Article from Hagerty Magazine about the former C&O Car Ferry SS Badger and its trip between Manitowac, WI and Ludington, MI with a group of vintage Cobra sports cars.
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/Articles/2015/11/09/Snakes-On-The-Water
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Is the Badger the last coal-burning steam (piston! -- compounded uniflow engines) power in regular passenger service?
I guess the steam power plant is hidden away, and it doesn't make chuffing and snorting sounds owing to a condensing cycle, and people on the dock don't get to see pistons and siderods moving. But it is the last of its kind.
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
She represent the last of the modern coal burning steamships that were so prevelant during the 40's, 50's and 60's. Growing up on the western end of lake Erie, it was very common to look out and see the out lines of the upbound or down bound steamers and see the tale tell line of black smoke following the ship. Its good to have the old badger around. Not lot of smoke now a days, but the same smells and aromas.
Cheers
Some former coal burners remain active on the Great Lakes. The SS Herbert C. Jackson for instance, all set to be repowered this coming winter layup and the final steamship in the Interlakes fleet, was launched in 1958 as a coal burner and wasn't converted to oil firing until the winter 1974-75 layup.
But the Badger is not only the last active coal burner of any type in commercial service on the Lakes, she's easily the last steamship left in regular passenger service on the Great Lakes.
Toronto has the sidewheeler Trillium in service for their ferry fleet with her original triple expansion reciprocating steam engine, but she's usually reserved for special occasions. Otherwise, she sits as a backup vessel rather than as part of the daily operating fleet. Her boilers were converted to oil firing many years ago.
The Badger's pair of Skinner Unaflows are likely the last of their kind aboard any type of vessel (Other than what's left of the parts donors aboard her sistership, the SS Spartan). The SS James Norris with her 5 cylinder Skinner Unaflow was retired after the 2011 season and subsequently scrapped by new owner Algoma Central Marine rather than proceed with a diesel repowering project that Upper Lakes Shipping had already purchased an engine for.
And the 1906 built St. Marys Challenger, powered by a 4 cylinder Unaflow after being repowered in 1950, was barged during the winter 2013/2014 layup and is now pushed by a tug that connects via an articulated connection system in a notch at her stern.
The only possible survivor that I'm aware of that made it to the 2000's is the Casa Grande class dock landing ship ROCS Chung Cheng. Launched in 1945 as the USS Comstock, she was sold to Taiwan with her pair of Skinner Unaflows intact.
Details on if she kept her powerplant in Taiwanese service or was repowered have never been clear and some reports state that she was retired back around 2012. Her current status is unknown to me.
Some friends of mine were on the Badger last summer, they said you're not allowed into the engine room. A shame. They let people into the engine room of the SS John Brown about ten years ago when it came to Toronto as a port stop on it's way to Ohio for some hull repairs. Reciprocating engine, not sure if it's a Skinner. You couldn't go down the lower level of the engine room, only a gallery deck around the upper part of the cylinders. So, there's that one and another Liberty ship on the west coast, the SS Jeremiah O'Brien.
In other news, she's getting towed to Sturgeon Bay for her Coast Guard mandated 5 year survey at Bay Shipbuilding sometime this month. Probably already there, actually.
That won't please the naysayer or two that were insistent that she was doomed and that Lake Michigan Carferry was broke, but that quarter of a million dollar or so reinvestment into her will make her good to go for another five years (I think that's just about the going rate for a drydocking, hull survey, repairs, and a paint job these days).
54light15Some friends of mine were on the Badger last summer, they said you're not allowed into the engine room. A shame. They let people into the engine room of the SS John Brown about ten years ago when it came to Toronto as a port stop on it's way to Ohio for some hull repairs.
Not too surprising given that she's a working ship rather than a museum ship. I think during the annual Boatnerd cruise though that they give engine room and pilothouse tours.
54light15Reciprocating engine, not sure if it's a Skinner.
Liberty ships had traditional triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines, not Skinner Unaflows.
That allowed the shipyard to build them itself, conserving steam turbines, uniflows (Skinner Unaflows were common engines for medium size warships like escort carriers where speed wasn't crucial), and diesels for other installations.
And it also allowed many sailors that had stopped sailing during the depression years to jump right back in where they had left off.
You can take tours, including the engine room, of the former carferry City of Milwaukee museum ship, docked in Manistee about 20 miles north of Ludington.
I live in Michigan and we go up there to watch it every once and a while, and its really cool. I might have some pictures somewhere,but i dont know.
A fine old ship, god hope the epa will allow her to live.
They should, realistically one old coal-burner isn't going to have any perceptible environmental impact.
The EPA and the ferry company signed an agreement, whereby coal ash collecting equipment was installed on the Badger last year. I have not heard that there are any further problems.
They'll be back though since there's still coal emissions from her stack.
