Traxter 6

If you’re starting with this post, here’s background:  back in January I bought an Amtrak USA Rail Pass on sale for $299.  Here are the rules and conditions.  I researched and assembled an itinerary, which so far has brought zero glitches.  I’m combining trains with rental cars.  

Segment 7 of 10 begins in Kansas City.  The 1914 Union Station today is much more than a place to board/debark trains.

In one of the great halls of the spectacular station, a  STEM fair was taking place the day I arrived. 

Right across the street from the station is the World War 1 Museum and Memorial. The dedication in 1921 brought together high ranking reps of many nations.

Many timely exhibits can be seen. 

Considering KC MO is on the Missouri River,  a must-see sight is the steamboat Arabia wreck museum.

Another is the historic jazz district of KC, where I saw this tribute to hometown hero Yardbird.  I was happy to have watched Ken Burns’ Jazz last winter.

Other features of the 18th & Vine district include Arthur Bryant’s BBQ and so much more like this.   More about this area when I catch up with a tagster post. 

The Southwest Chief, Chicago-bound, was running precisely on time.  I know . . . there are many and differently-scenic parts of these named train routes . . . so many miles and so little time.

Just east of KC, we pass the Sugar Creek barge loading port;  just to the left of those buildings and trees is the Missouri River. A view of this operation from the river would be piers and loading/unloading elevators.

We crossed the Missouri at Sibley, and a club car seat offered an illuminated view of the bends and bars in the river.

 

Again, riding the tracks gives a good view of places like Hardin MO, which you may not have known before, unless you recall the 1993 disaster . . . 

or La Plata, which still has an Amtrak stop.

We crossed the Des Moines River.

Recall that these are all photos from the train taken with the speed of a cell phone, so excuse the sparse detail.  See that white horizontal band across the middle of the photo?  Those are blades at the Siemens Gamesa wind turbine plant in Fort Madison, the end of this segment of my trip.  Here’s another link.

Just north of the Amtrak station in Fort Madison, where I ended this segment,  is another preserved locomotive, the Santa Fe 2913.  Maybe some train folks could answer this question:  As these steam trains were turned into monuments, was any attention paid to preservation such that these engines could again be fired up?  I suspect the answer might be . . . some were and others not.

From the Kingsley Inn lobby right across the street from the train station and the Mississippi River beyond,  two livestream 5′ x 3′ screens pay tribute to the location.   The screens stream virtual railfan Ft. Madison and streamtime live Mississippi River lock 19. This place seems popular with folks interested in rail and river traffic.

More on this upbound tow in tomorrow’s post.

All photos, any errors, WVD.

Road Photos 2023 A

As the crow flies, this post covers a 1000-mile trip, and I zagged and zigged enough to double that distance.  More than half the trip was done by train, as accounted for in Traxter 5.

Let’s start by heading south for the Rio Grande, the place of much current attention.

When I was there, the temperatures were in the 80s F.  West of the national park, the flats of the former sea bottom were vast, and strewn with some well-preserved old ferrous metal,

like this one at Jackass Flats and

this at the ghost town . . . making this a ghost car.

With the Rio Grande behind us, this is looking north toward Alpine on  Texas 118.  That’s the Chihuahuan Desert all around,  and Forrest Gump would feel right at home.

This is the rail crossing in Maverick TX, looking west, the view presumably seen at this hour from a locomotive of a New Orleans-Los Angeles Sunset Limited  . . . at sunset.

The train portion of the trip was chronicled in Traxter 5, clicketyclacking  on a 24+ hour trip up to Oklahoma, where I rented a car at Will Rogers airport.

This is a must-see, the memorial where the Murrah Building once stood.

Since this post is called “road photos,” I drove NW to Canadian County and chose El Reno to start my way east on remaining portions of the “mother road.”  

I plan to do a separate mural post, but I have to slip a few in here.  Yukon is the boyhood home of Garth Brooks and many others, of course.

I had planned to spend a few days in Tulsa, but then I discovered that the Woody Guthrie et al. center is open only Wednesday through Sunday, and I arrived on Monday.  So I postponed my visit to Tulsa, paid respects to the whale in Catoosa, and kept east and north . . .

I followed 66 through Chetopa and east all the way to Carthage MO,

passing through the border town on Joplin along the way.  A lot of famous and infamous people lived here.

This law car was parked outside Boots Motel in Carthage MO. 

