Another surviving vessell is the sternwheeler SS Moyie, which is at Kaslo, B.C. It was owned by the CPR, and now is a largley restored heritage site. It sits permanenly drydocked next to Kaslo bay on Kootenay Lk. The engines and boiler are intact. Besides hauling passengers, I've seen photos of cars on it's freight deck as well as of a barge tied on the side with a locomotive and RR cars. The CPR had two branch lines that originated at docks on the lake. The Moyie and other sternwheelers barged RR cars from the CPR mainline at Nelson, to these points. I believe the Moyie is the oldest surviving sternwheeler in N. Am.


jamesbane@hotmail.com

Of course, how could I forget the CPR vessels. I believe the sternwheeler Sicamous on Okanagan Lake in British Columbia was also a CPR boat. And on the Great Lakes there's the passenger steamer Keewatin, built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1907. She's preserved in Douglas, Michigan, and is the last of the once great fleet of CPR liners. The last of their west coast "Princesses", the Princess Marguerite of 1948, was sadly scrapped in 1996.

rjenkins@railfan.net

In regards to the four carferries that were asked about earlier. Three are in Toledo, and one is about a block from me right now in Port Huron.

Windsor - Former Wabash and Norfolk Southern Float. Built by Toledo Shipbuilding in 1930 with uniflows. Cut to a barge operation after Norfolk Western purchased Wabash. Last used by NS in 1994/95. For sale for $250,000.

Manitowac- Former Wabash Ferry, built by Toledo Shipbuilding in 1926 with triples (I Believe). Last used by NS in 1994 after being cut to a barge. For sale for $250,000.

Roanoke- Formerly City of Flint 32, built in 1930 Sold by C&O in 1969, converted to barge Roanoke; laid-up at Toledo. Last operated in 1994. For sale for $250,000.

In Port Huron:

Pere Marquette 10- Built by Manitowac Shipbuilding in 1945 with uniflows (still on board, but inoperable and highly scavengeed!).
Reduced to a barge in 1974. Pushed usually by C&) 452 in her later operation. Operation ceased in 1994. For sale for $250,000.

All of these are owned by the gentleman who owns the Escanaba & Lake Superior. He wants cash, and from what little phone conversations that I have had he doesn't like railfans, so please don't call him and tell him you heard it from me
;-) There is an effort to try and save the PM #10, as she is the last of PM/ C&O river ferry's left now. In the meantime she has had all her windows stoned out; the pilings at the apron she is tied up to caught fire last summer and almost ended her there; I can't go into a whole lot more at the moment, but she is in rough shape. I do have some pictures of the 10 that are scanable if anyone interested

Hope this helps:

T.J. "Yes, the steel door on the baggage car is temporary" Gaffney


Port Huron Museum

peremarquette@hotmail.com

> In Port Huron:

> Pere Marquette 10- Built by Manitowac
> Shipbuilding in 1945 with uniflows (still on
> board, but inoperable and highly
> scavengeed!).
> Reduced to a barge in 1974. Pushed usually
> by C&) 452 in her later operation.
> Operation ceased in 1994. For sale for
> $250,000.

> ...I do
> have some pictures of the 10 that are
> scanable if anyone interested

> Hope this helps:

T.J.,

Could you please e-mail me one of your scans off-line? Thank you in advance.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steamships
james1@pernet.net

> The car deck is roofed over, with the
> Skytops protruding from one end. I'm told
> that 20 or 30 feet of the side of each car
> was torched out. The wheels are welded to
> the deck rails.

Aarne,

The below page is where I found out the information about the Skytops. According to it, the only changes were doors cut into the sides.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Skytop Cars
james1@pernet.net

> T.J.,

> Could you please e-mail me one of your scans
> off-line? Thank you in advance.

> -James Hefner
> Hebrews 10:20a
James-
You bet. I'll send one to you pronto.

TJ

St. Clair Tunnel Company

tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

TJ,

Got them last night. Thanks!

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

> James-
> You bet. I'll send one to you pronto.

> TJ


Skytop Cars
james1@pernet.net

From the "tugboats" mailing list on Yahoo:

"Mike Scalley's "Fooss: Ninety Years of Towboating" (would that all companies had their histories recorded in such detail and style!) says ARTHUR FOSS (1) was built in Portland, OR, in 1889 as WILLLOWA for Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. First power were "a pair of used and obsolete twin steam 'bilge" engines, so called because they were set diagonally in each bilge." In 1901, a modern steam engine and boiler
were installed. In July, 1934, a 700-hp Washingtion Diesel was installed, making her "the most powerful Diesel tug on the West Coast." I believe that engine is still in her.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steamships
james1@pernet.net

> Anything you want to know about steamships
> of the Great Lakes, I can probably help you
> with. I've been photographing the lakers -
> steamers especially - for the last 15 years.
> Unfortunately I can think of a few of them
> that will have to be stricken from your
> "survivors" list in the near
> future, among them the 1927-vintage bulk
> freighter Kinsman Enterprise (ex-Harry
> Coulby) which was recently sold to
> International Marine Salvage for scrapping
> in Port Colborne, Ontario. She'll probably
> be towed from her layup berth in Buffalo
> this spring.

Richard,

I will be getting in touch with you off-line. I am interested in photographs; I will be glad to share my list of great lakes steamers with you as well.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steamships
james1@pernet.net

Ted,

Thanks for the welcome. More below...

> James, You are now getting into my
> professional territory. Glad to have you!
> For surviving steam ship information, you
> showld read Norman Brouwer's International
> Register of historic Ships. Now in its Third
> Edition. It shows Active Steam, Preserved
> Steam im Museums and quite a number of
> vessels just tucked away waiting for
> something to happen.

Thanks, I'll get me a copy. According to my local "Books A Million", it is out of print; but it is still listed on Amazon.com.

> For example the last British paddle wheel
> tug in Britain is the John H.Amos. She is in
> wet storage at the Chatam Dock yard. She
> really needs for someone or institution to
> look after her.

Got this one.

> And closer to home the Vallejo is an iron
> hulled side wheel ferry (built 1879) that
> has been part of the Sausalito houseboat
> fleet for the past 60 years. Her diagonal
> engine is still in place. The ferry was in
> the same dry dock with our EPPLETON HALL
> last year. To keep this rail related she was
> built for the Oregon, Navigation &
> Railway (something like that). Ted

Is this a different vessel from the "Sausalito", aground as the clubhouse for the Sportsmen Yacht Club, Antioch, CA? If so, mark this one up as another surviving ferry.

According to a page I found on it on the internet, it was built in 1893 and was involved in a collsion with the "San Rafael" in 1901. This disaster became the opening chapter of Jack London’s classic book “The Sea-Wolf.”

It also had/has a walking beam engine.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steamships
james1@pernet.net

> Are these two and the one used by the 261
> folks the only Skytops in existence? I
> personally think they are beautiful cars,
> especially when they are flying down the
> rails.

> God Bless,
> Gerald Kopiasz
> Heartland Railroad Historical Society

There are three more in existence, one in Fargo, North Dakota, Daytona, Florida, and the shell of one in Wells Michigan. See the link below


skytop lounges
edselinsky@prodigy.net