Thursday, April 30, 2020

Chatsworth, IL: IC Depot and original grain elevator is still standing

(Satellite)

Roger Kujawa posted
Chatsworth IL~Illinois Central Railroad Depot~Grain Elevator~Passengers~c1912

Roger Jujawa shared

Roger Kujawa posted
Illinois Central Chatsworth, Illinois depot postcard.
Dennis DeBruler Given the word "Shortlines" in the group title, it is worth noting that this town still has both of its railroads because Bloomer Lines operates the former IC route and the new TP&W operates the former TP&W route.

Roger Kujawa shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post
Not only does this illustrate that a grain elevator was generally the other major building built in a new town, this grain elevator appears to be still standing!
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...
That town goes on the field trip list to get photos of the elevator.


Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Chicago, IL: 1934-1999 Chicago International Amphitheater (Amphitheatre)

(Satellite, it was in the northwest quadrant of Halsted and 43rd Streets)

History and seven images

EpsteinGlobal
[Abraham Epstein was the architect for this building. It became the prototype for convention buildings.]

In about seven months, the International Amphitheater was built in 1934 to replace the horse auction barn that was part of the destruction of the 1934 stock yard fire, the worst fire in Chicago since 1871. It was demolished in 1999 as part of a City effort to redevelop the stock yards as an industrial park. Its 12,000 seats hosted the Beatles' first appearance in Chicago and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. For arena shows such as livestock exhibitions, circuses, hockey, etc. it held 9000 seats. When the stockyards closed in 1971, it lost its livestock events. In 1979 it lost the circus to Rosemont Horizon. By 1983 it lost all of the shows to newer venues and lay dormant until 1987 when it was part of an urban-renewal project. [WTTWChicagoTribune, ScottyMoore]

Marty Peters posted three photos with the comment: "Chicago International Amphitheater! Lots of great wrestling shows there!!!"
[The are lots of comments about what shows people saw here.]
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Gregory Fruhauff posted
Professional Wrestling at the International Amphitheater...
[There are lots of comments and a photo of Evel Knievel jumping some busses.]
Chicago History posted
(1968) Chicago International Amphitheater - 4220 S. Halsted Street. This picture was taken from the back of the Amphitheatre and the view is looking east.
Growing up in Chicago posted
1968 - International Amphitheatre - 42 & South Halsted - opened in 1934, demolished 1999

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Jay B. Hornocker posted
The Beatles performing in 1966 at Chicago’s International Amphitheater, at 4220 South Halsted Street.
 Via Elin B Papciak

In addition to its original function of livestock shows for the Union Stock Yard, it established Chicago as the convention capital. It pioneered the use of air conditioning and media space. Coaxial cables allowed the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to be seen nationwide for the first time in their history. In addition to the infamous 1968 convention, it hosted four other national conventions, rock concerts, etc. [EncyclopediaChicago]

See ScottyMoore for much more information.

Kurt Winkleman posted three photos with the comment: "Chicago’s International Amphitheatre 4220 South Halsted Street Opened: on December 1, 1934, and was Demolished: on August 3, 1999. What concerts or other events did you see at the International Amphitheater?"
[I didn't look at the 692 comments.]
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Jeffery Shingles posted
Wrestling Roller Derby Car Shows Boxing Concerts and my Favorite Chicago Public league Boys HS Basketball City Championship also home of the Bulls before they moved to the Stadium.

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This photo of the previous facility that was destroyed by the 1934 fire is what motivated writing these notes.
Rick Wilson posted
The Dexter Pavilion at 4220 S Halsted. Built in 1885 and destroyed in the Great Stockyard Fire of 1934. It was replaced by the International Amphitheater.
Tom Krupica Prob a drawing. They always have this big flat expanse of land in front

Rick Wilson commented on his post
Tom Krupica Rick Wilson strange ground. Too flat

The eleven 200' solid steel arch trusses were the largest in the world.
EpsteinGlobal
By designing and building it in about seven months, they finished it Dec 1, 1934, just in time for the annual International Livestock Exposition that had been scheduled Dec 1-8.
EpsteinGlobal
They repaired or replaced several of the other buildings destroyed by the fire. "All of these buildings, including the Amphitheatre, were constructed for $4M ($71.4M in 2016), and, at the time, it was the largest building program in Chicago since the beginning of the Great Depression." These projects pulled the engineering firm out of its severe Depression Era slump because it led to more commissions. [EpsteinGlobal]

EpsteinGlobal
After reading several Department of Transportation descriptions of new bridge projects, I thought Design-Build was a 21st Century development. Obviously, Epstein probably practiced it in 1934 to get the replacement built before the scheduled annual exhibition. But they helped institutionalize the new project delivery method in the 1950s. So DoTs are over a half century behind the times.
Epstein-company, "50s" rollover

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP


Bonus


The precursor to the United Center.
Historic Chicago posted,cropped
Demolition of the Chicago Stadium (1995)




Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Lodge, IL: Junction: NS/Wabash vs. Aban/ICG/IC, Wooden Grain Elevators and NS traffic pattern

Tower: (Satellite, the IC, tower and overpass are gone, but the NS/Wabash tracks still [2024] exist here.)
Grain Elevator: (Satellite, it is now [2024], literally, just brown land. Note that the street views below where captured in Sep 2015.)

