Not really railroad related, but it is still a blow for historic preservation.

The Kalakala, an Art Deco style Seattle Ferry that looks a bit like it could have been inspired by Raymond Loewy's designs. The ship was known as the world's first streamlined vessel for her unique art deco styling.

For years she was a Seattle icon, adorning postcards and souvenirs. Very distinctive, she caught the public's fancy with her streamlined styling.

In a manner similar to the fate of many old coaches that ended up in work train service, she was re-purposed as a fish cannery and the inside was modified.

In 1998, she was "re-discovered" rotting away in Alaska, towed back to Seattle, and her last few years have been a series of failed attempts to restore her. Everyone thought it was a great idea. Everyone also thought "somebody else" should pay for it. She moved around Puget Sound for a while before ending up in Tacoma for about the last 10 years.

Sadly, her time has run out and scrapping will begin soon.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/01/0 ... 89%2F&rh=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Kalakala

Thanks for posting, Bob.

I'm not surprised that the ship's fate has come to this.

Actually, in a way, the Kalakala is railroad related, as it was originally the Key System ferry Peralta.

The Kalakala in better times:

The first 3 pictures are part of History Link's essay on the Kalakala: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=312







This fourth image comes from the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society's digital collection on Flickr; the Kalakala is carrying advertising for the Century 21 Exposition, more commonly known as the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle.



_________________
Have a Merry Twelfth Day of Christmas and a Happy New Year!

You think locomotive restoration is tough, try preserving a ship.

Especially a ferry. Nearly 300 feet long, over 50 feet wide and 3+ stories tall, this thing is a monster! When I finally saw it in person, my first reaction was "Wow, it's huge!" Sadly, the next thought was "... and in really bad shape!"

Just heard about this on the radio this morning. Sad, but no big shock. I had just moved here when the ferry came into Seattle from the Alaska move. People were so fired up at the time. This is a classic case of, "We only considered the up front money"...
And thus, so many preservation efforts come to nothing because everyone thinks that magical someone should do the work and put the money up for it. Of course, that someone is never the person making the comment.

The ferry Eureka at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park as been preserved and is just as big as the Kalaka. It can be done, albeit with tons of $.


http://www.nps.gov/safr/historyculture/eureka.htm

In that case, the "someone" is all of us, who are forced to support it.

You're not forced. You can always move somewhere that doesn't spend public funds on historic preservation.