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I am finding your story to Flieshmans deleted in two places…but don’t know why. I did read it and tried to respond and I got to the blank page indicating “deleted”. But I will try to make a comment here. Several things…in a employee timetable I found speed limits on the U&D to be 55 with curves at 50. A ride east out of Arkville back in the 80s I was impressed with the superelevated curves and speed limit signs at 50. I also wanted to point out that your ride(s) on the West Shore’s Weehawken Ferry was propelled by steam, too; I think the boat service was pulled instead of being dieselized.
For some unkown reason, when I tried to correct spelling in the post, it got posted, and then the one with corrected spelling got posted, so I wished to delete the one with the spelling mistaked. Appreciate your comments on my trip. Yes, most NYC-area ferry boats were steam powered in 1947. I am not sure if the Central ever switched to diesel before giving up the service.
They were the last fleet to be steam and never made it to diesel. That’s why we’d go out of our way to ride. Dad parked the car in the gangway and we’d walk over to the open door and watch and listen to those steam engines with awe. The last railroad ferries, were by the end, the EL’s, both diesels, in 1967.
Did the great Lakes car ferries sail after 1967?
I realize the thread is about NY harbor boats, but “the last railroad ferries” includes other waters.
Fond memories of the CNJ, DL&W, Erie and NYC, heck even the Staten Island Nickle ride, but the railroad ferries were free rides…just join the flood of people sailing on the ferries to connect to or from trains in Jersey…Hudson Tubes, NY Subways…cheap…1950’s teenage railfanning in N’Yawk Hah’buh!
I can only address NY Harbor water traffic. Note that today the Staten Island Ferry is a free ride but that it did go well up beyond a nickle at one point. And note further that railroad ferries were not free rides, or at least were not supposed to be. Passengers going to NYC from NJ presumably had tickets reading “to New York” rather than just the NJ terminal and thus walked through the waiting rooms and terminal passages to reach the ferries. Those not holding tickets were expected to go through the ferry’s street entrance and pay as did motor vehicle traffic. Of course many went to the train waiting room then to the ferry skipping paying the fare. Coming to NJ from NYC, one had to pay a fare for the ferry or buy or show a train ticket from NYC in order to ride. Only during crowded rush hours and getting in the middle of the crowd could one probably avoid the ferry ticket fare. Often it was only 25 cents but that could be a lot of money to some, especially young teenagers.
Great Lakes car ferries were quite different and not like NYC area commuter ferries either in service or in design
Yes. The GT ferry out of Grand Haven, Mich ran up until the mid 70s. The AA ferries out of Frankfort, and the C&O ferries out of Ludington ran until the early 80s. These carferries carried rail cars, autos, and passengers across Lake Michigan. However, the ferries out of Ludington continued on after the C&O got out of the business, and this summer the Badger is scheduled to haul autos and passengers. It’s the last of the original carferries still running. It’s steam powered, but because it dumps its coal ashes into the lake, it has run afoul of environmental laws, plus the boat is showing its age. If you are hoping to ride, don’t delay.
I rode the C&O Ferry out of Ludington across Lake Michigan in the 1960’s. Got there early in the morning and had breakfast while bopping over to Wisconsin. What I thought was neat, the china and sliverware used on the boat was china from discontinued passenger trains. Recall riding the Badger once when the waters were really rough, rocked really bad so I avoided breakfast. Would have been a waste of money![:)]
I forgot a couple of other smaller late Great Lakes carferry operations. The Mackinac Ttransportation Co carried rail cars on the Cheif Wawatam between the surviving lines to the tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsular at Mackinaw City, to the Soo Line in the Upper Peninsular until 1984. There were also carferries or barges to carry oversized rail cars across the Detroit River into the 90s.
There’s been a security breech…“Only by getting in the middle of a crowd during rush hour”…dang it, the secret’s out. Now nobody will be able to dupe those gatekeepers’ at Cortland St or 42nd St to get free rides on the ferries.
The ferries were operating as connections to, or from, trains throughout the day and would accumulate a bunch of people at the boarding gates, the bunch being in trainload size…melding in: no problem.
Those gatekeepers opened them when the boat’s arriving passengers were off: then ensued a civilized stampede to load the embarkers.
Now, thanks to this intel’ breech, (leak), teenage railfans rides to get to cross-Hudson photography locations…Shot Down!
Those NJ riverside terminals don’‘t (didn’t ) serve local residents…cuz’ there weren’t any; it was a harbor-terminal, industrial, not residential, area. It served the trains from the 'burbs and further points west, north and south.
Would some one steal a ride to get some train photos? nahh! no way…
Should have respected with gratitude those who supported that RR. ferries on the Great Lakes were apples to apples, comparatively, to NY harbor ops.
They, on the Lakes, and they, in the harbors,
I seemed to have disrespected the statement that NY Harbor differed from an apples to apples comparison with Great Lake’ ops…
So be it.
As a teenager, I volunteered Monday evenings to do office work at Electric RR’s Association Hq upstairs of the DL&W term., space shared with NY Soc. of Model Engineers and their marvelous O-gauge layout. After dinner could get there for free by using my Board of Ed bus pass on the M10 bus down to Barcley Street, and then melding with the crowd boarding the Ferry. Coming back, could do the same, but a nickle for the subway got me home a lot faster with the headway on the bus much longer. No one bothered to check for fares on the Manhatten-bound boat, entrance; they assumed you had arrived on a train. But Harold Geissenheimer, Ronald Perente, John Stern, Bill Watson, and Herman Rinke usually opted to use the H&M (now PATH), and I had the choice of spending an extra dime and being with friends or enjoying the boat ride for free but alone.
Locals did indeed take the freebie ferry to NY as often as they needed. So they got a half fare round trip; But if they were lucky enough to be returning the the Jersey side at rush hour, they could get in the middle of the waiting room crowd and get pushed aboard by the mob and get a free ride back. Of course as time moved on and the crowds got smaller, it became more difficult to become invisible.
In the period 1947-1949, no problem on the DL&W boat around 7:30pm monday evenings.
The ferry boat Lackawanna was dieselized in 1949. The other E-L ferries, Scranton, Binghamton, Pocono, remained steam powered up to the end of ferry service in 1967.
Mark
The poor old SS. Badger has had an awful lot of hassle regarding the ashes it deposits into the lake. But so far it seems to have gotten a reprieve.
It seems a grand vessel and it would be sad to see it confined to a dry dock or similar.
Penn Central was stuck with a car ferry across the Mackinaw Straights. It turned into a real albatross. PC and predecessor (not sure which railroad) filed for abandonment when the bridge opened. The ICC said they had to keep running the ferry. The ICC wouldn’t even allow a tug and barge operation. Then the Coast Guard insisted on plating
Continued, Then the Coast Guard insisted on replanting the hull. Then the state of Michigan insisted on an updated power plant that would pollute less (but burn more fuel) . I the vessel was the Chief Wawatam. Oh yes the railroad the New York Central. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Chief_Wawatam Rgds IGN
That should have read. "the Coast Guard insisted on REPLATING the hull " Thx IGN
Last note. I need to get another PC. This tablet is giving me all kinds of typos. Also my apologies for straying afield. Thx IGN