the link, I was looking for something like the pipe gate!
I have been to CF a couple times and I do spend some time at the boat pond. Ya, I really would need a very small pond within only a few feet of or even directly next to the dirt pile so it would look like a loading area similar to my backyard pond layout. That way truck drivers could haul dirt to the stock pile where it could be loaded on barges.
I never have developed a way to unload a barge but that would be the complete deal! Load barges at one point, push them around to the other end of the layout with the tow boat and unload, load back into trucks and do it all again!
I'll keep dreaming...
Jim