More pics of Diamond Lady...

Diamond Lady in Vicksburg, 1993.

Diamond Lady in hideous Isle of Capri purple and pink...

Emerald Lady and Diamond Lady in Harvey canal - 1997.

1. Diamond Lady - 1997.
2. Diamond Lady, you can tell by the non flared stack crowns and spades in rails. Also, DL had rails moved behind rescue boats on 3rd deck/midship.
3. Emerald Lady, 1997, flared crowns and hearts in rails.

Diamond Lady at Treasure Island (Memphis) - November 2007. Towboat in foreground has since been scrapped.

1. Starboard side.
2. Port bow.
3. Starboard stern.

Diamond Lady, Memphis-November 2007.

1. Port stern.
2. Third deck aft/calliope.
3. Pilothouse.

1. Inside pilothouse.
2. Fourth deck/portside.
3. Third deck starboard - Forward looking aft.

Capt. John,

What wonderful pictures of a beautiful boat. Sad what has happened to her. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some benefactor purchased her and the BELLE OF CINCINNATI and renovated them into overnight boats? They'd be the best looking overnight boats to hit the water since the DELTA QUEEN and the QUEEN CITY!

Since we are fantasizing (until the winning lotto ticket is handed to the proper authorities), what would you name them? Where would you run them? What would you call the company?

My vote is name them MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and MISSISSIPPI BELLE (Both names are currently available) and call it Mississippi Queen Steamboat Company. Home Port them out of Memphis with trips on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland, Illinois, and Arkansas Rivers, seasonally. Lay them up in January, February, and early March and come out ready to boogie in Mid-March on the Lower.

Buy lottery tickets now, before it is too late!

Travis

1. Starboard side, third deck, midship.
2. Head deck from second deck/stbd. side.
3. Starboard side, main deck, aft.

My Fav

Of my five casino boats, the DIAMOND LADY was my favorite. The only other boat that gave me the same fuzzy feeling was the DELTA QUEEN. I hate to see her looking like this -- simply saddened at what greed can do.

With all your dreams, I hope you win the lottery.... and it is a big-enough pay out so you can do all you want to do, but in the meantime ... keep dreaming.

1. Port bow.
2. Port forward.
3. Port midship.

1. Port stern.
2. Port quarter.
3. Lucky Seven landing barge in Memphis (McKellar lake). The barge is no longer in Memphis, I believe it has been scrapped.

The Lucky Seven landing barge was used for the Diamond Lady in Bettendorf, was between the Diamond Lady and Emerald Lady in Biloxi and was used for the DL in Vicksburg.

Hey Travis, sorry it took a while to get back on this subject, I just hadn't had time to give it much thought...yeah, right!! I think about this all the time. I would love to have both the Diamond Lady and Belle of Cincinnati, but I'll start with my plans for the Diamond Lady if I ever win the lottery, just multiply them by two if I win enough to buy the Belle.

1st. I would cut her in half just forward of the midship ladders and add twenty-four feet. The DL and EL are 201' long. The Golden Lady/Par-a-dice was 228' long. As we've discussed, that extra length made a big difference in the aesthetics of the boat. This would also add room for an additional twelve passenger cabins over three decks and also crew space in the hull. I would have large cabins with room for approximately 84 guests.

Main Deck: This deck would be a lobby forward with public restrooms and the pursers/hotel desk/office where the gift shop is now. Aft of that where, where the cabin is divided by fire doors/bulkheads, I would remove the bar and add cabins back to where the exterior, midship ladders are. I would obviously add windows to the main deck cabins, where there currently are none. Aft of the cabins, above the engine room would be an exercise room and passenger/crew laundry. Aft of the engine room on the main deck would be eight crew cabins.

Second Deck: This deck would be cabins from forward of where the current bar is all the way forward (other than the elevator and interior stairway). I would leave the current 2nd deck bar in it's location and make the area aft of that (overlooking the paddlewheel) the dining room and entertainment lounge. I would also add public restrooms just forward of the bar.

Third Deck: I would leave the existing third deck bar and incorporate it with the forward loung into one library/lounge/bar with the elevator/stairs inbetween. Everything aft of the lounge would be cabins on this deck.

2nd. The Lady boats all had five (5) Caterpillar 3412 engines. Two (2) for main engines/props. One (1) center engine for hydraulic power to the paddlewheel and bow thruster. Two (2) for generators. I would convert the center engine from hydraulic to a third generator and convert the paddlewheel and bow thruster from hydrualic to electric. This would make them quieter and also give you more redundancy with three generators instead of two. I would mimic the Spirit of Peoria's propulsion. The SOP has three (3) Caterpillar 3412, all are generators, but only two are used at a time.

