Topic starter
17/09/2009 2:55 pm
Today in History notes that on this date in 1954 the DELTA QUEEN limped into Rock Island after running through herself. I've posted a lot on this previously, and since I'm less than 24 hours from flying to Oregon I don't have time to repost everything, but here's the gist of her stay:
Somewhere below RI, the DQ ran through herself on the starboard side. She came into the Rock Island levee and remained here until Sept. 26. This was the longest period she was ever laid up during a season in her entire career. This happened on her first ever Cincinnati/St.Paul round trip. Passengers were given the option to stay on board or to be taken back to Cincinnati. I believe about a third of the passengers stayed on. During the stay here, local people came down and took pax on tours - I've posted pix that CW took at the Kahlke Yard and on the Hennepin Canal via this opportunity. Passengers also availed themselves of local establishments, which at the time were quite plentiful within walking distance, including the 20th St. Strip. Each day our local newspaper had pictures and feature articles about the incident. Capt. Charles Brasher was Master and his wife and daughter were aboard, as were CW and MaryJane Stoll. Letha Greene came over immediately and was here throughout. She detailed the time in Long Live the Delta Queen, Chapter 12 pp. 66-71. The identical parts were bought from the owners of the DK and were flown in here on Flying Tiger Airline. At the time, this machinery was the heaviest cargo shipment ever flown in to our airport. Engineers and crew from the boat were assisted by personnel from the RI Arsenal in removing the old piston/cylinder and installing the one from the DK. One morning the brakes on a car parked on the sloping levee gave way, and the car rolled into the river, striking the hull of the DQ. The headline next day: "DQ passengers on top of the news". It had happened while they were in the Orleans Room eating breakfast. My family went down every evening and sat on our campstools just looking at the boat for an hour or so, and talking to passengers. I suspect we even talked to Mrs. Greene, but I didn't know her at the time of course. The DQ left here about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon Sept. 26. I missed that as I was in the middle of my birthday party, grrr. She headed back downriver for Cincinnati in order to get back in time for a New Orleans round trip. She did make it to St. Paul the next fall.... Please check the archives of .org for my previous postings and pix.....I've tried to repost pix and can't.
Topic starter
17/09/2009 7:02 pm
DK parts
The DK parts which were shipped here were in the Fulton California shipyard. It was this experience which caused Greene Line to buy other remaining DK parts for future use, which was a very prudent decision.
18/09/2009 12:03 pm
Herewith are a few of the pictures that Judy was unable to post from the DQ's lengthy layover at Rock Island in September, 1954, when she ran through herself. These are from slides taken by Capt. C.W. Stoll, who was aboard with his wife, Marijane, and year old daughter Christy.
(1) DQ wheel - starboard side - September 17, 1954.
(2) DQ wheel crank - Assistant Engineer Fred Taylor on fantail - September 17, 1954
(3) Car that rolled down wharf and into river after brakes failed, hitting DQ hull - while passengers were having breakfast in Orleans Room! September 21, 1954.
18/09/2009 12:10 pm
MORE from the DQ at Rock Island in 1954...
(1) DELTA KING piston, cylinder head and piston rod being delivered to DQ - September 23, 1954.
(2) Mrs. Letha C. Greene watching the DELTA KING parts coming aboard.
(3) DQ officers Capts. Paul Underwood, Charles Brasher and Doc Carr.
Topic starter
18/09/2009 1:04 pm
DQ pix
Thanks for posting those. I don't understand why you can't post a picture in a new thread if you've already posted it somewhere else... but those were great pix CW took.
18/09/2009 3:45 pm
Interesting pictures, Keith. One thing I noticed was the color of the wheel. And we all thought the wheel looked bad at the end of last year!
18/09/2009 4:23 pm
Indeed, Bubba! When I saw the wheel last October these pictures immediately came to mind! Although not always the reason, keep in mind that it was fall and paddlewheels usually look the worse for wear toward the end of a season.
Topic starter
18/09/2009 4:44 pm
wheel condition
I can't say for a fact, but I'll take a couple of guesses as to why the wheel was in such condition:
saving money
near the end of the season
no daylong shore stops for time to paint it
no days off between trips
18/09/2009 5:23 pm
How about one more:
Depends on who's taking care of it.
18/09/2009 6:50 pm
Great story about the Legendary One.
But, silly me, I thouight "RI" meant Rhode Island.
I thought, "How in the hell....."
Paul
18/09/2009 9:34 pm
The DK engine parts were available because the DK had been towed to British Colombia to serve as a dormitory. As part of the preparation for that voyage, the wheel and engines were removed. The boilers stayed on board to be used to heat the vessel. So in 1954 here are all these parts for a sternwheeler just sitting in the Fulton Boatyards. The Greens knew a good thing when they saw it, and bought a "full set of spares" for the DQ at bargin basement prices.
Little did we know that in 1959, the DK would come back home! I haven't yet found out just when the boilers and stack were scrapped (the stack is presently a storage shed in Isleton, CA), but I suspect it was between the infamous sinkings, and likely when she (he?) was berthed just above Rio Vista.
