Car Ferries

[A Guest]

If you take the time an look at the archives held @ CMU about the Ann Arbor + ferries , the boats were making money , the rail line itself was in need of huge repairs , they had insurance in place to repair the AKA broken crankshaft but never acted upon it. The C.O.M . was very trouble plagued with parts removed from other idled G.T. ferries to keep it running. The Spartan was fired up an sailed into Frankfort , but the harbor needed dredging for her use. The Viking was the work horse of the fleet, albeit lacking passenger comforts like the City of Midland , Badger ,Spartan. When the state taxpayers got involved things were looking very bad for all the ferry systems plus rail traffic in general , above state road M-55 and western shoreline , plus the retirement issues with the workers. When the pie in the sky tug / barge fiasco played out for the boat replacement, AKA ,COM with the Viking to be kept as a spare winter boat , the end happened to the system. I had hopes that the Viking would sail under her own power again , but time marches on. The AKA was a poor rebuild , it's troubled engines plus the boiler issues to run her on board systems, neglect when tied to the wall (s) plus strange ownerships dreams. Her steam horns an props still survive today with other parts and pieces in private collections.

[MilwBob]

I always wondered why Ann Arbor dumped so much money into the Viking and Atkinson only to end up leasing the City of Milwaukee. I know the Atkinson had engine issues but it seems like all that money for ~20 years wa a bad investment, then again the last 20 years of the railroad itself were interesting as well. That leads me to the bigger question was the city of Green Bay just cosmetically rebuild or was she re-powered as well? It seems like with the money AA spent rebuilding their boats they could have built at least 1 newer larger boats in the late 50's early 60's. It seems GT never really did any rebuilds, did they foresee the end before AA and C&O? The original AA/DTI has always been very interesting to me they seemed very feast or famine. As a rail fan the GP35's on Alco trucks were a cool site, not sure if GLC still runs any.

They did look into a new boat but found it was considerably cheaper to upgrade the existing boats than to build a new one; nevertheless, the AA never recovered financially from the rebuilding of the Viking. The City of Green Bay's work consisted of converting the boilers from coal to oil-fired, replacing the 2 stacks with one & raising the decks. And the AA often leased boats from the GT during the 60s, usually when their own boats were down for maintenance/drydocking.

[deckstir]

As was stated previously, the Grand Trunk never hauled automobiles (except for occasionally hauling an employee's or crew member's car) and didn't encourage passenger traffic. The bottom line is that the Grand Trunk hauled railcars and was cheap. Having previously built the Grand Rapids and Madison, when the Milwaukee sank in 1929, rather than build a more modern, more powerful boat like Pere Marquette's City of Saginaw31 and City of Flint32, they just said send us another one like the other 2. They only difference being that the City of Milwaukee was a few inches taller in the car deck so she could haul truck frames on all 4 tracks vs GR and Madison could only haul them on the inside tracks.
The Grand Trunk boats never added anything unless it was required by law. They sailed until the end with no gyro-compass, just magnetic. City of Milwaukee had a gyro put on by the Ann Arbor when they got her. I don't think they had radar until it was required.
Madison was raised by Manitowac SB, but Grand Rapids was raised at Muskegon dockside by the GT. Otherwise, any non-drydock repair work was done by the Battle Creek Heavy Repair Shop at the Muskegon dock.

[Guest]

Wabash was converted to oil-fired and then renamed City of Green Bay, but I'm not aware of any other major changes. Her masts were removed after the name change.

Ann Arbor considered building a new boat, similar to the City of Midland in the early 1950s, but could not afford the price. Updates to the No. 6 (Arthur K. Atkinson) and No. 7 (Viking) followed. No. 5 had been rebuilt in the late 1940s with less than optimal results, No. 3 was too old and Wabash too new for major investment.

[Mr Link]

I always wondered why Ann Arbor dumped so much money into the Viking and Atkinson only to end up leasing the City of Milwaukee.

Keep in mind that the Ann Arbor Railroad went bankrupt in 1973 and stopped operating as a railroad on March 31, 1976. I believe it was the State of Michigan that leased the City of Milwaukee in 1978 and it was operated by Michigan Interstate Railway. Although Michigan Interstate did business under the Ann Arbor name, that was a marketing name only and there was no corporate link between the Ann Arbor Railroad and Michigan Interstate. Two independent corporations.

It seems like with the money AA spent rebuilding their boats they could have built at least 1 newer larger boats in the late 50's early 60's.

The Ann Arbor Railroad was always cash strapped, especially in that era. Until 1963 they were controlled by the Wabash Railroad but the Wabash wasn't going to subsidize the operation of the Annie.

It seems GT never really did any rebuilds, did they foresee the end before AA and C&O?

I don't think the Grand Trunk saw the writing on the wall any sooner. It was just easier for them to exit the ferry business. They never carried personal autos so their passenger traffic was always minimal (basically walk-on passengers only). So it was much easier for them to argue for discontinuance in front of the ICC. They only had freight customers to fight, not freight and passenger customers.

As a rail fan the GP35's on Alco trucks were a cool site, not sure if GLC still runs any.

7 of the 10 are still in existence, and as of last November, 4 of the 7 were in service.

[Guest]

I always wondered why Ann Arbor dumped so much money into the Viking and Atkinson only to end up leasing the City of Milwaukee. I know the Atkinson had engine issues but it seems like all that money for ~20 years wa a bad investment, then again the last 20 years of the railroad itself were interesting as well. That leads me to the bigger question was the city of Green Bay just cosmetically rebuild or was she re-powered as well? It seems like with the money AA spent rebuilding their boats they could have built at least 1 newer larger boats in the late 50's early 60's. It seems GT never really did any rebuilds, did they foresee the end before AA and C&O? The original AA/DTI has always been very interesting to me they seemed very feast or famine. As a rail fan the GP35's on Alco trucks were a cool site, not sure if GLC still runs any.