Odd Deck plan in 80-81 DQ folder & another question

David, I expect one of the experts will chime in on this one--I bet Travis will know something about this. As for where crew stays, we are below the waterline. When you eat in the Orleans, we can hear your chairs moving above us! All of us share bathrooms, too. Rooms are small, but you'd be surprised how inventive staff can be to make the small spaces feel home-like. You get used to the noise around you. Up until the early 70s, officers stayed on the Sundeck--it was reconfigured then.

Good'le Days

The Officers had rooms on the forward section of the Sun Deck throughout the 1970's. Do the Captains and Mates live down in the hold now too? What are those mid-hold rooms like now? I can't imagine they are still the "Black Holes of Calcutta" that I recall. The front hold housed the deckhands on the port side, while the porters occupied the other side with a large deck room in-between. Really, not too bad, considering, if the rooms were kept clean. A common shower and toilet facilities were adequate for several men to use at once, but the mid-hold head had only two shower heads with but one working at any given time.

Beneath the floor boards were the fuel tanks where the Bunker-C oil was kept at a temperature of around 140 degrees that created a radiant heating effect that kept the mid-deck rooms perpetually roasting; never mind the volcano-like smell of the hot fumes. The rooms were practically uninhabitable, so most of those assigned there slept on cots and mats on the bow. But there was not too much grumbling that I recall, it was just Steamboatin' as it was at the time.

The Mate's Room in the Officers' Quarters, Sun Deck, was both private and cozy, but there was no air-conditioning to speak of. As I was on the back watch, my time to try to rest was from 6 PM to midnight. After tossing and turning in a sweat-soaked bed for a couple of hours, sleep finally arrived, but as soon as it did, Vic Tooker and the Riverboat Ramblers started their late-nite set in the Texas Lounge directly under my room. An hour later they retired, and welcome rest crept back for another thirty minutes when a rap at the door announced, "Eleven-thirty. Watch Time."

I vaguely remember that hairbrained idea to add rooms on the bow. Obviously it got nowhere. Sam, the captain's room is on the starboard, the chief's on the port, just behind the suite where their old rooms used to be. It would be about where the hallway was into the old officers' quarters. The pilots are housed in the second room on each side of the Texas, which is behind the stairs and thus had offered an obstructed view to pax...

Egads! Y'all make crew quarters sound "rather dismal." I wondered about this, as I noticed the earlier deck plans do show crew quarters. I imagine with the new hull, you've even lost the old portholes below decks. This will be interesting to find out about when I'm on board. I'm bringing a copy of an old Californaia Transportation Co. deck plan with me to share.
Now how about those odd forward rooms in that '80-'81 brochure?? Maybe I'll make a copy of that too to bring. I didn't find my pre '80 stuff, I think that's in a box from our previous move (I hope, hate to think I've lost them).
S'
David D.

There is a blank space there on the deck plans, I wondered if that's what it might be, although it's a smaller space than the old crew quarters. Is there still a pass through hall there?
Also, I notice no more "public bathrooms" anywheres, does that mean the when you "hear the call" you have to high tail it to your room, or another generous passenger's room?
Sorry, guess as the time gets closer, I become more curious! Now I'm wondering how high the river is too.
S'
David D. -- 16 days to go

David,

The plan in 80-81 was to add luxury cabins on the Cabin Deck just forward of the Forward Cabin Lounge. These rooms were not built and the idea shelved because of a dramatic change in the overall look of the boat was thought to put her National Historic status in peril. Imagine if you will how rooms would have looked with one convexly rounded wall. In Steamboating circles I remember conversations about how you would furnish the rooms (because of the shape of the room) and how the shape of the rooms would make them less commodious than the chatter of the day was intonating. Today there are storage and ice machines in a small deck house in this same location. It was carefully designed and constructed to be as unnoticeable as humanly possible.

Yes, the portholes are gone with the new hull. As a matter of fact they were welded over many years before the new hull. However, you could still see them, plain as daylight looking at her.

We have the California Transportation Co. Deck Plan in our files aboard and I will be glad to walk you around and show you where and how many of the changes were made aboard her as I will be aboard on your cruise as the Discovery Guide. I also believe I still have the deck plans of the DELTA KING as she is today aboard with several photographs. We will have to plan a little time to go through all this stuff as the cruise progresses upriver. What I think you will find as very interesting is the lack of change in much of the DELTA QUEEN. I would say she is at least 50% intact as far as the major superstructure is involved. In many ways she is better preserved as what she is than is the DELTA KING. Owing much to the fact she is still running, of course!

~Travis~

Dave,

The crew quarters in the hold are not quite as bad as they sound. They were all re-done in the early '70's, all steel construction, and actually pretty nice, though small. Two people to a room, with facilities down the hall. The heating of the #6 fuel oil was a sometime thing for each area...that is, whichever tanks they were burning out of were the ones that were heated at that time, so it was not always hot under foot in every area. I believe they are using mostly #2 now (or maybe #4?), so maybe it does not still have to be heated.

