Lewis Cobb Jr. sent along these shots of Charles T. Jones passing through Cincinnati some time back. Jones, formerly called Leonard L. Whittington, is currently upbound on the Ohio. In the past month, I’ve been binge-watching inland line haul boats as interpreted by marktwained, a fantastic site on YouTube. After some hours of watching random installments from the good captain, it might feel you’ve almost become marktwained yourself.
Take a close look at the bridge above. What might it remind you of? More info follows. Cincinnati is a fun town to visit from an inland waters commerce perspective. Too long ago I followed the Ohio, not enough of it and not long enough though.
About that bridge, well the metal coating color is called Roebling blue, if that’s enough of a hint. More follows.
CMT Pike is a regular these days in the sixth boro all the way to Troy and beyond, and I mentioned her the other day. More angles better lit can be seen here.
Between 2004 and 2011 CMT Pike was known as Delta Bengal. Later she was HR Pike, running the beer tanks through the Erie Canal and other tasks while still in GE cleanup colors.
George Schneider sent along this image of Delta Bengal, and I think you can in general terms see what modifications were made. Naval architects and metal workers can make dramatic transformations. Here and here are photos of CMT Pike doing what its retractable pilothouse allows it to do.
Many thanks to Lewis and George for sending along these images. Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out a way to dovetail your photos into posts.
About that bridge, which I’m not selling, the one in Roebling blue is considered to be a draft of what Roebling soon thereafter constructed over the East River replacing the Fulton ferry.
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February 6, 2023 at 12:17 pm
Anonymous
CMT Pike is by far my favorite tug. CMT Pike is small, but is an amazingly strong tugboat. I sometimes see CMT Pike pushing several large barges at once down the East river.
February 7, 2023 at 11:52 am
George Schneider
Great match of photos of the CMT Pike, after and before. Since the old bridge platform is still there, I keep wondering if the crew coming from aft have to go up the steps and back down again just to get to the pilot house. There must be a structural reason why they didn’t clear that top deck completely.
February 8, 2023 at 4:55 pm
Rembert
Hm, Roebling rhymes with Brooklyn.