From here, I backtracked west and north to Manhattan KS and Wamego KS, my general destination, home of a former co-worker.  Little did I expect to find the handiwork from the land of my parents.

And here was the end of the trail, a cattle operation on prairie land in the Flint Hills.

An open gate on the grazing ground means that all traffic, human and grazing beast, must pass through that same portal.

The day I arrived was sunny, calm and warm, but the next day, the wind kicked up and brought some very wet snow, and created muddy roads.

These young steers greeted us as we brought more hay.

Let’s hold it up here, because early the next morning I headed back for the train.

All photos, any errors, WVD.

Related:  A week after I left Big Bend, a half foot of snow fell there, and the warning were no longer for heat but rather icy curving roads.  Here’s a video of snowy Big Bend just after I left.

 

Random Mississippi Tugs* 1

A few days ago I’d posted “Random Nola Tugs 7” and asked what type of tugboat I’d omitted, and you came through.  As I address that omission, I realize it’s misleading to call these vessels “Nola tugs,” since they –like all vessels and other machines of transportation–move.  Period.  Even “Mississippi River tugs” is misleading because they can and do move into other waterways, other inland waterways like the Ohio, Missouri, Illinois . . . and more.   

Another complication is that many wool call these towboats, not tugs.  For that reason, I added the *.

Let’s start in Nola and then, since I’m moving also, rejoin the river many miles upstream. The 1969 Carol McManus,  180′ x 50” 9000 hp, is an example of a line haul boat often  pushing a dozen or two or three barges up and down the “line” stopping during the long haul to drop or add barges at fleet ports.

In contrast, the 1972 Hiawatha is 60′ x 22′ and 800 hp.

The 2011 Orange is 78′ x 34′ and 2000 hp.  Hiawatha and Orange could be considered “local” boats.

Susan Johnson is another line haul boat, built 1975, 180′ x 52′ and 9000 hp triple screw.

That’s the froth of all those horses.

The boats above I saw from a 75-degree cityfront New Orleans two weeks ago;  the next set I caught yesterday in 18-degree weather from the southernmost port in Iowa, Fort Madison, which will be my base for a few days.  

The 2010 HFL Mariner is 166′ x 48′ and 6000 hp.

The 1967 Coral Dawn is 164′ x 40′ and 5400 hp.

Part of that lack of clarity is snow flurries AND a dirty window.  Yes, I mostly stayed indoors.

The 1977 Aubrey B. Harwell Jr comes in at 170′ x 45′ and 6120 hp.

All photos, any errors, WVD, who expected March to stay warm.  A few days ago, five inches of snow fell at the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park.

 

Headwaters 7

I hope you’re enjoying my juggling of alternating author persona:  in this post, I’m back to tugster retrospectives.

Remember this sixth boro boat?  It carried a powerful Norse name.   It was a favorite of mine too. Back when I took the photo in 2008, I thought I’d never see a pushboat with variable height wheelhouse in the boro again.  Little did I know a lot of things.   I didn’t suspect that she’d be modified such that her variability of height was removed.  Isn’t that like removing the wings of Pegasus?  She might appear back in then sixth boro one of these days as Matty T.

I never imagined what fate was in store for Peking!  I hope some day to see her in her restored condition.

I never suspected these two would be sold south, nor did I know the namesake of Patrick Sky beside fleet mate Scotty Sky.   I didn’t even know these little tankers had worked the Great Lakes or that they came from the Blount shipyard or that I’d someday work for Blount.   It’s possible that the little tankers are now gone.

I was astonished by the two submarines that sailed into the sixth boro, this one and a Dutch sub.  So far as I know, none have been in the boro in the past decade now. 

In 2009, I started going to work in Elizabeth NJ early to watch scenes like this along the Arthur Kill.  

I sailed through the Highlands in the crow’s nest of Half Moon, never envisioning it would be sold foreign.  Lookouts were posted in both crow’s nests that day, so as not to take chances past Anthony’s Nose and Dunderberg Mountain.

Who ever expected that an airplane would be fished out of the Hudson, and that that misplaced aircraft felled by misplaced birds would be safely immersed in a frozen river with no loss of life or even serious injury. Is there a historical marker praising Sully’s landing anywhere along the riverbanks?

In September 2009 a veritable Dutch invasion by craft traditional and highest-tech lethality would make its way upriver. 

Let’s hold it up here.  I was just learning about the sixth boro with camera in hand back then, and I’m glad now what I recorded then, because otherwise my memory would have left out a lot.  I wish I’d started photographing years earlier.