There is no pass-through hallway anymore on the Sundeck where the officers' quarters used to be. All those are now pax staterooms opening out on deck. When they were officers' rooms, there was a doorway that led in to a small hallway, and the individual officer's rooms opened onto the hallway. Those officer's rooms had windows, but no door to the outside. There was also an inside door that led from the aforementioned hallway to some very steep steps up to the pilothouse. This has been eliminated also, and the pilothouse is now accessible only from the outside of the Sun deck via stairs to the wing bridges. The officers' quarters we are talking about were VERY small rooms - only maybe 5 feet wide, just big enough for a bunk-size bed, a sink at the end of the bed and a very small closet. There were two bathrooms that served these officer's rooms; they were up forward under the pilothouse. There were rooms there for the Captain, Chief, a Purser, 2 Mates , 2 Pilots, 2 Engineers, 2 Watchmen and Vic Tooker and his mother. There was also one "spare" room there that was used for any other person or crew member, guest, etc. The Captain's and Chief's rooms were pretty nice, the others small, as mentioned. Not counting the Capt & Chief rooms, there were 10 rooms there. The lack of air conditioning there that Sam mentions was rectified by the installation of window a/c units sometime in the '70's. These kept the rooms cool, but somewhat marred the appearance of the boat, and they always leaked condensation on the deck, and had cans slung under them to catch the condensation. That was a deckhand and watchman job to be aware of any full cans of water overflowing on the deck and dump them! Sing-alongs in the Texas Lounge were sure to kill any chances of sleep there, as was "11 at 11" with calliope music, clomping pax and loud talking!

As far as there no longer being any "public" restrooms, there is an exception -- the small rest rooms at the foot of the stairs to the Orleans Room, just outside the dining room doors. It's either your stateroom or those!

Looking forward to meeting you Travis. I imagine Bruno would be interested too, although he probably knows all this already! Yes, the DK has much larger rooms aboard now! And of course, the pilot house is totally modified, I'll bring my pics.
The other thing I wondered about those "grand plans" is, how would they handle the plumbing with an open deck below?? Wonder if anyone thought of that? It was quite a surprise to see that deck plan, and noticed it showed no place else either (at least in my collection).
Gotta go find out why the bottom octave in the Church Pipe organ quit yesterday. We switched from electro-mechanical action to solid state action, and I'm beginning to regret it already! Either that, or mice are eating the cabling up to the pipe chambers! At least with a calliope, there's only one set of "pipes" !
Steamcerely,
David Dewey
PS, Travis, not many passengers as histiorically & mechanically curious as I, I suppose? (at least you hope so!! Heh Heh Heh)

PS, It's amazing how much space (on the DK) you have when you get rid of all that "machinery clutter." AAAAURGH!!!!
S'
David D.
PPS, yes, I know, it (the machinery) has helped keep the Queen running, so that's good.

David I think you'd be surprised how many pax are interested in historic details, not just the new bathrobes! Luckily you have expressed your interest ahead of time and so will get the grand tour from Travis. Too often people think, like you do, that they are the only ones interested in a certain aspect and don't express themselves and hence lose out on a lot of info and conversations. When I rode my second trip in 1974, St. Louis to St. Paul, I brought a set of Corps river charts and had them outside by my deck chair. It was amazing the number of passengers I met because they saw the charts and stopped to ask questions or to look at them. Regardless of the size of my room and suitcase, I always found room for the appropriate river charts on my trips. Now this was back in the days before the riverlorian aka discovery guide, so there was no one on the crew to give this info, and they didn't have the charts out on display as they do now... There was usually a set stashed in a cabinet in the Aft Cabin Lounge, but you had to know it was there and get it out yourself. Some of the pilots, like Rip Ware, liked to make announcements about the passing points of interest, but many didn't. And of course, that wouldn't help you if you had a general navigation question rather than their specific info. So to sum up, let your inquisitiveness be known, ask questions, wander about the boat looking like you're lost when you're actually looking at the stained glass windows held together by copper rather than lead, checking out the curved beam in the ceiling where the stand up bar was, checking room numbers vs. your old diagrams, etc. One disadvantage you have now is that with the doors stripped of their paint, you can't see where a rectangular number plate was replaced by an oval to give you clues as to old bathrooms, etc. And at some quiet point in your trip, sit back in a sofa at the stern of the BBLibrary or whatever its called now, and just listen to the machinery in action, the pitmans gliding; feel the gentle vibrations, and gaze at the gallery of the Greene family pictures and imagine they are there with you... and they will be, in spirit anyway. I loved to sit in there during dinner when the weather was too bad to be outside. It was my own private 285x58 'houseboat' and meditation center....

Old Light Shaft?

