Hi!
Using the bread and butter method works if you don't want to get into the Interiors. For R.C. and others this is not the best way to go. The beauty of a Laker? They are basically elongated boxes, with partitions Creating the Cargos holds. Pointy, Well, almost, on one end and rounded on the other, form followed function. The Engines and Engineers and Galley aft, and the Officers and Bridge and Radio crew forward.
I am not sure where passengers were carried, but they did have a few Passenger cabins, Whether fore or aft I do not know. They have just kept getting bigger except there are waterways that limit the sizes they can reach, Various types of loading and unloading have been devised. If you notice they seem to float On, not In the water. At the bows when going to load they remind me of very light wood toy boats! You can actually see the Bilge curve. Not so in a "Saltie" unless in Ballast! "Saltie: A term given to identify ships that traverse the various northeastern waterways to make their way to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic ocean.
What suprises me, is this .The history and nature of the type seems to have been successfully kept to the north. I can find Virtually nothing such as photos and drawings in Libraries this far south. It's like they don't exist. I have quiried Museums and Libraries and Have gotten NO viable information. Much less any co-operation. My client belongs to a group of H.O Train modelers building ports and settings concerning the Steel Mills and their hardware in use till their late decline. They hope to preserve the history in miniature. Surprisingly, this group has members in Indiana. Not necessarily the northern part either!