Some didn't think so, but I think several things that they did with their recently concluded saga was very much proactive. They're the ones for instance that first told the EPA that they thought there was a potential solution for the ash issue and initiated the investigation of alternatives on their own free will and dime, before there were any signs of the troubles that were about to befall them.
I hope that continues and they try to stay one step ahead of things. Scrubber technology is making advancements and we're seeing some advanced systems aboard lake freighters these days to fight air emissions from their diesel engines, for one example. Algoma's Equinox class for instance has exhaust gas scrubbers that remove over 95% of sulfur oxide emissions.
Perhaps now is the time to start taking a look at this area if they haven't already done so.
Awe man, what good is steamer if you can't enjoy the smells and sounds. Although the crossing's is always fun.
There is another coal burner here in Canada, the S.S. Segwun, based at Gravenhurst, Ontario. A beautiful ship, reciprocating engine and propeller driven and built in the 1880s as a side-wheeler. There's also the Wanda, a reciprocating ship with a water-tube boiler which is based there as well, but an oil burner. On the Segwun (I've been in the engine room) there is what looks like a large toilet which is the ash ejecter system that dumps the ash directly into the lake.
To me though, including a ship like RMS Segwun would be like telling someone that the steam era in the US and Canada on mainlines didn't end in 1960 because locomotives like MILW 261 operate excursions.
She's essentially a museum ship in tourist service, rather than a common carrier.
http://realmuskoka.com/
Either way, both the badger and the RMS segwum, are treasures in their own rights.
Yeah well the Badger is slow as molasses at crossing Lake Michigan and I am really surprised the railroads did not invest more in a faster car ferry across the lake. Seems the U.S. Navy is the only organization experimenting with high speed powerplants these days. If they could invent a cross lake Ferry service that could cross the Lake in two hours.....possibly a hydrofoil, perhaps that might bring some of the cross lake rail service back.
They were fast when new. They had an 18 mph cruising speed versus the previous best of 14. A lot of effort went into tank testing to create the ideal hull profile for them. And they're faster than almost all freighters today on the Great Lakes. Don't forget that even in 1952, they were freight vessels first and foremost.
CMStPnP Yeah well the Badger is slow as molasses at crossing Lake Michigan and I am really surprised the railroads did not invest more in a faster car ferry across the lake. Seems the U.S. Navy is the only organization experimenting with high speed powerplants these days. If they could invent a cross lake Ferry service that could cross the Lake in two hours.....possibly a hydrofoil, perhaps that might bring some of the cross lake rail service back.
For cars, you probably need a catamaran-type. How about this one?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSC_Villum_Clausen
It could probably make the Manitowoc crossing in 80-90 minutes
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
There is a high speed ferry (for cars) between Milwaukee and Muskegon, MI. I assume that it competes to some extent with the Badger. Takes 2 1/2 hours.
http://www.lake-express.com/
BtrainBob There is a high speed ferry (for cars) between Milwaukee and Muskegon, MI. I assume that it competes to some extent with the Badger. Takes 2 1/2 hours. http://www.lake-express.com/
Yeah, but I bet its Diesel . . . or worse yet, a gas turbine
To my wallet, prices seem a little pricey - with vehicle charges not including an operator and a one way adult fare at $86.50 + unspecified surcharages; an automobile is $94; motorcycle is $44; motortricycle is $60.
My Sister who is Amtrak Phobic takes that ferry sometimes. It cannot run in rough lake conditions (lots of people puke), my guess is they scrimped on stabilizers or it is relatively small / lightweight. Also it is fast but it is also only a 118 mile width of the lake. Surely we can do better in this day and age with possibly a hydrofoil.......maybe?
Geeze, what is the top speed (classified) of our Nuke Carriers. Got to be 55-60 mph by now........easily with a Nuke plant.
I believe another feather in the Badgers cap is it can travel through light ice over conditions on the lake as it has a reinforced hull that will break ice up to a specific thickness..........read somewhere this was true, might not be as I am relying on my memory again which can be faulty. Lake Express is only a fair weather Ferry and cancels the trip in anything resembling moderately rough seas. Too unreliable for rail service, IMO.
schlimmFor cars, you probably need a catamaran-type. How about this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSC_Villum_Clausen It could probably make the Manitowoc crossing in 80-90 minutes
Yup 55 mph is Modern, IMO but I think they could do better by 5-10 mph. So even if they got that service up and running and it took rail cars. With the congestion around Chicago I think they could reinstate a Michigan to West Coast service that could cut almost a day out of transit time if they had a dock in Wisconsin and the train departed after marshalling the cars off the Ferry.
Thats why I am surprised CP or CN hasn't partnered with a MI railroad for this. Interestingly I think CN's track to Manitowoc is still in really decent shape I was just up there last August and it looks like Class I track most of the way into the city of Manitowoc.