I would also add a third rudder, the Lady boats only have two rudders, directly behind the props. I would add a third, centerline rudder to aid in steering when only running on the paddlewheel. I've run the DL and Par-a-dice on only the wheel, and they would handle well, but I believe she would handle like a dream with a third rudder. They all handled great when using the props/paddlewheel.

3rd. I would love to homeport the boat out of the Quad Cities or LeClaire on the upper Mississippi, but realistically, I would probably base her out of Louisville or Cincinnati. I would stick mostly to the Upper Miss. and Ohio, with trips on the Illinois, Tennessee and Kanawha several times a year. I would avoid the lower except for rare occassions.

4th. As far as a name, I'm torn between keeping the name "Diamond Lady" and changing it to "Belle of America". With both boats, it would either be the "Diamond Lady" and "Emerald Lady" or the "Belle of America" and "Belle of the Heartland".

Anhow, those are a few of my ideas...now, I just need 25 million dollars!! Someone won $140 million on Mega millions last night, maybe it was one of us, I haven't checked the numbers yet...

Keep Dreaming...

John

John,

I read your plans and thought I would throw my 2 cents worth in as well.

The changes you mention would make them great overnight boats. I bet they would be really popular with the public, too!

However, I would change a couple of things myself. The Main Deck room, aft of the Pursers Office and Gift shop would be the Dining Room and Entertainment Room. This way all the "noise" of the passengers would be confined to one area.

The lounge you propose in the second deck stern should stay...just smaller and called Paddlewheel Bar. For some reason, since the MQ...almost every boat (except the AQ) has had one and it is the most popular public room on the boat!

In the Texas cabin (3rd deck) I would put a very small intimate bar in the area ahead of the elevators. Also in the Texas Cabin I would consider 4 single cabins. The AQ had them and I don't know of a cruise where they weren't all full. The new NCL EPIC has them and the way they did them, you could get all four in the space of 2 of the regular sized cabins and they are really nicely sized!

If possible I would look into lowering the pilothouse and stacks for bridges on the Upper and the Tennessee. Wonder how we could make the stacks fold at the texas roof and get the pilothouse to the a level under the rails? My worry is that there'd have to be a couple of staterooms removed to accommodate the lowering of the pilothouse.

As for the Lower trips...I agree, keep them seasonal and rare. Go down there in the late fall of the year and lay up after New Years. Bring the boat back out and start up north after a couple of cruises in March.

As for a season...how about starting on the Lower from March till April...come up to the Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland in April through the end of June, and the upper till mid fall (late September) with a return to the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee for late fall-early winter and head to the lower in mid November?

Wintering in Louisville would be good for the shipyard access. But, have you considered Mobile? There are good shipyards down there and much cheaper places to lay her up with out the possibility of freezing the plumbing!

I love BELLE OF AMERICA! How about BELLE OF THE OHIO and BELLE OF THE MISSISSIPPI? This way you could keep them in different areas and double cover the rivers you are serving...all the while the names define their routes? Of course, there would be some double coverage...in this case make sure people could spend a week on one and walk over to the other for their second week. Having a Cincinnati to St. Louis cruise on one week with the BELLE OF THE OHIO and then have the BELLE OF THE MISSISSIPPI leaving St. Louis the same day...the pax could walk form one to the other and have the Ohio and Upper in a 2 week period. There are ALOT of ways this could work to see many different rivers. It was just an idea!

Just thoughts...I didn't win last night. I am getting worried about this lottery thing! It isn't paying off like it is supposed to!

Travis

Neat plans. I may be missing something, but that seems like a lot of bars for the number of passengers.
Also--and I'm surprised Travis didn't mention this--a CALLIOPE!!
S'
David D.

Dave,

I'm only talking about two bars, one main bar on the second deck in the dining room and a smaller, more intimate bar on third deck.

As for a calliope, that is a given. All the Lady boats have Tangley calliaphones, I'm sure the DL's needs a little fine tuning, but she would definately have one. Sorry, no steam, though...

Anyone got an extra 25 million laying around burning a hole in their pocket?!?

John

John and Dave,

I guess I neglected one thing as a given. I would change out both boats calliopes for full-sized steam calliopes and replace the air horns with full-sized steam whistles. They would be operating on compressed air with a system added specially for them. I would use a 40hp compressor dedicated to them (located in the hull and attached to both units using a 1 1/2" feed line that would start as a 2" at the compressor, reduce to about 1" in the middle and widen out about 20 feet from each appliance to 1 1/2" to keep the compression tight and powerful at the appliance). This oughta work just fine to give the sound of steam with out the USCG problems and insurance associated with steam.

