Topic starter
05/07/2012 6:02 am
After many years, overnight steamboating has returned to the Upper Mississippi River. The American Queen is now in St. Louis for Independence Day and will leave in the evening of July 5.
You can see the AQ on a St. Louis area traffic camera, and check traffic conditions. Here's the still image version. In the image, the AQ will be to the left side of the screen. You can see the streaming video of the same camera, and watch the departure in progress, at this link. If the boat goes upriver and passes Eads Bridge (to get fuel, for instance), you can catch more streaming video via different camera at this link. And, if you want to watch live video of Friday or Saturday's fireworks over the river, visit this link. Have fun!
05/07/2012 11:17 am
Webcams
Thanks. I was looking all over last night for some and couldn't find any.
Topic starter
06/07/2012 5:10 am
Here are two photos of the AQ as it approached St. Louis on July 3.
09/07/2012 10:07 pm
Bridge Clearances
OK someone. Help me. How on earth does the AQ get upstream. The main
span of the Eads is 88' clearance. The Clark Bridge in Alton, Ill is 70'! The height of the AQ is 109'
How does it clear these and all the other low bridges, especially when water
is high?
09/07/2012 11:11 pm
AQ bridge clearance
Her stacks fold forward like old time boats, and her pilothouse lowers. The highest point on the boat under these conditions is the pilot's head who is standing on the wing bridge steering. Clearance is about 60 feet, only a few feet more than the DQ or MQ, amazingly.
10/07/2012 12:29 am
Clearance is about 60 feet, only a few feet more than the DQ or MQ, amazingly.
Reminds me of that great quote about bridge clearance in Long Live the Delta Queen: "You could put a dollar bill in between, but a five dollar bill wouldn't fit."
Maybe Judy or someone else can give the citation for the quote and the full story behind it?
Wesley
10/07/2012 12:50 am
2 of my AQ pics of her in STL
Hey guys, if you check out the AQ facebook page, 2 of my pics I took of her here in STL last week made it on their page!
American Queen Steamboat Company | Facebook
10/07/2012 12:59 am
Judy Patsch;30231 wrote: Her stacks fold forward like old time boats, and her pilothouse lowers. The highest point on the boat under these conditions is the pilot's head who is standing on the wing bridge steering. Clearance is about 60 feet, only a few feet more than the DQ or MQ, amazingly.
Really?
When I saw the AQ stack fold worward on youtube I thought "What the diddly?"
Now I am to understand this was common in the olden days?
Huh.
Never saw that before in pictures.
Thanks for that and I feel better about it now.
:Ron
10/07/2012 1:31 am
Yes, it was quite common in the 1800s. Stacks were hinged and were pulled down forward or astern, by hand. The AQ's of course are lowered by power.
Here are pictures with both the stacks and pilothouse lowered. The first one is between Rock Island and Davenport, taken from the RI levee. Notice the pilot out on the wing bridge. In the second one she is approaching the Centennial Bridge. The third one is from the levee again, showing her clearance under the 66' tall bridge. And no, I didn't leap from levee to bridge to levee - these pictures were taken on two different trips.
10/07/2012 2:45 am
Lower stacks in 1800s
Here's a picture of the ALICE BROWN 1871-1919 with her stacks folded backward. I have pix of other boats with lowered stacks, but the a/c is not doing much good up here tonight...
10/07/2012 3:28 am
Wesley, I'm going to start a new thread with that answer, since it deals with the DQ, not the AQ. Thanks for bringing up that good story...
Topic starter
10/07/2012 3:59 am
I was on a cruise that was an even closer call than the photos that Judy posted. On this cruise, on the upper Mississippi, the stacks and pilot house were lowered. And, as we went under the low bridge, the captain had to duck below the wing bridge railing. There were a few others that were not as close and the captain could pilot the boat while standing. Surprisingly, the Eads Bridge was not the lowest bridge on that trip. The lift railroad bridge at Hannibal was.
10/07/2012 2:17 pm
Is their a reason their are no Day stops for Winona,MN.
10/07/2012 3:33 pm
Judy Patsch;30236 wrote: Here's a picture of the ALICE BROWN 1871-1919 with her stacks folded backward. I have pix of other boats with lowered stacks, but the a/c is not doing much good up here tonight...
Thank you.
You know, when I was a boy, whenever we would go to the library I would get yet another steamboat book.
In all my 50 years on this planet I has never seem a picture of any boat, steam or otherwise with stacks folded. Neither did I know they folded at all.
Thanks.
:Ron