Fitzgerald burned coal

[Guest]

This is also why the Badger and Spartan are coal burners too. The C & O Railroad carried a lot of coal so the coal cars opened up on the bottom to fill up their holds! You didn't even have to stop to bunker them I don't believe. Just have the coal hatches open and let her rip!! :)

The ferries were fueled while docked with the coal hoppers. They never did while under way. Once the coal was in the bunkers the hopper cars were removed and the regular cargo was rolled on.

Thank you Bob! I knew about the hopper cars but never saw them . I only worked the Badger after they'd paved over the car deck and fueled by truck over in Manitowoc.

[MilwBob]

This is also why the Badger and Spartan are coal burners too. The C & O Railroad carried a lot of coal so the coal cars opened up on the bottom to fill up their holds! You didn't even have to stop to bunker them I don't believe. Just have the coal hatches open and let her rip!! :)

The ferries were fueled while docked with the coal hoppers. They never did while under way. Once the coal was in the bunkers the hopper cars were removed and the regular cargo was rolled on.

[Guest]

This is also why the Badger and Spartan are coal burners too. The C & O Railroad carried a lot of coal so the coal cars opened up on the bottom to fill up their holds! You didn't even have to stop to bunker them I don't believe. Just have the coal hatches open and let her rip!! :)

[A J]

Ahh ok, thank you for the detailed answers. Makes sense to supply their own fuel to the boats.

[William Lafferty]

Garbear posted about the Jackson, did Interlake have a connection to coal as well?

One of Colonel Pickands first ventures was retail coal sales at Marquette, Michigan. By the turn-of-the-last century Pickands, Mather & Company (the owner of Interlake Steamship Company) had undertaken coal production in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pesssylvania in addition to ts ore interests. Interlake Iron Company, a PM&Co subsidiary, was its main customer. Pickands, Mather operated coal mines right through its absorption by Moore-McCormack and eventual sale to Cleveland Cliffs.

[A J]

Thank you Mr. Lafferty, I didn't consider Oglebay/Norton had ties with the coal industry. I recall the Ernest T. Weir coming out as a coal burner since National Steel dealt with coal too. Garbear posted about the Jackson, did Interlake have a connection to coal as well?

[William Lafferty]

Hey all, what was the reason the Fitz burned coal early on? I'm aware it was changed over to burn oil a couple seasons prior to going down, it's just interesting in contrast to the Sykes that came out 8 years earlier as an oil burner.

Inland Steel had existing oil storage capacity at Indiana Harbor that could bunker the Sykes. Remember the E. J. Block had already been converted to Diesel-electric by the time the Sykes entered service. Availability of either bunker C or Diesel oil was no problem since Inland Steel was located just up the Indiana Harbor Canal from one of the world's largest concentrations of refineries.

As for the Fitzgerald using coal: By the 1940s Oglebay Norton had emerged as a major wholesaler and producer of coal, owning mines in Ohio and West Virginia. It made sense for Columbia to use its own availablility of coal to power its fleet. Environmental concerns beginning in the early 1970s over coal and cheaper operation using oil entered into the switch to oil-fired boilers for most vessels converted to oil on the lakes then.

[garbear]

Hey all, what was the reason the Fitz burned coal early on? I'm aware it was changed over to burn oil a couple seasons prior to going down, it's just interesting in contrast to the Sykes that came out 8 years earlier as an oil burner.

The Herbert C. Jackson also came out as a coal burner.

[A J]

Hey all, what was the reason the Fitz burned coal early on? I'm aware it was changed over to burn oil a couple seasons prior to going down, it's just interesting in contrast to the Sykes that came out 8 years earlier as an oil burner.