Traxter 5

Of all the possible tugster variants, I’d never expected this mutation, but I hope you’re enjoying this traxcentric report on a journey as much as I’m enjoying the journey.  This part 5 is based on three [technically two] Amtrak segments from Alpine TX to Oklahoma City OK, i.e., Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle and Heartland Express.  

The 835 pm Sunset Limited was delayed, in part by wild weather in its starting point, LA.  It was dark through to San Antonio, where my coach was rebranded the Texas Eagle.

It took me a while to “get” the landscape, but when we passed a HUGE hobo camp along the rails just south of Austin, my focus returned.  I’d heard of homelessness in Austin; I’d also recently read Lawrence Wright’s New Yorker article on booming times in the same city.  The dissonance provoked reflection.  Were hobos ever called homeless?  Do we just rename things generation to generation and miss any sort of fix?  Is there a fix?  What ended the Hoovervilles and hobo camps of several generations back?  The train moves quickly, and now I wish I’d snapped pics of the elaborate hobo complexes along the tracks that appeared and then were gone.

By the way, the building is Block 185. The river is the other Colorado, not the one that created the Grand Canyon.  Lots of kayakers enjoyed the warm day.

As the Texas Eagle soars northward, we pass Hutto and 

Taylor. Remember, this is a traxcentric perspective, and I was pleased by the amount of old iron on display in stations. 

Also, I snapped photos using subjective impulse.  So these are from Moody, 

McGregor [which has a SpaceX presence], 

Meridian,

and the outskirts now of Fort Worth.  Someone else would have snapped other views. Taking this trip is obviously illustrating the vastness of this country past and present.  Check out that “Fort Worth” link for a hint of what I mean.

Here I debarked the Texas Eagle to board the Heartland Flyer.  Hat tip to the folks at Amtrak who came up with these evocative names.

For those who watch, sights abound at the transfer points. So ends segment 5 for me;  once I’m aboard the Heartland Flyer, it’s segment 6 of the 10 max allowed by the railpass.

The population of Haslet has grown 700% since 1970.

As the sun descends, we arrive in Ardmore, which means we’re in Oklahoma.  Along the track, the town features grain elevators with murals and 

oil industry.

Night falls, the Heartland Express has reached its terminus . . . the heart of the heartland, I suppose.  I walked across the street to my lodging, fatigued after a 24-hour jaunt station-to-station, ALP to OKC in Amtrak-speak.

Thanks for riding along and perusing my subjectively chosen set of snapshots.  I appreciate your comments here or in email. In late summer 1986, I had a Eurail Pass and did something similar–although sans social media–from Greece to Norway and then back to Amsterdam.

I will get back to tugsterfare at some point soon, with some exciting plans for the late spring and summer. 

 

 

Random Nola Tugs 7

“What do you like about New Orleans?”  A friend asked me that recently.  Different answers exist: ubiquitous and diverse music, unique architecture, history and present through all the senses, spicy and delicious food, free spirits, bons temps roulants…  this list can be even longer.  But for me, the traffic on the river is without rival .  . . that I know of.  That’s what calls me back.  I can even skip the music, merriment, and tastes, but the river always attracts and satisfies.  From my recent stay, here are some photos.

I’m thinking this may be a formerly Bouchard boat, but I really don’t know who this is getting spa treatment.

Any help?

Mary Moran was there too.  She’s of the same general class as Miriam and Margaret.

A. Thomas Higgins is not as new as I thought, but still, she’s not yet at the 5-year mark.  

Here’s a recent article on her from ProfessionalMariner, which among many other things mentions her namesake.  It makes me wonder if this Mr. Higgins is related to Andrew J. Higgins, the “new Noah”

Turquoise Coast, formerly Barbara E Bouchard, was in.

Rodney, the former Sheila Moran, came through with a barge, heading upstream.

Michael S I thought was newer, but she’s from 2009. 

More info can be found here. 

Know this unit?

A clue is the name . . . well, number . .  of the barge, 1964.

It’s Millville, the WaWa . . . THAT WaWa, tug, which I saw under construction in Sturgeon Bay in 2017, which seems like a lifetime ago.  My friend Jack caught the unit in Nova Scotia here,  as she was first headed into salt water.  Take a close look at the last photo in this post from 2017 . . . yup that was what would become 1964. 

All photos, WVD, who wonders if you’ve noticed what type of tugboat I’ve omitted here.  This is not-so-random a selection, as you’ll see in an upcoming post. 

