Man, that’s too cool for words! Boy am I jealous!
Gorgeous! [:D]
A better taste:
You know, the only thing missing is Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel standing next to the wheelhouse singing “Make Believe.”
Not any more
Ahhhh, just lovely! No steamboat should be without 'em!
Thanks RME!
They don’t make 'em like that anymore. World’s changed. Too bad.
So is this an excursion boat or truly a common carrier?
One of the former bolo boats, laid up since 1991 is in Buffalo under going refurbishment. The plan is to bring her to NYC for excursion service on the Hudson river
The FAQs repeatedly refer to ‘cruises’, and I see neither a mention of any franchise requirement or minimum service requirements. I would suspect that the OP may think ‘common carrier’ means something like ‘handles anyone who shows up wanting to ride’ rather than being required by law to provide service in return for the opportunity to provide transport ‘for hire’.
If what gardendance said was accurate, our Raymond might be concerned about the note at the end of the FAQs:
Just curious, but does anyone know what Chautauqua Belle uses for fuel? I suspect it’s oil-fired but it might even be propane given the lack of smoke.
#2 diesel, and apparently the firing controls are fully automatic. (The Belle was built new for the Bicentennial in 1976). Apparently the current owner bought her… when he was 18!
At one point they were using a Troy-Skinner-powered genset for the electrical power, but the boiler couldn’t comfortably source enough steam to drive it and the main engine simultaneously under some conditions; as they now use a 30kW diesel generator, I surmise it was not feasible to provide the additional steam generation (cost-effectively or otherwise!)
Oh good, I was hoping it wasn’t coal, or the EPA would go after them too like they went after the Badger.
A diesel generator for electrical power doesn’t surprise me, looking at the size of Chatauqua Belle I wouldn’t think there’d be enough boiler capacity to run the engines and an electrical powerplant as well, it’s not a very big vessel. You can’t get ten pounds of (ahem) into a five pound bag after all.
Say, what are the “bolo boats” Mr. Willison spoke of? I did an on-line search out of curiosity and the only thing I could find were basically sport fishing charters in Florida.
I didn’t watch it and just skimmed the thread, but perhaps you mean Boblo boats? There’s an ongoing restoration of both of them, with one slated the last I heard for excursion service on the Hudson River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ste._Claire_(passenger_steamboat)
common carrier- You can take the Boat from Mayville NY (County Seat) Landing and go to Bemus Point NY (Villege in the Town of Ellery NY) and Stay overnight and possibly catch a boat back the next day or ride your bike down to Jamestown NY. I define CC as open to all passengers who pay the fare and have a origin and destination.------Up until the 1950s there was steamboats that met PRR passenger trains at the Union Station(Still Standing) Mayville NY and a Interurban went around Lake Chatauqua. The PRR Railroad is now a hiking/ATV trainC.A.R.T buses and Coach USA provide local and commuter buses. The Closest Train Station is Erie PA and Barons Bus runs to and from Dunkirk/Fredonia (http://baronsbus.com/barons-bus-stops-routes/) in which you have to get a CARTS bus from there
(716) 665-6466
Boblo boats. Now that makes sense. I followed the links and sure enough they do look like classic Hudson River steamers, minus the sidewheels.
Wow, the memories. When I was a kid I was able to ride on both Alexander Hamilton and Peter Stuyvesant as well as the hand fired steam ferries between Newburgh and Beacon. So glad to hear there may be some steam returning to the Hudson - where it all started with Robert Fulton.
My wife remembers the “Crystal Beach Boat” from Buffalo to Cystal Beach park on the Canadian side.
TAKE ME BACK TO MY WILD YOUTH! -
Much of my summertime youth was spent happily on the SS Columbia riding the famous Bob Lo Boat Company steamships. The SS St. Clair and the SS Columbia both harked from the turn of the last century - 1899/1900 and regularly plied their trade in Detroit for 80 years making 10 or so summertime trips daily from downtown Detroit to Bob Lo Island, Canada in the lower Detroit River.
Now Bob Lo Island was a major tourist attraction for the City of Detroit because it was an amusement park like Cedar Point, Ohio or Kings Island, Ohio. The roller coaster, the Tilt Awirl, the Shooting Gallary, the Round UP, the Dodge Um Cars, the miniture railroad that ran around the island! The Casino!
Yes! The two steamships were the ONLY way to get there to the park, so everyone rode the famous ships - I mean EVERYONE. Full of excitement in the morning and looking forward to the 80 min river cruise, and dead tired in the evening hoping it would take longer or go faster!
Also, everyone crossed the International Border into Canada for the day! Canada had its own small ferryboat from the Canadian shore to Bob Lo Island - so you could meet and date the Canadian girls or guys. This would give U.S. Customs fits! today and Homeland Security would go nuts!! but in the years between 1909 and 1990 America and Canada had a very officially relaxed border crossing procedure and no one cared.
Bob Lo Island was fortified by the British in the War of 1812 and had a remaining original wooden blockhouse fortress on the other end of the island from the amusement park. My trips into this historic facility with several girlfriends found it to be haunted by ghosts of Revolutionary soldiers! - Yah! at least it was a good excuse for a long walk to go “check out” the blockhouse! Across the river remained historic Fort Wayne last used exten
Yes dr d, god speed the SS Columbia. Her return to service may be as epic as the return of the 4014. Not many steamship have been saved. Very few with the exception of a couple of the liberty ships and the badger still steam today. Unlike steam locomotives very few have been brought back from the dead.
I wish them well and again god speed.
Robert Willison,
Here is a bit more history on the SS Columbia taken from Michigan Natural Resources Magazine - Michigan Heritage Series Volume III - “Ladies of the Lakes” by R Clay.
Detroit radio station from the - Golden Tower of the Fisher Building - WJR 760 “Great Voice of the Great Lakes” radio commercial from 1960-1970.
"Toooot…tooooot…“It’s ten o’clock and there goes the Bob-Lo boat leaving from the foot of Woodward Ave.”
Between 1900 and 1930 Detroit’s population went from 286,000 to 1,570,000 people. The city went from steam boat and rail travel to the automobile lifestyle. Both tunnel and bridge were built across the heavily traveled Detroit River slowing the extensive rail passenger and freight marine ferry service. New York Central built a new train station moving from the waterfront to the on line tunnel trackage and changing from a “terminal” to a “station” in Detroit. Grand Trunk, Wabash, however, still shipped cars by ferry boat.
Extensive steam boat ferry service was available on the Great Lakes. SS South American was a cruise ship that plied the great lakes every summer. SS City of Detroit III, ran regular daily passenger service between Detroit and Buffalo, NY. SS Tashmoo ran the entire Lake Erie, Detroit river Lake St. Clair and St. Clair River commuter service carrying passengers between Port Huron, Detroit and Toledo. SS Put-In-Bay was the party boat for dance bands and evening cruises. All these ships docked along the Detroit waterfront in the glamor end of a busy marine shipping industry.
As late as the 1960’s I traveled on the new steamship car ferry SS Aquarama <