Lots of tugs have pointed prows. The ones that work the river by me do but they are littoral rather than pure riverine craft. The Vistula Queen could have doubled as an ice breaker which would give it a reason to be that far upriver when blunt nosed tugs would be better.
As for the engines, you are correct, the conversion suggested in the book is fantasy. The tug is quite old though and probably had a steam engine originally, if I was running the game I'd have the diesels replaced by a salvaged steam engine.
There is a paddle wheel boat in Krakow, it's called the legenda but from what I can tell it isn't a steamer, merely a modern engine powered replica. this might need a lot of work too and doesn't have the cabin or cargo space that Adam needs. Add to that the fact that it is top heavy and would be made more so by any defences or armaments and that makes it nearly as unfeasible as the funny tug.
When you look at the whole scenario realistically, it gets thinner and thinner: the tug and barge can't really deal with the refugees and in the long run, why the hell are people still living in Warsaw anyway? I would have to assume that Adam is actually mad and that the whole mission is doomed to failure.
Or, you can suspend some disbelief and have fun, the problem is that if you have to suspend too much disbelief, it may no longer be fun for you.
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