The cure is worse than the disease

Owing to the banning of TFSmith from AH Dot Com, there are two versions of the TL floating around. One of them is the AH.com one, the other is more recent.


One example of a change between the TLs is the events of the Battle of Rouses Point.




During this battle, the British take the first defensive line, but are then stymied by further defences and defeated by large numbers of Union reinforcements flowing into the battle area.
This much is the same between both versions.

However (and sensibly) most of the Union force at the battle is encamped at Plattsburgh, about twenty miles away from Rouses Point in a straight line. This is quite a long way to expect divisions complete with artillery to march, especially since (again quite correctly) the Union does not confirm a major attack is going on for a few hours.

First Version

In the first version, the US troops reach the battlefield by taking the train. They have a "special train" which embarks "most of a Brigade" (in the event it is the entire Excelsior brigade, four regiments strong) and a battery of artillery, then moves up to Rouses Point at 25 miles an hour before spending the rest of the battle bouncing back and forth between the remaining Union force and the battlefield.

There are two problems with this. The first is that the train would have to have nearly ninety rail cars to move this much firepower - batteries have about forty men and several horses per gun so each gun requires three cars, and there's 40 men per car otherwise - and hence would not be able to move at top speed.
The second is that there is no train track between Plattsburg and Rouses Point. There is a railroad from Plattsburg northwards, but it passes twelve miles from Rouses Point (which is itself a days march, especially starting at midday).


Evidently after this problem was pointed out by 67th Tigers, TFSmith revised it, because...

Second version

In this version, posted after TFSmith's banning, the US troops reach the battlefield by ship. They board transports in Plattsburg and steam the twenty or so miles up to Rouses Point, then disembark, and TFSmith gilds the lily by having the ships also fire on the British troops to boot. Thus the same result is achieved,  though presumably not at 25 miles per hour as no ship in the world could achieve that speed at this time.

Unfortunately, there is a simpler problem with this one. It's just plain impossible, as Lake Champlain did not thaw for another month.