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We left Lawry's Restaurant in Chicago heading for our private car with dessert and after dinner drinks planned as we journeyed to Milwaukee. This group of 15 people was put together by Uncommon Journeys - they arrange train related trips, we were with them last fall on the Whistler Mountaineer/Oosterdam cruise trip. Our leader, Mark, had his work cut out for him as the private car was nowhere to be found! It seems it had left the previous night with no passengers! So, coach tickets for us all on the Hiawatha. This was my first experience with a one level coach - electric outlets at all seats, lovely large bathroom. Darkness fell as we traveled north to Milwaukee station. From there we went to the Milwaukee Hilton, very nice, restored 1920's hotel. The next morning we left via bus for Manitowoc and boarded the SS Badger.
The Badger entered service in 1953 primarily to transport railroad freight cars for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It is a coal fired steam ship and was known as the Queen of the Lakes during the ferries' golden era in the late 50's. When the railroad freight business dried up she went into mothballs in 1990. But she was brought out again in 1991 to serve as a passenger and auto ferry. The eastern port is Ludington, Michigan. The crossing took 3 1/2 hours and the lake was calm. They have various types of food, a TV lounge, a quiet lounge, free bingo. The Badger runs twice a day in the summer.
Upon arrival in Michigan we again boarded a minibus and traveled to Saugatuck. This is a charming summer resort on the Kalamazoo River near it's exit into Lake Michigan. We spent four nights there, saw the Keewatin, a Great Lakes liner built by Canadian Pacific Railway which has a great museum and restored rooms. We also took a sternwheeler along the river to the lake and saw the fabulous "summer homes" along the river. A very relaxing time, great food. I would recommend it to all but I think the weekends in the summer are very crowded. We were there during the week and before the beginning of the high season and it was peaceful and quiet.
From Saugatuck we motored 11 miles to Holland and finally did get our private car which was attached to the Pere Marquette. The car was the Mohave from American Rail Excursions. A Southwest theme throughout. We had a very nice breakfast and enjoyed the tables, comfortable chairs and the scenery. We passed through a lot of green Michigan then industrical Gary, Indiana and arrived at Chicago Union Station at 10:30 am.
This was my first chance to look around the station. Most impressive, the Great Hall, the busy station itself. Our next leg was to be only to the Twin Cities on the Empire Builder. We were going to go coach but I decided to upgrade to a roomette, only cost $105 and that of course would include our dinner. We were excited about our first cooked to order food on Amtrak. We rested in the Metropolitan Lounge and enjoyed the amenities of CUS. The lounge was pretty empty but filled up as the various LD trains began to depart. We ate in the cafeteria type place by the Great Hall. Rumor has it that LAUS will be starting a lounge. Certainly hope so, it is a super customer perk. The EB left on time with us in a #27 roomette so we were near the rear of the train. They have a dedicated Twin Cites coach at the very rear.
I will be posting pictures soon. This segment is not as much railroad as other stuff (but those ships are railroad related). The private car and CUS pictures will be at the end of the batch if you just want to see that. The trip on the EB coming up next. And by the way, Uncommon Journeys has already refunded part of our money due to the missed private car ride - about $250. That seemed fair.
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by HopefulRailUser: The Badger entered service in 1953 primarily to transport railroad freight cars for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It is a coal fired steam ship and was known as the Queen of the Lakes during the ferries' golden era in the late 50's. When the railroad freight business dried up she went into mothballs in 1990. But she was brought out again in 1991 to serve as a passenger and auto ferry. The eastern port is Ludington, Michigan. The crossing took 3 1/2 hours and the lake was calm. They have various types of food, a TV lounge, a quiet lounge, free bingo. The Badger runs twice a day in the summer.
Actuaslly, Miss Vickie, the freight traffic is still there, it was simply more economical to handle it in trains via Chicago.
