C&O Car Ferries

[Mr Link]

Passenger accommodations, the ability of the City of Midland, Spartan and Badger to carry autos on their upper deck, and the clearances on the car deck all affected how the vessels were assigned as well.

For instance the May 1962 edition of "Railway Line Clearances" (the only edition I can access) shows Ferries #21 and #22 assigned to Kewaunee, since they could only handle cars 10' 9" wide by 15' 9" tall, while ferries 31, 32, 41,42 and 43 were on the Milwaukee and Manitowoc runs since they could handle 11 foot wide by 16'6" tall cars. (This was before the upper decks on the Badger were raised to increase clearances). There was a footnote that said that bigger cars could be handled with advance notice, and possible delay. This probably meant placing them in specific locations on deck near the stern that had more clearance or assigning a bigger boat the the Kewaunee run.

For comparison, the Grand Trunk Western's Madison was listed as being able to handle 11'6" wide cars 19 feet tall, since it had already been modified in 1961.

The poor Chief Wawatam was listed with minimum clearances for a 11'2" wide by 14'7" tall car, but with further width restrictions below 3 feet and above 12 feet. In fact it could only be 5 feet wide at full height. It did have locations on the bow that could handle two 15'4" tall cars per trip.

[PaulD]

I read somewhere that since the Master was required to be on the bridge during each docking the Spartan and Badger were normally kept on the Milwaukee runs. Because of their faster speed the Milwaukee run provided him the only chance for a decent uninterrupted sleep.

[Guest]

Back when C&O had its car ferries running out of Ludington to Kewaunee, Milwaukee, and Manitowoc were ships assigned to certain routes, or was the schedule determined by the available rail traffic with ships running on various routes? What routes did the Badger serve during the 1970s?

As MilwBob said, the newer boats were sent to Milwaukee and Manitowoc Lakefront. During the scheduled summer season the Badger and Spartan normally ran the Milwaukee route. They ran opposite each other and turned in one and a half round trips per day. While the City of Midland 41 turned two round trips per day to Manitowoc.

[Guest]

The railroads that operated carferry service across Lake Michigan wanted to get out of that particular business in the 1970s, because of reduced traffic demand and operating costs. So they petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to abandon their services.

It's tricky to state what vessels were on what route in the mid- to late-70s, because it changed when a carferry had to be drydocked for inspection or repairs, or when demand fluctuated.

Grand Truck Western by the Fall of 1975 had only the City of Madison in operation across Lake Michigan and she operated once daily between Milwaukee and Muskegon.

The Ann Arbor Railroad chartered the City of Milwaukee in January 1979 and put her in the Frankfort to Manitowoc service. That route had been discontinued in 1973 when the Arthur K. Atkinson suffered a broken crankshaft.

C&O came up with the Kewaunee Plan in the mid-1970s, which with the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission, allowed them to gradually discontinue operations of different routes until only the Ludington to Kewaunee survived. That occurred on January 8, 1982 when the Badger closed out the service from Ludington to Manitowoc.

- Brian

[MilwBob]

Back when C&O had its car ferries running out of Ludington to Kewaunee, Milwaukee, and Manitowoc were ships assigned to certain routes, or was the schedule determined by the available rail traffic with ships running on various routes? What routes did the Badger serve during the 1970s?

Generally they sent the older boats to Kewaunee and the Soo Line slip at Manitowoc, while the newer boats were sent to Manitowoc C&NW (lakefront) dock & Milwaukee due to their better passenger accomodations.

[Guest]

Back when C&O had its car ferries running out of Ludington to Kewaunee, Milwaukee, and Manitowoc were ships assigned to certain routes, or was the schedule determined by the available rail traffic with ships running on various routes? What routes did the Badger serve during the 1970s?