JBS returns to DBQ

Here Dad holds the stage line that tore in the wind on the boat's trip down from La Crosse.

Well here's a nice group of aficionados.

1. Nice lines.

2. Three-foot draft.

3. Stylized Trone logo.

Conclusion: This is one beautiful tribute to smaller packets.

The JBS is the forgotten gem of today's steamboats. I only wish her builder and father Dennis Trone could still own her. I notice they've put the towns they serve on the board on the bow a la old time packets. Who is that in the aficionados pix between the Kathys? It sure looks good to see 2 boats at the same landing!

In my opinion the JBS is one of the best, if not the best, looking of the existing boats. She certainly preserves the appearance and feel of the small old time packets to which I am partial. It's a shame that LaCross is so far from Texas: I'd love to take a trip on her. BTW, in all the complaints and comments about blue paint on steamboats I've seen posted here, no one has included the JBS, and she is most certainly trimmed all in blue, all be it a light blue. Curious.

In the 1972 movie, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, during the opening credits, the JBS, as the River Queen, pulls up to the landing, and the captain is shown waving from the Pilot House.

Does anyone know if the person waving is an actor, or someone from the JBS?

Later in the movie, the same person is shown in the pilot house of the JBS, (this time as herself) trying to avoid Tom and Huck's raft.

The JBS uses their colors well. It's not the blue color that is the problem with the other boats, it is the way it is used. The gingerbread on the JBS is all white, and there are no large areas painted blue either. I think if half of the JBS were blue, people would hate that too.

The only thing I would change about it is the whistle, as it appears to be thrown together from some miscellaneous, unmatched and unscaled bells. If all of the bells were similarly scaled and well tuned, it would sound much better. At least its current sound would definitely be "distinctive".

Jon Tschiggfrie;6187 wrote: ... and her "sister," the M/V Twilight, puts in as well.

Photos to follow from tonight's landing at Dubuque.

That's Eddie Allen (spelling may be inaccurate). He's a musician who sometimes performs on the boat.

The whistle actually has quite the distinctive sound - something of a war holler. She truly sounds and appears like a true "blue" packet boat. I couldn't tell you what the chimes sound as far as notes, but one can't help but exclaim "That's the Julia Belle!" upon hearing those tones. Couldn't that be said of any boat, really?

I believe the Captain was Denny Trone himself. From a conversation with Capt. Trone some years ago I believe they had a hair raising experience or two during the filming.

I can sure see that! For a whistle to operate properly, the bell diameter must increase proportionally with the length. The longest bell in the Julia Belle's 3 bell chime whistle is actually the skinniest! Even if it were the same diameter as the other bell of the largest diameter, it would still be the whistle of the smallest scale (working length to diameter ratio). There are also two of the same length with different diameters. I have heard such whistles referred to as "junkyard chimes", since they are made up of totally unmatched whistles on a common manifold.

What does all of this mean? The longest whistle will overblow to its third harmonic by the time the middle bell is fully blowing. Having its cutup (bell above bowl height) as high as the other two may help to prevent this, but no guarantees. In any case, it cannot sound as loud as the other two without overblowing, so the chord is shifted to a higher pitch as the whistle is quilled. The two shortest bells are close to the same pitch and will cause a beat frequency between them. This whistle is "distinctive" all right.

Jon Tschiggfrie;6205 wrote: The whistle actually has quite the distinctive sound - something of a war holler. She truly sounds and appears like a true "blue" packet boat. I couldn't tell you what the chimes sound as far as notes, but one can't help but exclaim "That's the Julia Belle!" upon hearing those tones. Couldn't that be said of any boat, really?