The large shippers of paper products that are totally dependent on rail transportation wanted to ensure that there was a competitive routing away from either my MILW or the C&NW(UP). Therefore a routing of GB&W-Manitowoc-XLake-Ludington-C&O/PM was important to those shippers. Having been in the industry, I know first hand that when a railroad has a shipper captive, they are not necessarily nice guys. That is why during the 1990's merger movement resulting in the "Final Four' any shipper who previously had access to two roads, would continue to have same access.
But back to the boats; the cost of running those vessels was "off the charts" with a unionized crew of 30 to handle 15 some freight cars (the passengers and autos were simply "backhaul money"). Eventually, an agreement was made between the roads and Northern Wiscnsin shippers that the competitive "cross lake' gateway would remain open for making rates, but the traffic would physically be interchanged in Chicago.
I sailed myself on the "boats' several times during the '80's. The C&O offered a continuous excursion ticket which meant sail from Manitowoc in the evening to Ludington and return without having to leave the vessel arriving back in Manitowoc next AM. Get a Stateroom, and you would not be rousted for anything. Cooked on board food was available - it was part of the Union contract so you may as well offer it to the passengers.
There were also sister ships; (all s/s) Spartan and City of Midland.
Lastly, here is more on Miss. Vickie's "private chariot":
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Gil - thanks for the additional info on the steamer era and the Mohave.
I have my pictures available now. As I said, if you only want to see railroad related stuff you will find those pictures at the end beginning with the station at Holland, MI. And I will get to the much anticipated report on the EB soon.
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Thanks for your reports and pictures, Vicki & Mr Norman. This Uncommon Journeys sounds interesting; I will have to check it out!
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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When I was a kid living in the Chicago suburbs, our family had a cottage in northern Michigan near Grayling, where we would vacation for a week or two every summer. We usually drove up there, but I remember one year (mid-50's sometime) we drove to Milwaukee, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong, GBN) and boarded the "Spartan" for Ludington, which Mr. Norman mentioned in his post above. We awoke in Ludington the next morning; our car was on the ship with us, and we drove to Grayling and our cabin from Ludington. I will always remember that trip on the Spartan!!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Correct Mr. Rich; Milwaukee was also both a C&O and GTW ferry port of call.
Another thought; be assured it goes very "against the grain" of my nautical background and my parallel interest in the maritime industry (it shows in some of my posts around here) to refer to Great Lakes vessels as 'boats", but that is correct terminology.
Be assured on both the six cruises and the two transatlantic sailings I have in my logs, it was equally annoying to hear fellow passengers refer to the ship as a "boat'.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Loved the pictures. I finally got to see the other parts of Lake Michigan. Merci.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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I was particularly impressed with Vickie's photos of the CPR Steamer Keewatin. I very much regret that I was not able to sail on her to Fort William Ontario to connect with The Canadian or Dominion when Canadian Pacific ran a train/ship connection (or train/boat this being a lake not ocean vessel). It seems that whoever owns the Keewatin has done a good job in preserving her.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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Sojourner and others interested. Here is a link to a blog describing another Uncommon Journeys trip which took place at the beginning of July. The same car, the Mohave, was one of the private cars used to travel from Chicago to St. Louis and then board the riverboat. This is the type of trip Christopher likes - train, grand hotels, boats and ships. There is a link to his company website in the blog.
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Miss Vickie, Thanks for the photos of the Keewatin. My family took a trip across Canada in 1956 starting in Boston, going by train to Toronto. Then a steam-powered boat train with open platform observation car to Lake Huron to board the Keewatin. The journey to Fort William, I believe took 2.5 days. On the top deck, at the foot of the stack was aventilator to the engine room. One could hear the sounds of shovels scrapping across the deck to feed coal to the boiler. The whole experience was very "Edwardian". At Fort William another steam-powered boat train took us to Winnipeg and the Canadian to Vancouver. It's the only way to cross the continent! Thanks for helping me relive it!
Posts: 518 | From: Maynard, MA, USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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