Ferries, Ferries, and still more Ferries

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railiner said:
IMHO, while not exactly beautiful, it had more aesthetic lines than the newer boats....
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Yes....the 'Smallwood' and its twin the 'Caribou'.

I had many crossings on those two. They were well liked 'workhorses' and crossed in just about any weather conditions. One memorable 7 hr overnight trip turned into 32 hrs when we couldn't dock in Port-aux-Basques due to winds and just sailed up and down the Nfld coast for an extra 24 hrs. We had a cabin and they kept us well-fed with complementary meals (but you had to pay for your beer!) Both went for scrap 7 years ago when the 'Puttees' and its twin the 'Highlanders' were acquired.

The 'Puttees' and 'Highlanders' were originally built for the Stena Line as English Channel Truck Ferries in the mid 2000s.....then modified with passenger accommodations when they were acquired by Marine Atlantic in 2010. Here's a great video of those mods:



The 'Atlantic Vision' (photo below).....has nicer lines and is used on the longer 16 hr run to Argentia, Nfld.

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Speaking of "all-weather"....

When we were returning to home, from our auto tour of Newfoundland, the weather at Port-Aux-Basque was seriously foggy. I would estimate perhaps 20 feet or so at one point. We left plenty of time for the overnight sailing, and got there well before the fog got that thick. But as we peered ahead thru our windshield while in the boarding lane, I couldn't imagine how the boat could ever get into port in that soup, and worried about where we would spend the night, along with the several hundred other's waiting.

As the boat's arrival time came, we could still not see or hear anything. All of a sudden, the public address system came to life, and it said: "The Joseph and Clara Smallwood.....now arriving."

And dramatically it just seemed to materialize right in front of us, in the mist....

I was never so glad to see a boat, as that one. We boarded and departed on schedule, the fog horn sounded, and we made the overnight run to North Sydney, arriving in a clear morning, on schedule.
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We have ridden a number of ferries including most of the Alaska Marine Highway system but the best was the trip from Homer to Unalaska!

Had unbelievably great weather and were befriended by a couple of brothers (self described as Russian and Aleut) who were crab boat captains.

They took us into every little village and introduced us to the locals as their friends. An incredible experience.
 
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Seven vessels out of Washington State Ferries' fleet of 22 will be out-of-service for two weeks, causing significant service disruptions. Here in the San Juan Islands, the schedule is being reduced from four to three vessels. The international sailing to Sidney, BC, is canceled, and reservations are suspended between the islands and the mainland. The interisland schedule is mostly preserved, as this is the route relied on most by commuters and school children.

Four vessels will be out of service for emergency repairs, and three for Coast Guard required shipyard work. "Washington State Ferries has been without a service relief vessel since spring, when the Elwha, scheduled for the San Juan Islands this summer, was removed from service for emergency steel replacement."

http://www.islandssounder.com/news/wsf-announces-three-boat-schedule/
 
railiner said:
Sounds like they need better planning at that agency, to avoid being caught in that situation.....
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The biggest inconvenience is the suspension of the reservation system. If you know that you can't get on a sailing, then you don't try to wait for it. Traveling first-come, first-serve in the past has meant day-long waits for some. The reservation system should have been able to accommodate the schedule change.
 
For me, when I think "Ferries," I think of this... direct from my childhood.

 
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Great shots, thanks for posting!

I was wondering if they sent trailer's across without tractor's...question answered....
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Those accommodations look pretty plush! Like the ferries I rode in Scotland, this just seems to have an extra level of passenger comfort compared to Washington State Ferries. Our newest vessels have a reduced ceiling height in the passenger cabin to pinch pennies...
 
railiner said:
I was wondering if they sent trailer's across without tractor's...question answered....
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Yes.....trucking companies will just drop the trailers in either North Sydney or Port-aux-Basques and Marine Atlantic takes them across to be pick up on the other side. In the photo below you can see the yellow shunters handling the trailers in the lay-down area. And BTW....this area was once the old standard-gauge railway yard when railcars came across on the ferry. (railway abandoned in 1988)

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The railcars would be lifted and have their standard-gauge wheels removed and replaced with narrow gauge one and set out across the islamd....550 miles to St. John's. Note the duel gauge track in the yard. Narrow-gauge locomotive on the left....standard-gauge on the right.

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So in the railcar era, only the cars would cross...they wouldn't carry locomotives across and change their guages...don't think that would be very practical.....
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railiner said:
So in the railcar era, only the cars would cross...they wouldn't carry locomotives across and change their guages...don't think that would be very practical.....
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I think it more practical not to take the locomotives across and similar to what Marine Atlantic does today with the drop-trailer service. The 'power' stays on either side and just the trailer comes across.

It was a lot easier to change out the wheelsets on a box-car than on a locomotive.

CN had a fleet of 47 GMD NF110 & NF210 locomotives (resemble a Geep) plus smaller GMD G8's captive to the island and specifically built for the lighter track, curves etc of the narrow-gauge system. Even the passenger cars were smaller. I think a mainland locomotive might have had difficulty negotiating some of the track structure although #1766 pictured above was ferried across to work the standard gauge yard at P aux B.

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CN did the same on Prince Edward Island even though tracks were standard-gauge on both sides. Only the cars came across on the ferry. Due to the weight of the locomotives when one was ferried across special arrangements had to be made for moving them on the ferry apron. A onetime CN wanted to replace the thru Moncton-Charlottetown passenger train with a Budd RDC 'Railiner' but it had problems negotiating the ferry apron and it didn't last.
 
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More great photo's! Where else besides what you mentioned and I believe Detroit, did CN or CP ferry railcars or trains? Did they ever run any thru cars to Victoria?
 
railiner said:
More great photo's! Where else besides what you mentioned and I believe Detroit, did CN or CP ferry railcars or trains? Did they ever run any thru cars to Victoria?
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Not ferried directly to the city of Victoria, but cars were ferried from Vancouver harbor to Ladysmith or Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island. The loadings were about 2/3 mainland-bound lumber.
 
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Until the Canso Causeway opened in 1955....the CNR operated a train ferry across the Canso Strait between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. Passenger trains between Halifax and Sydney were shunted aboard and passengers just remained in the cars for the short 1 1/2 mile crossing. Genesee & Wyomings CB&CNS Rwy still crosses the causeway today.

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Hurricane Michael did tremendous damage to the shipyard (and the surrounding area) where new 4500 passenger ferries are under construction for NYC. This will delay their entry into service substantially, so the Kennedy, Newhouse, and Barbieri will carry on somewhat longer than expected.
 
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