Western Railroad Discussion > C&O car ferry still steaming along

In June we found ourselves in Detroit at the Indycar race and were going to attend the next race at Elkhart Lake, WI.  Rather than make the drive around the south end of Lake Michigan,  a friend suggested we sail across the lake on the S.S. Badger,  a former C&O car ferry.  It is reportedly the last coal-fired steamship operating in the US.  So off we went to Ludington,  MI for the 4.5 hour trip across the lake to Manitowoc, WI.   It didn't disappoint.....good food,  comfortable seating  (they also have staterooms for $65) and just plain fun.  We had heavy fog to about the mid-point when the sun broke out.  During the fog the ship's horn sounded every two minutes.   Here are a few photos.

1.  Arriving Ludington the previous evening.  With no turning basin,  they come in fast,  drop the starboard bow anchor and then pivot around to back into the slip.
2.  The vehicle loading process.  Ship staff drive vehicles on and off the boat.   It took fifteen minutes for our car to be brought to us in Wisconsin.
3.   Boat builders plate
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/22 19:04 by masterphots.

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4.    Sunny but still too cold to take sun
5.    At speed
6.    Here comes our Avis at Manitowoc



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/22 19:06 by masterphots.

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It's an enjoyable sailing and they have plenty of historic photos within the ship to explain it's original purpose.

Thanks for sharing photos of your trip on the Badger.  We took it from Manitowic to Ludington in 1974.   Are those train tracks in the pavement in the second photo?  In 1974, freight cars were loaded prior to the cars.  It was a fun trrip back then too.

Gerry

Good stuff!

An outstanding post!  Thanks for sharing the experience with a fine narrative!

JCL

SPB Wrote:
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> Thanks for sharing photos of your trip on the
> Badger.  We took it from Manitowic to Ludington
> in 1974.   Are those train tracks in the
> pavement in the second photo?  In 1974, freight
> cars were loaded prior to the cars.  It was a fun
> trrip back then too.
>
> Gerry

Looks like rails.  I didn't notice then until your comment.  I would have asked someone on the boat if I had.

The sister boat S.S. Spartan is tied up at Ludington.  It's been out of service since 1979 and I'd guess the tracks are still on it.  The lady in the Badger's little museum told me there are no plans for it but she hoped it wouldn't be cut up.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 05:32 by masterphots.

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In answer to a couple of questions:

The Badger and its sister ship, the Spartan, and the former Pere Marquette/Chesapeake & Ohio car ferries have plied the lakes for over 100 years.  The Pere Marquette had a succession of ferries simply numbered through 22, then then named them City of Flint, City of Saginaw (31 & 32) and City of Midland (43), indicating the years built built.  PM was bought out by the C&O and they built the Spartan (52) and Badger (53).  When I started riding them as a toddler in 1949, 7 ferries were running, and I rode them all through the years both ways with my family from Milwaukee to reach my grandparents cottage near Traverse City, MI.  They were primarily railroad ferries, and had 4 tracks inside holding about 35 rail car total.  That's why the ceiling is so high on what is now the car/bus/truck deck.  Upstairs, they had a true 'railroad dining car' restaurant on the upper level with a lounge area (coach) below and about 30 staterooms with 2 beds each.  I spent many an hour after boarding watching from above the loading of the rail cars, one track at a time.  I never figured out whether they loaded a full track each time or only half a track to keep the boat (not ships on the Great Lakes) reasonably level.  At times, it tilted perhaps 15 degrees or more while loading and unloading.  Their reason for existing was to bypass the multi-day freight bottleneck that still exists in Chicago.

What caused their demise was boxcars taller than the standard 40 and 50 foot cars as well as their age and condition.  The 21, 22, 31 & 32 were first to go.  About 1976, service to Milwaukee ended.  That left the City of Midland, Badger and Spartan running.  I rode all 3 in my adult years from/to Manitowoc.  The City of Midland, often called the most beautiful car ferry (and I most heartily concur), was ultimately sold and cut down to a barge in the late 80s, as I recall.  Ultimately, based on their condition, the 'fleet' was reduced to just the Badger and the Spartan became a spare parts source, which it still is.  