Mike Sypult commented on Jon's post
Jon Roma I recognize that picture; I think it appeared in the Wabash historical society's magazine a a couple decades ago.
The image reminds me that Route 10 was once elevated over the Wabash at Lodge. I don't know when the viaduct disappeared; Illinois 10 has crossed the Wabash at grade as long as I've been in central Illinois (ca. 1979).

Two of the images posted by Jon Roma with the comment:
The town of Lodge, IL lies 18 miles west of Champaign on the IC's Havana District, which was part of the railroad's Springfield Division (headquartered at Clinton). The Springfield Division would be merged into the Illinois Division (headquartered at nearby Champaign) around 1960.
At Lodge, the IC Havana District crossed the Chicago-Bement main line of the Wabash Railroad at grade. There was an interlocking tower dating to 1901 consisting of 18 levers in a 20 lever frame protecting the crossing.
The IC Havana District was a typical sleepy rural branch line and was never particularly busy. In view of the low traffic on the IC, both railroads were interested in cutting the labor costs of having the Lodge agency and tower manned round-the-clock by telegraphers. The Wabash was going a step further and was in the process of installing TCS (traffic control system), which is to say CTC, piec by piece between Gibson City and Bement to further streamline operations on what was then a relatively important main line.
The solution to the problem, eventually agreed to by both railroads, was to install an automatic interlocking. The Wabash dispatcher would use the CTC machine to line routes on their railroad. If an IC train approached Lodge, and there was no Wabash move in progress or approaching on favorable signals, the plant would automatically line a route for the IC train.
This part of the Havana District was abandoned during the Eighties, though traces of the IC can still be seen some 35 years later. The Wabash line, of course, is now Norfolk Southern. Around 1990, the line was severed at Gibson City because of a lack of viable traffic north of that point. NS obtained trackage rights over IC's Chicago District and Gilman Line for its trains to and from Chicago. NS also built a connection at Gibson City to tie the live portion of the severed Wabash main line to the live portion of the severed Nickel Plate to allow trains from Decatur to travel through Lodge and Gibson City, en route to Bloomington and Peoria.
In 2020, much of the traffic on this hybrid Wabash/NKP line (known on NS as the Bloomington District) has declined, particularly with the closing of a large auto plant in Bloomington. NS has rerouted the Chicago traffic due to service problems on the trackage rights over CN. Yet, the signals on the Wabash that were installed at Lodge in 1959 remain – as does the Wabash siding there.
Nikki Burgess Jon Roma can you comment on what NS has done with the traffic that was running up the IC to Chicago? Where did they move it to?
Erik Coleman Nikki Burgess NS still retains trackage rights, and has run an occasional "extra" that way, but all other traffic has been rerouted via the Marion District to Elkhart and back west to Chicago.
Mark Rickert mostly diverted it to trucks. The trucking industry has no greater friend than the railroads.
[IC and/or ICG tore up all of their tracks on their mainline except for one. Now CN doesn't have enough capacity. I've read that Amtrak trains are late because CN makes them wait in sidings. And CN refuses to add more sidings. If they make Amtrak trains wait, they probably make NS trains wait even longer. I'll bet NS now wishes N&W did not abandoned the Wabash route between Strawn and Manhattan.]