I like the Tangley Calliaphones.....but, they are a circus instrument and not fit for a true riverboat experience. True steam whistles are designed to produce a better, fuller sound and can do this on air just fine (See the videos of the PA DENNY I have on Youtube YouTube - Calliope aboard M/V PA DENNY part 3)! As a matter of fact, they will stay better in tune on air than they do on steam because you don't have to worry about the expansion and contraction of the metal that occurs from the application of the heat when the whistle is blown.

A big three bell steam whistle on the port side of the pilothouse, gold plated and gleaming...would change the look of the boats and give them a very important steamboatin' appearance. The real steam calliope would go along way to complete that look.

I would mount the calliope on the stern of the texas deck (3rd deck) roof and remove the railing that surrounds the current Tangley Calliaphones. The console would be on the roof just ahead of the existing railing near the instrument. I would put coloured lights on each whistle for the night time concerts (just like the NATCHEZ and PA DENNY).

Of course, the USCG would require the retaining of the air horns the boats have as a back up for the old timey whistle (YouTube - Steam Whistle On Air ). Nothing says you have to use it as long as the frequency of the steam whistle matches the frequencies required (and a steam whistle on air would actually be better than what the USCG requires...should an inspector come a callin' with a device to measure the frequency). So she would come around the bend sounding appropriate and attract the proper attention!

Converting the DL and EL to overnight boats would require a replacement of over 50% of their beings...thus allowing the USCG to certify them as "new vessels". Legally, this could allow for steam to be added to them. However being realistic, changing the engines to steam and adding the boiler and steam engines would double the cost of the conversion and add no value to the vessels at all. Although I love steamboats as much as the rest of you, truth be known, the public can't tell the difference at all. To insure a boat with a steam boiler aboard is quite expensive. The air compressor...almost negligible. My point being, preserve EVERYTHING possible of the steamboat experience and educate the passenger to understand what they were and how close we are...as close as they could get in this modern world.

The calliope and whistle are very intrigal parts of the puzzle. As are the paddlewheel, stage, and twin stacks. Those who just got off the BELLE OF CINCINNATI I am sure will agree with me...she is the perfect boat for conversion into overnight. And what we have stated in this thread states the business case better than any Wall Street operative could to any Board of Directors.

So, when are we gonna start construction/conversion, Capt.? Anyone know of any possible investors? Quicker we get this going, the quicker we can all get back on the river and have a real overnight paddlewheel boat. Cause at the moment, no one else is planning a real whistle-blowing, calliope playing wheel rolling sternwheeler on the river.

Travis

Note: The video of the PA DENNY calliope was recorded on an instrument that had sat unused for over a year. Two of the whistles had cracked and were not working appropriately and the instrument had no service of any kind done to it for 7 years prior. So there are problems with the tune and sound of it that could be rectified with no problem. I posted this purely for example purposes. The video of the steam whistle on air was presented to give the reader the idea of what they could sound like. Although, the example was of a much higher-scaled variety than a steamboat would use, it is a good example. Another good example is http://www.steamboats.org/assets/media/audio/grand-victoria-II-whistle.mp3 This one has a authentic steamboat whistle blown on air.

I hear what you are saying about steam expenses--and yes, the calliope will keep in tune better-but steam changes the tone and frequency of a whistle. Since no one is using a tuning fork at A-440 (and, considering the age of most calliopes, A-435 is probably more appropriate) so, as long as it's in tune to itself, no one (other than us "FRN's") will know!
As to steam vs others (hydraulic, infernal combustion, etc.), I challenge you to show me a propulsion system that has given as little trouble as the DQ's 82 years of running (and now they're 84+ years old). I know, there are other issues, but it's hard to beat a slow RPM steam engine for longevity! Heck, the Natchez's engines aren't spring chickens either! And how about the BOL's engines?
OK, off soapbox. Y'all know my first love is Steam! (Even Linda knows that--one of the first days we spent together, I showed her my dream plans for a 25' sternwheel steamboat/houseboat. (yeah, I'll probably never build it, but I was only 23 then!) And I have plans here for a '07 Stanley Gentleman's speedy roadster I was hoping to build someday. . . .drew them for a computer graphics class in college.
S'
David D.

Found some more good pictures of the Diamond Lady when she was new and cruising out of Bettendorf, Iowa.

1. Passing Rock Island riverfront.
2. Passing southbound under the Centennial bridge between Rock Island, IL. and Davenport, Iowa.
3. At the landing in Bettendorf, Iowa.

1. I believe this is the Emerald Lady during construction at Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville, FL.
2. Bernie Goldstein, Vanna White, an actor from the tv show "Dallas" and I believe a congresswoman from Iowa on opening night, April 1, 1991.
3 The President and Diamond Lady together in McKellar lake Memphis.