Cars on the CHRIS GREENE

Neat pic, Keith -- thanks for sharing!

Looking at the way they loaded those cars (and remembering Alan's comment about how they were driven on and off at breakneck speed) makes me wonder about damage to the cars themselves. Nowadays, we see cars being transported on truck trailers and railroad cars with protective plastic sheets on the bodies, etc. to keep them from getting scratched. I wonder what these cars looked like by the time they got to the showroom floor? I also wonder if any cars ever got off the "track" on that gangplank.

Chris greene

Here are some pictures of the CHRIS GREENE II in her different stages. Note in picture 1 the enclosed area forward of the name on the main deck, which extends to the guard. Then in the next 2 pictures note the bullrails were replaced by bulkheads which extended to the guard. I think I've asked this before, but what was the reason for painting the main deck a dark color once they converted from passenger to cargo only? Also, what shipyard was the CHRIS in here? And Capt. Bill, those boats look like they're from your favorite type - any info on them?

Judy, it sure looks like Dravo, Neville Island, to me. I rode the DQ up that incline on a cold, freezing November day in 1967. The scimmers on the boilers came out of the water and the steam froze, coating the whole port side of the boat in a thin layer of ice.

Bob Reynolds;19363 wrote: Neat pic, Keith -- thanks for sharing!

Looking at the way they loaded those cars (and remembering Alan's comment about how they were driven on and off at breakneck speed) makes me wonder about damage to the cars themselves. Nowadays, we see cars being transported on truck trailers and railroad cars with protective plastic sheets on the bodies, etc. to keep them from getting scratched. I wonder what these cars looked like by the time they got to the showroom floor? I also wonder if any cars ever got off the "track" on that gangplank.

With the narrow tires and tall ground clearances like the car pictured, they were also a lot simpler in theory...much like towboats built in the 30's to today!

I can recall as a child seeing a carferry in Door County, WI using 2 wood planks and driving cars off, and that would be carrying 1960-1970 vintage cars which weighed much-much more than the Ford (I think?) pictured.

Sorry for the reply, just my 2+ decades in the n/c business!

Yes the car was a Ford. The boats loaded and unloaded on the starboard side at Louisville. They did likewise at Cincinnati on the port side. Fords always went north: Chevies always came south. Trucks were a problem, being wider, longer and higher. After a few years trucks were carried on barges towed by the Tom and the Chris.

"I think I've asked this before, but what was the reason for painting the main deck a dark color once they converted from passenger to cargo only?"

I'm just guessing...Could it be to make the oil drips and dirt from the vehicles less conspicuous? It would have taken much more effort to keep lighter colored decks clean with auto traffic vs people traffic. With the dark decks they wouldn't have to be quite as maticulous in their scrubbing.

Pete

The dark color on the Greene Line boats was green. Like Henry Ford, who said any color would do so long as it was black, the Greenes preferred green.

I'm not about to say they never carried vehicles on the main deck, but usually that space was filled with general cargo. They moved thousands of plumbing fixtures from Louisville to Cincinnati and carried hundreds of tons of soap from Cincinnati. They carried oil in drums from Stoll's refinery. They hauled furniture and groceries. You name it - they would carry it.

Packet service between Cincinnati and Louisville was cheap and fast. No shipper could receive a boxcar on a siding, load it and get it hauled away as fast as he could deliver the freight to or from the boats. This 133 mile trip was easily made overnight. Much of the freight was less-than-carload.