S'
David D.
Topic starter
19/09/2009 5:31 pm
DQ destinations
Paul Penta;18457 wrote: Great story about the Legendary One.
But, silly me, I thouight "RI" meant Rhode Island.
I thought, "How in the hell....."
Paul
Well, Paul, it isn't any crazier than some of the other proposed or even traveled routes she's had over the years!
20/09/2009 1:38 am
Shipyard Sam;18456 wrote: How about one more:
Depends on who's taking care of it.
What Sam said. When we did the reunion cruise from St. Louie to Cincy in August of 97 it looked pretty bad then too. The boat was dirty and the crew lacked the enthusiasm we once had in putting on the show of the Landing. I also think the communication by radio instead of loud speaker while tying up the boat took away from the show.
21/09/2009 2:46 pm
Judy.....I think you hit most of the reasons for the wheel not being pristine in the photos; but mostly painting the paddlewheel was not as important back then as it seems to be today. In 1954 the world and especially the DQ, were completely different. There were not the paints we have today. Back then they used green oak on the wheel and paint just wouldn't stick to it, even the red lead paint they used. If you look at the boats schedule from the time the boat came out in Feb. or March for the Mardi Gras trip until winter lay-up in November, there was hardly a day the boat wasn't in motion. And they ran the boat a lot, lot harder than the boat was run in the past several decades. If you look at the schedule in 1954, the boat would leave Cincinnati at 5PM and arrive in Louisville the next morning in time for the passengers to go to church..a distance of 133 miles with three locks, 37, 38, & 39.
In 1954 it had just been 5 or 6 years since the Greene Line ran daily frieght packets between Louisville and Cincinnati, and just 2 years since the GORDON C. GREENE ceased operation. Look at pictures of the GCG's wheel, it certainly wasn't well painted.
The crew was made up of steamboatmen who thought keeping the boat running was much more important than taking the time and money to keep the paddlewheel bright red.
It was a different time and a different mind set.
P.S. It was a broken pitman strap that caused the engine to run through itself, although it really didn't "run through itself", the piston lodged againist the cyclinder head. OK, all you FRN's....what's a pitman strap?
21/09/2009 2:51 pm
Thank you , Jim for some things some of us had not thought of. Now that I'm in this mindset, I think of other explanations...in the 1970's the boat was under attack and the company was waging a massive P.R. campaign. Bill Muster might be lurking at any spot, ready to take that perfect photo. The wheel had to look its best.
21/09/2009 3:13 pm
The pitmans are the large beams connecting the pitson rods to the wheel cranks. On the DQ these are large wooden beams. The bearings on the ends are fastened on with a metal strap the goes around the end of the arm and on the top and bottom. You can see them in most any photo of the wheel that shows the arms.
I'd sure like to know more about the failure of the strap! I did know the pistion was somehow wedged in the cylinder, and they didn't see any easy way to unwedge it and I suppose, repair the damage to the cylinder walls too.
Where is the old cylinder today? was it saved or scrapped?
S'
David D.
PS, At the cylinder end of the pitman, it connects to the crosshead, which is connected to the piston rod. This keeps the pistion rod in a straight line, while the other end of the pitman goes up and down and round & round. All the power of the DQ wheel goes through those two piston rods and the pitmans.
21/09/2009 3:27 pm
Excellent, Dave! The damaged piston was cut up and in Letha Greene's book "Long Live the DELTA QUEEN", she said she had a piece of the piston that was cut out in use as a paper weight on her desk.
If something like this happened today there would be copious pictures of the aftermath. Wonder if anyone took pics of that in 1954?
21/09/2009 4:24 pm
*RE: DQ at RI/Photos.*
Steamboating colleagues:
Great topic Judy introduced well worth discussing. Don't know about surviving photos of the event. I know it received much press in Rock Island, Cincinnati and, possibly, other towns/cities. Wonder what appeared in WATERWAYS JOURNAL? I'll ask Rick Kesterman if he knows of any such photos on deposit with the Cincinnati Historical Society Library/Archives. Possibly also at Inland Rivers Library/Cincinnati division at the Public Library.
Terry Beckett was working on the boat then in the engine room and had plenty to tell about it in later years. Those men slaved over dislodging the piston with every trick they knew--heat, ice, banging etc. Lots of barked knuckles and cuts keeping the boat's on-board doctor busy. One lady passenger was a nurse here at old Cincinnati General Hospital and assisted when needed. Fortnately relatively minor issues medically.
Well, what do I know?
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River,
R. Dale Flick
Topic starter
24/09/2009 2:44 am
Pix of the 1954 repair job
As I mentioned, I had previously posted pictures of this operation, but my computer wouldn't let me repost them. If you can find that earlier thread, they will be there. Some were from the newspaper, some from a collection at Augustana College, and some by CW Stoll. I doubt if many people photographed as much as we do today...and one more thing: NONE of the damaged parts are in my collection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!