I think the former GB&W is gone or torn up by now East of Green Bay.
Leo Ames- the Wenonah is diesel powered. I was aboard it when it was being built and spoke to a guy there and he said that they wanted it to be steam powered, they had found a boiler that they could use but the time it would have taken to find an engine would have taken too long and cost too much. Not six months later I was in a warehouse in Forest Hill in Toronto and there were the contents of the marine museum that had closed down at Harbourfront. And naturally there were several reciprocating engines that would have been suitable and they were just sitting there gathering dust. I wonder if they're still there?
BaltACD BtrainBob There is a high speed ferry (for cars) between Milwaukee and Muskegon, MI. I assume that it competes to some extent with the Badger. Takes 2 1/2 hours. http://www.lake-express.com/ To my wallet, prices seem a little pricey - with vehicle charges not including an operator and a one way adult fare at $86.50 + unspecified surcharages; an automobile is $94; motorcycle is $44; motortricycle is $60.
The SS Badger fare (one way) is cheaper: $66.00 per adult + a $5.00 security fee + $66.00 for a car, $39.00 for a motorcycle.
CMStPnPGeeze, what is the top speed (classified) of our Nuke Carriers. Got to be 55-60 mph by now........easily with a Nuke plant.
From checking online it looks like top speed of both the Nimitz and brand new Gerald Ford classes is 30-35+ mph. Maybe the true speed is classified and is a bit higher, but far from 60. The first nuclear carrier, Enterprise was almost 39 mph. By contrast, the conventional Forrestal class top speed was 39 mph; Kitty Hawks were ~37 mph.
Ships speeds are measured in knots, not miles per hour! The S.S. United States could do better than 35 knots and its hull design was classified until it was retired in 1968. Whenever it was dry docked, the lower part of the hull would have canvas awnings covering it.
Since we're talking ship speeds now, the USS Wisconsin broke 39 knots in Chesapeake Bay in 1945. Not too shabby for a nearly 900' battleship. :)
And her sistership the New Jersey sustained 35 + knots for over six hours on her shakedown cruise in 1968 when she was reactivated for service in Vietnam (A job she did too well at since the North complained in Paris that she was a "destabilizing influence" and Washington in their infinite wisdom sent her back to mothballs and killed a few more pilots on jobs that 16" battleship shells could've handled in a region where most targets were within range of her main guns).
And I think the top speed of super carriers remains classified right on down to the Forrestal, which is one of a good half dozen or so American victims in the last 20-25 years that I think is a tragic loss for maritime preservation. The Nimitz class hull profile is an evolution of the Forrestal and Kitty Hawk classes, so they've kept a tight lid on it.
She was the last US carrier laid down with an axial flight deck, first launched with a angled deck, first super carrier, was a survivor of a horrible fire off the coast of Vietnam that came close to forcing her to be abandoned, saw a lot of active service in Vietnam, and she was oil fired and had no nuclear worries that would prevent her preservation these days with the navy's no nuclear museum policy of recent years (Despite the Nautilus and America's sole nuclear powered cargo ship being preserved in earlier years and security and preservation of her nuclear engine room spaces for decades to come being cheaper than the cost of scrapping).
If a super carrier is to be preserved, her history made her the best candidate. Not many selections left these days that are even possible. I think only the Kennedy and Kitty Hawk haven't had their death warrants signed or already been disposed of via scuttling or scrapping down in Brownsville, remaining on donation hold the last I heard.
CMStPnPI believe another feather in the Badgers cap is it can travel through light ice over conditions on the lake as it has a reinforced hull that will break ice up to a specific thickness..........read somewhere this was true, might not be as I am relying on my memory again which can be faulty. Lake Express is only a fair weather Ferry and cancels the trip in anything resembling moderately rough seas. Too unreliable for rail service, IMO.
She was built for year round service and can indeed break a lot of ice. And she's a good heavy weather ship and is able to maintain service, safety, and passenger comfort in conditions that her competitor stays at port for.
These are "friend of a friend" stories so take 'em for what they're worth.
When I was in the Marines back in the 70's a friend had a Navy buddy stationed on the Nimitz. They were cruising the Mediterranian when a Russian destroyer pulled in close and started to pace them. The Nimitz' skipper broadcast to the crew, "Stand by, we're going to have some fun with this guy! All hands clear the flight deck!"
Well, to coin a phrase, they "Put the pedal to the metal" and the Nimitz RAN away from the Russian tin can. The Nimitz' bow came out of the water like a speedboat, estimated speed was over 50 knots.
The other story is of a Nimitz class skipper who was in a hurry to get home after a Med deployment. When they cleared the Straits of Gibraltar they opened up the throttles and ran from Gibraltar to Norfolk in four days.
THAT particular captain, however, got himself relieved for that stunt.
Again, take it for what it's worth.
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