For what it's worth, there have been a couple of battles in the past 30 years or so about the Badgers' use of coal and dumping ashes overboard in the middle of the lake.  I think the ferry 'won' on its basis of being a historically significant vessel.  A more pressing problem is maintaining the now 69 year old Skinner steam engines.  Maybe someday they'll convert to diesel engines, but the cost of doing so far exceeds offsetting future revenue for too many years. 

edit:  The stairs at the far left in the 2nd picture are how passengers board.  I vaguely recall an elevator in their somewhere as well.  Previously, there was an old wooden stair case at each slip (dock) used to board.  About 1958 or so, they converted the back end of the upper deck (behind the dining room) to an secondary car deck, and built ramps to back, yes, back!, cars up to that deck.  Only the Midland, Badger and Spartan were thus fitted.  Do some Googling to find out more about the boats.

https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/railroad-operations/lake-michigan-carferries/
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=city+of+midland+ferry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 06:44 by BRAtkinson.

masterphots Wrote:
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> The sister boat S.S. Spartan is tied up at
> Ludington.  It's been out of service since 1979
> and I'd guess the tracks are still on it.  The
> lady in the Badger's little museum told me there
> are no plans for it but she hoped it wouldn't be
> cut up.

The Badger is being used to provide spare parts for the Spartan, i.e, being cannibalized.

Art House

Great shots and update, rode those a few times in the 70s myself when they carried freight cars. Cool to watch loading and unloading. At the height of the service I believe the carferries kept the line to Ludington going with 2 or 3 freights each way a day from Saginaw. Also lived along that line for a few years further east (Evart) and saw the trains growing up. Been meaning to ride the Badger if I ever get back to Detroit for a longer visit. Thanks for posting...

JG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 08:05 by jgilmore.

The deck where the automobiles now go was where the rail cars went back in the day.

The autos went on another higher deck, which is now a passenger deck.  Isn't that correct?  When the ferries stopped hauling rail cars they started using the lower deck for autos.

Back in the day, they had space for about 30 autos on the lower level with the rail cars.  I can still hear them hammering the chocks/blocks to keep the railcars from rolling around.  The addition of the upper parking level in the late '50s allowed for more autos onboard as well as the addition of, at most, 4 railcars below as the tracks grew closer together being reduced to meet at 2 switches on the apron and a single switch on terra firma.  At the time, only the first 50-60 feet from the rear of the boat was paved for automobiles.  Beyond that was simply rails on ties as I recall.

Marty Bernard posted some great photos of the switching activity, both in Ludington and Milwaukee not too long ago... 

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5370871,5370871#msg-5370871

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5370880,5370881#msg-5370881

The old wooden passenger stairs and upper deck car loading ramp are visible at right in the following image at Ludington:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4656500,4656500#msg-4656500


Note the steel cable used to force the boat to make a left turn as it's departing.  The ground mount t-shaped 'thing' (out of view) has solid arms on it that automatically release the cable at a certain angle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fj4UxCWTbE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRVZDvZnQ4c

I've tried several times to make the above links 'hot' and failed.  You'll have to 'copy and paste' them to work.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/22 09:05 by BRAtkinson.

aehouse Wrote:
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> masterphots Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The sister boat S.S. Spartan is tied up at
> > Ludington.  It's been out of service since
> 1979
> > and I'd guess the tracks are still on it.  The
> > lady in the Badger's little museum told me
> there
> > are no plans for it but she hoped it wouldn't
> be
> > cut up.
>
> The Badger is being used to provide spare parts
> for the Spartan, i.e, being cannibalized.
>
> Art House

Don't you mean vice-versa?

Thanks to all for the historical information posted above.  When we watching the badger arrive at Ludington,  we were surprised to see a couple of big semi-trucks,  as well as long-distance buses come off the boat.   In July 1964 when I visited them in Dearborn,  John Ingles (Dave's dad) was the CMO of the Ann Arbor and he was in the midst of overseeing the refitting of one of the Lake Michigan car ferries.  I don't recall if it was an AA boat,  if there were any,  or one of the C&O's.

Re our Badger,  I missed it if they dumped ashes in the lake,  but it  happily smoked its way across the lake.   Great smells too.   They had a huge coal pile in Manitowoc.

They already annoucned plans to convert it to Diesel.  

For more great historical information, personal stories, and pictures, check out this website: http://www.carferries.com/

Great photos Alan.

Thanks for sharing.

Hope all is well!

Mike

What a great way to travel between Indy Car races. Two great races to boot. I'm a tad jealous. Are you a member of Track Forum ? That's a forum for Indy 500 and Indy Car fans. 

Sixaxle--Is that conversion just to use diesel fuel instead of coal to fire the boilers or is it a replacement of the steam engines with big diesels?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/22 06:53 by MThopper.