I know there is quite a bit of interest by railfans in Great Lakes shipping and heavy industry. A “boat” specific site called boatnerd.com has a list of all the main US/Canada iron ore mines and taconite plants along with who owns them, capacity, docks used, etc. It also has all the integrated steel mills, employees, capacity,etc., for them. It’s on the left side of the home page and I found it quite interesting.
Looks very interesting! Thanks!
You just reminded me. I need to get out and do some boat watching before the season ends. Looks like winter’s comming early this year.
I was down at Belle Isle on Wednesday and got jinxed. A couple of old timers were due–the Herbert Jackson out of the Rouge and the John Munson coming up from Lake Erie. The Jackson pulled over to the fuel dock right north of Zug Island and the Munson was only going about 2 knots and still by Wyandotte. I found out why after I got home. It also stopped at the fuel dock and was just idling along until the Jackson got done. I had to leave and missed them both.
The Boatnerd site runs a camera of the St. Clair River at Port Huron.
There are also cameras at Duluth, Marine City, Algonac and Belle Isle at Detroit. I’m surprised there isn’t one at the Soo Locks.
Probably at “The Boathouse by Kate’s.” Nice facility, and there are usually volunteers there who will update visitors as to what ships are passing, etc.
I was there last year for an amateur radio event when a classic laker (aggregate carrier) landed across the river. She was a beauty to see - classic laker lines. Wish I’d taken a picture.
If you’re in Port Huron, it’s a great place to visit. And to keep railroads involved, the railroad bridge over the the Black River is still there, in the raised position, and the ferry dock is accessible just downriver from the visitor’s center (which also has a deli).
There’s also a camera almost at the Bluewater Bridge. There’s a Hilton DoubleTree there with a decent restaurant named “Freighters” which has the boatnerd ais ship map and a gift shop with ship gifts. I slightly prefer it over boatnerd central since you can see out into the lake.
There is a ‘moderator’ that controls the camera and participates in the ‘chat’ the is in a box alongside the camera. The moderator reported the camera was atop the Public Safety building.
Watched a vessel come in from the lake, go downstream a way and turn around and head back upstream to dock at the Grain Elevator in Sarnia Harbor.
The C&O Canadian Division used to run East from Sarnia to near Buffalo where they had trackage rights into Buffalo. I believe CSX has disposed of the property, one way or the other.
Yeah, the CSX through Ontario is gone. I remember seeing a Chessie geep at the ferry dock in Sarnia.
When I worked in the Detroit Public School warehouse (mid 80s), it was right across the street from the MC Station. Every morning we would get the WB Chessie freight. I remember that it always had a large number of BAR boxcars. Those GP40s had a tough time with the Detroit River Tunnel grade. One winter day, it stalled and had to be rescued by the 2 Conrail tunnel transfer SD40s.
Everyone always talks about the CASO facilities in St Thomas, but the C&O also had a small yard and roundhouse there. It was normally populated GMD built GP7s.
It’s not a boatnerd site, but there are webcams at the Soo Locks.
https://www.9and10news.com/weather/live-weather-cams/sault-st-marie-cam/
The whole boat watching thing is fascinating. We spent time at the Soo locks, Whitefish Point, Copper Harbor, Duluth and Two Harbors this summer and were fortunate enough to see quite a few of the big lakers, something we knew nothing about until getting to the locks. I didn’t keep any notes of which ships we saw, but did a little research and found that we did see several of the 1000+ foot boats at Soo and a few more in other places, and got a good look at some of the ore docks and ore trains in Minnesota. There is a crowd on the Duluth approach areas when one of the big boats is scheduled to arrive or leave and a lot of those people bring their kids. There is also some interesting rail activity and history in many of these places so we will be going back. Too bad it takes a 600+ mile drive to get there. PR
Living just a few miles from the St Lawrence River, as I do, ship watching is a part of life. In fact, I’ve done EMS calls to several of the islands of the Thousand Islands on fireboats.
At one time, Clayton, NY was the terminus of the Utica & Black River Railroad, which was taken over by the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg RR, which then became part of the New York Central. In the early 1900’s nearly 20 trains a day originated or terminated at Clayton.
Passengers could step off their (sometimes private) cars and board steamers to the island resorts. Several of the hotels on the islands boasted as many as 400 rooms.
The former site of the station is now part of a riverside park. A pavilion suggestive of a railroad station has been built in the park.
Those are islands out across the River. Canada is about 7 miles away, behind the islands.
When I was in my youth, the Calumet Region was a pretty good place to watch the lake boats on Lake Michigan or watching the bridges on the Calumet River being raised. With containerization and the collapse of the steel industry, almost all of that is gone forever.
Were you lucky enough to be at the Duluth lift bridge when a laker came through? That’s a treat!
Didn’t see an ore boat go through but in 1976 I did see and hear the “Incan Superior” depart. It was powered by 645 engines.
If I don’t have my scanner with me. There’s an app called Marine Traffic I use to track the vessels. It has some great info on a vessels heading, ETA, and port of calls/departs. The Herbert C Jackson is a nice classic laker. Before it’s conversion from steam to diesel (2016 it was converted). Approx 2014 I was in Port Huron at the Seaway Terminal late at night. The HCJ was downbound I got a master salute from that steam whistle. Talk about a sound I’ll never forget! It was awesome! Now that it’s a diesel the whistle is blahh…
For anyone interested. if you ever end up in Port Huron. A great place to catch trains is at the Port Huron Amtrak Station off of 16th St. CN is the dominant as their main between CHI-TOR passes thru. The Flint Sub ends here. The Canadian Strathroy Sub begins just before the now named Paul M Tellier Tunnel. CSX operates on a branch fomerly