One of the old light shafts that were on the original California design may be what you are seeing as a blank space. At one time the tops of the light shafts (believe there were two) were topped with ornamental stained-glass coverings that ended up in Mr. Burn's, builder of the Queens, residence in California. Capt. Gabe may be the real expert on this. Many years ago he journeyed out West and saw the stained glass that had been put to new use in Mr. Burn's home after they were removed from the DQ before it began its epic voyage to the Mississippi River... if I correctly remember Cap'n Gabe's account of his California adventure.

Originally, this shaft brought colored light from the roof to brighten the forward area of what may still be called the Betty Blake Lounge, but what we referred to it as the Aft Cabin Lounge. Another light shaft was at the opposite end of the lounge, but it had been made over into bathrooms for cabins on the appropriate decks, so it did not show as a blank area on the plans.

I also recall us looking down into the old shaft, but there was nothing of interest to see, only a huge, dark, dusty, and dangerous hole that descended through the Sun and Texas Decks and ended in the overhead above the forward end of the after Cabin Deck of the boat and had long been adapted into a pipe and wire chase.

Believe me, if there been some object of curiosity remaining there, that old light shaft would have been thoroughly explored. The forward shaft was always shown as a blank area on the deck plans, and seeing that is what prompted us to explore the area at least 35 years ago.

Sam, yes, the light shafts do still show on the Texas Deck plans, but the space I'm mentioning is just aft of the pilot house, right where the pass-through hall way was (is on the DK), while the area looks spacious, I know the smokestack must occupy a major portion of the center of that space. Makes sense to me that there could be two officers' cabins there, close to the pilot house.
S'
David D. (11 days, about 16 hours left!!)

I don't have the plans in front of me, but on the Sun Deck there should be two blank spaces, one on each side, directly behind the front cabins. The starboard is the Captain's, the port the Chief Engineers room. Down on the Texas Deck, there should be a blank space for the second room on each side, which is behind the stairs. These are now the pilots' rooms. Remember on the DQ, the top deck is the Sun, the Texas is the third deck...

The Sun Deck Officers Cabins were still there through the early '90's, I remember staying there a number of times when I relieved Barbara Burch as hotel manager, beginning in 1989... I remember she had a tiny stool so you could sit by the bed and use it as a desk. If you were much over 6' tall, you slept with your feet in the sink... definitely not a problem for me. Can't remember exactly when it ended, may have been when the new hull was put in place? They were definitely gone by the time I was on the DQ full time in '97.

The "old" crew hold cabins were before my time, but the "new" ones aren't bad... mid hold ones actually are a little larger than some equivalent rooms on MQ/ AQ due to the absence of in- cabin bathrooms. The ones aft of the water tight door are smaller, and have for some time been used for single berth Officer cabins.

The hotel manager cabin is now in the forward hold, inboard on the Starboard side... small, but well laid out, I actually prefer it to the equivalent room on the AQ. I sure hope I have not yet seen my last cruise in that cabin.

I wish you'd be in that cabin for the DQ's only UMR roundtrip this July - but if you're not, then I guess you'll be up here on some of the AQ's 4 roundtrips.

Keith.......I remember you telling us about the hotel managers cabin and Barbra Burch's rules she gave you about using the sink. Was that stool a one step stool????

The evil that men do lives after them..

What a memory, Matt, thanks for reminding me. I think your observation about the "step" stool ties into a forbidden action regarding the sink. While a step stool would have been handy, this one was more like a milking stool. I did, however, place a milk crate near the sink , and was duly questioned as to its use when Barbara returned. We had a good time joking about it after that, every time we saw a milk crate while doing inventory or loading stores.

Keith Tinnin;4334 wrote: The Sun Deck Officers Cabins were still there through the early '90's, I remember staying there a number of times when I relieved Barbara Burch as hotel manager, beginning in 1989... I remember she had a tiny stool so you could sit by the bed and use it as a desk. If you were much over 6' tall, you slept with your feet in the sink... definitely not a problem for me.

Hi Keith,

Your "cabin" memories made me homesick for my cabin on the AQ. Cabin 122 is about 6'x6', plus the head. Small? Yes, but it was home and I loved it.

The funny thing is that my relief was banjo genius Bob Leary. Bob is about
6'4". He can stand in the middle of AQ Cabin 122 and touch both walls. He had to sleep diagonally with his feet on the desk.

Paul

Kieth.... every time I see one of those crates I have around here now I'll think about B. Burch's rule.The stories one could tell about DQ hotel managers especially the "KNIGHTED" one. You had to watch your backside every minute when he was around!!!!! There were others to watch out for also........ Dan, Howard, Reggie, Terry and some bartenders from that era to name a few......... all a bunch of rascals! What a great time we had.

Matt Sisak;4447 wrote: Kieth.... every time I see one of those crates I have around here now I'll think about B. Burch's rule.The stories one could tell about DQ hotel managers especially the "KNIGHTED" one. You had to watch your backside every minute when he was around!!!!! There were others to watch out for also........ Dan, Howard, Reggie, Terry and some bartenders from that era to name a few......... all a bunch of rascals! What a great time we had.

The Pringles made me do it; The "KNIGHTED" one!