Topic starter
04/07/2007 9:16 pm
Hello, I'm new here and I really love photographing the steamboats as they come up the Ohio River. I know the American Queen is on the Ohio right now, and was wondering if anyone could tell me when it is due through Parkersburg WV and which way it is going. Thank you,
Alan
04/07/2007 10:39 pm
Alan, the AQ was due down past Parkersburg yesterday, July 3, due in Maysville today, Independence Day, due in Cincinnati, tomorrow, July 5, from 9 AM until 7:30 PM, according to the schedule published on November 10, 2006. It is sceduled to go back up the Ohio, stopping at Maysville on July 6, from 8 AM to 1 PM, at Pt. Pleasant on July 7, from 1 PM to 5 PM, paddle upriver past Parkersburg Saturday night in order to arrive in Marietta on July 8 by 8 AM.
On the way down from Pittsburgh, the AMERICAN QUEEN is scheduled to depart from Wheeling on July 11 at 1 PM, pass Parkersburg downbound on Wednesday evening in order to arrive in Pt. Pleasant before 10 AM on July 12.
After a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, the AQ is scheduled to go upriver past Parkersburg on Sunday evening or night, August 12, and downriver past Parkersburg on Friday evening or night, August 17.
The last trip to Pittsburgh scheduled for the AQ in 2007 would take her upriver past Parkersburg on August 26 and downriver on August 30.
Some steamboat fans visit the navigation locks to watch the locking of the steamboats in person. That is a good time to make friends with the others there in order to exchange telephone numbers so you can call each other with a live sighting past your house. With that information, one can figure the approximate time to expect the boat past one's house.
Please note that all of my information is based on a schedule published seven months ago. Things could have changed. Moreover, the weather, a medical emergency, an equipment failure, and the master's prudence may change any schedule.
11/07/2007 12:10 pm
It is easier to predict times in Parkersburg on trips from Pittsburgh that stop in Marietta. They depart Marietta at 5 pm. Going up stream, the arrival depends on the traffic in the locks. The less wait at a lock, the earlier in the morning the arrival. For example, on July 8 the AQ tied up in Marietta at 6 am.