 

Truckster! 28

Quick post today . . . just trucks with patina, and all between Texas and Kansas, and 

in various states of integrity and

different types of display

or on long-term layaway

and surface condition

and past specialized function

and even substance, and

some even serve as daily drivers.

All photos, WVD, who’s mindful the ides have come today.

Other Peoples Photos 109

One enjoyable thing about this tugster “business” is that you all send me photos, some of which I’ve shared 108 times before this post.

First, from a Mississippi River vantage point that I only recently left, some photos from Lew, who previously contributed these photos.  

I’ll consult tugboatinformation.com for the low down on this vessel.

 

 

Thanks, Lew, and I’d left New Orleans just the day before;  sorry to have missed you.  I did, however, serendipitously cross paths with Bjoern of New York Media Boat while I was there.  That’s another story.

Tony A sent along these photos of George Holland, ex-Sassafras!

 

How about this photo from May 1946, sent along by William Lafferty.

William writes:  “St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Company was very proud of its post-war towboats, and with good reason.  Merlin Banta was christened Havana Zephyr at St. Louis on 15 May 1946 by Mrs. Kenneth Baker, wife of a co-owner of Streett Towing Company of St. Louis.  Streett had it built to tow petroleum barges from Baton Rouge to Bettendorf, Iowa, where Socony Vacuum Oil Company had a large refinery.  Originally with twin Superior turbo-charged 80-MX-6 Diesels, 1980-bhp total, replaced in 1973 by twin EMD 12-567Es, 2800-bhp when it ran as H. F. Leonard for Huffman Towing Company, St. Louis.  It now has 3200-bhp EMDs since 2010.  Streett had SLSB&SCo build a couple more, but nothing that looked like this.  “C C” on it today stands for Chemical Carriers, Inc., of Plaquemine.”  Gone are the days of “streamlined” tugboats, which in 1936 led to a streamlined tugboat called David here, which is still around although with a changed appearance.

And finally, how about this from Sea Bart . . .  Loke Viking

a huge 279′ x 75′.

Sea Bart writes that he saw the actual vessel off Scotland, and in the local pilot’s station, there’s a model

 

made with Legos.  The the size of the model!

Many thanks to Lew, Tony A, William Lafferty, and Sea Bart for passing along these photos. 

Here are photos of my encounter with Merlin Banta back in 2014.

 

Riverbanks 12

I might have to put this post into a context of riverbanks, or you’ll think I’ve lost my mind.  My sense is that I’ve just opened it a bit.  This blog IS called a waterblog, and there is water in this post, but there’s also–like negative space in photos–“negative water” here, i.e., geological structure and bones resulting from water now gone.  But given the “water cycle” idea, is the water ever gone.  But enough talk  . . . to the photos.

Heading south from Alpine, then Marathon, sand in some flats show that water has flowed here. 

 

In a place like Big Bend, the fossil record is rich, and 

[hat tip to the truckster series] scientists have been coming here for some time.

The fossil discovery exhibit was the first place I stopped inside the NP.

That’s my brown hat on the tip of that plaster replica of the deinosuchus skull.

Other small craft appear in this post, but this one was used as a fossil sled. 

That rift is the Santa Elena canyon.  That’s Mexico to the left and the US to the right, and 

yes, those are folks on the Rio Grande for recreation.

 

 

Here Mexico is to the right.

Nope, I saw no desert beaver, but the frogs croaking in this canyon were loud!

Lots of canoeing opportunities exist.

OK . . . here’s a gratuitous photo of the reporter.

All photos [except the last one] and any errors, WVD.  If ever there’s been a gallivant post, this is it.

 

Headwaters 6

I’m jumping back to the second half of the first decade of the 21st century.  This day when USCGC Eagle was tying up at the old Pier 17, I had no idea why these two tugboats were so similar, no sense that once they were 1967 twins Exxon Empire State and Exxon Garden State.

I’d no inkling that one day I’d be deckhand on Urger.  Stephen Reinauer was also once a 1970 Exxon tug. 

There are tugboat races?. Remember, I’m trying to get back into my discoveries.  I’d not yet started a blog at this time, and that was more than 5500 posts ago.

Only later did I learn the background to “portraits of hope” on this tug and on all the taxis in NYC landboros.

And they scrap relics?  I thought tugboats never died.

All photos, all recollections, WVD, who’s currently on the rails toward Oklahoma.