Mike Sypult Some 14 coal-laden Wabash railroad freight cars piled up at Lodge, Illinois, about eight miles north of here, at 7:25 a. m. Friday, December 22, 1950, spilling contents of the cars over a wide area, destroying a frame signal tower and doing serious damage to the depot. Each of the cars contained about 50 tons, a total of over 1,400,000 pounds of coal. It was littered along the track waist deep in places. Signal operator C. L. Wells was saved from possible serious injury by being in the right place at the right time. Wells was outside watching for defects in the train as it went by at an estimated 35 to 40 miles an hour. The sudden accident knocked the tower down, but Wells, covered with coal thrown from the cars escaped uninjured. A broken journal probably caused the pileup, but the cause would not be determined until an investigation was conducted. The derailment came in front of the seldom-used Wabash depot in Lodge. The depot itself was knocked from six to eight feet off its foundation. The tower, located directly across from the station, was knocked over when it was hit by one of the cars. It normally contains levers for crossing switches for the Wabash and Illinois Central railroads. The accident also tied up traffic on an Illinois Central railroad line, but an IC official said that that part of the line is used only once a day by a freight train between Champaign and Clinton. DeLand and Monticello fire departments extinguished the fire in the signal tower. A diesel locomotive was pulling the approximately 70 cars in the train. It had left Decatur early Saturday morning and was bound for Chicago. Wabash railroad phone communications were halted as lines were torn down. Decatur-Chicago communications were cut off, but C. W. Furry, ticket agent at Monticello said one line had been repaired at 10:27 a. m. Long distance phone service to the rest of the community was also disrupted. Interlocking equipment at the crossing was torn up by the impact. The first car derailed was approximately 38 cars from the front of the train. The crew, none of them injured, was made up of Decatur men. Traffic was rerouted over IC Tracks between Decatur and Gibson City. The Blue Bird and Banner Blue passenger trains were detoured in both directions over the IC tracks. Section crews totaling 50 or more men were rushed to the scene of the mishap. Wreckers from Chicago and Decatur and a derrick from Clinton were brought to clear the hundreds of feet of torn up track.Taken from the December 28, 1950 issue of The Piatt County Republican newspaper Derailment occurred December 22, 1950.
Mike Sypult A few more Lodge tid bits: The original tower dated to April 1901 with Wabash paying $3,124.83 to construct and paying 13/36th of operating costs. Lodge also had a wood depot constructed in 1880 measurements 20’x50’ with a tin roof. Lodge telegraph call on the Wabash was “DG”.
[Some comments discuss the removal of the overpass we see in the tower photo. It was gone by the 1970s.]
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This marked up signal department drawing was produced by the Wabash, and circulated to Illinois Central officers for approval. Though manned by Wabash employees, the interlocking was a joint facility, and IC paid part of the costs of the plant.
Note that the signal engineer, superintendent, as well as a couple IC vice presidents had to sign off on the project.
Red coloring shows the apparatus placed into service, while yellow coloring shows apparatus that was retired.

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Nikki Burgess commented on Jon's post
If the NS has taken its leave (at least mostly) from the IC in northern Illinois, then this was probably my last shot of such a train (LOL well, I also moved to Seattle, which doesn't help the odds either!). On a sunny but cold early November day in 2014, I chased this train from Homewood south to Gibson City. My last good shot was as the train roared through Roberts, on the Gilman Line.
Dennis DeBruler One nice side effect of railfan photos is that some of them also document the grain elevators. I've learned that both Lodge and Roberts still have a wooden grain elevator.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4...

Nikki's photo got me looking for the wood grain elevator.
Street View, Sep 2015
 
Street View, Sep 2015

When I couldn't reconcile any street view with Nikki's photo, I finally noticed Roberts in her comment.

The tower was in the northeast quadrant along the IC route and the overpass was already built.
1940 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

A 1:08 railfan video that includes the elevator, Dennis DeBruler shared

The train is on a connector from the Wabash to the IC.
Richard Jahn posted
June 1981 - Illinois Terminal was making their last trip to Monticello. It was a damp day in June - with all the green I should have posted this on St Patricks day. 🙂 Train is backing up on the connecting track.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Richard's post
I'm glad you caught the grain elevator equipment. It is now all gone,
 https://www.google.com/.../@40.1055627.../data=!3m1!1e3...
According to Google Earth, the elevator was removed between Oct 2020 and Jun 2022.

Monday, April 27, 2020

Shady Bend, KS: Grain Elevator with Concrete Stave Silos

(Aban RR Map)

I haven't seen concrete stave silos used in grain elevators and then I see a couple in a couple of weeks. New Ulm, MN was the first instance.

This "town" is like some I've seen in Illinois; that is, only the grain elevator is left. But in Illinois, the elevators not only generally still work, they have been upgraded.

John McCall posted
I discovered some better Shady Bend elevator pics from 3 years ago from another Facebook page. Any ideas on the three silo bins construction?
Bob Summers The silos are concrete stave construction, interlocking concrete tiles with the exterior steel bands providing structural support when the silos are filled with grain. Similar construction for farm "silage" will have the steel bands spaced further apart as silage puts less strain on the sidewalls than grain. Probable the wooden elevator had a headhouse, which is now gone. The silos likely had an auger from the headhouse to fill the bins.
Larry Reynolds Common construction in early 1950s using equipment already there but creating more storage

John commented on his post
Here's a close up of the main building.
I'm also wondering how they were all connected as no evidence now of a grain leg.
Does look like it's missing a top piece now that I can see it better. Be neat to go back 60-70 years and see it properly active.


Lorraine, KS: Grain Elevator and hopper bottom semi's in the 1980s

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted
The co-op elevator at Lorraine Kansas, now a branch location of the Central Prairie Co-op. Appears to be a post WWII Chalmers & Borton slip form concrete elevator with a couple of annexes built in the '50's or early '60's. The outside leg and truck receiving pit likely was added in the '70's when farmers, using larger harvesting equipment began delivering the grain to the elevator with larger tandem trucks, sometimes also pulling a trailer often called a "pup" to keep the grain away from the combines in the field to speed up the harvest. By the '80's semi's with hopper bottom grain trailers were coming into use here in Kansas. 

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
The east/west route, which served this elevator, was Santa Fe and the north/south route was Frisco. The southern and western "spokes" were acquired by Central Kansas Railway. But they are now also abandoned.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Marquette, KS: Grain Elevator

(Satellite)

Bob Summers posted two photos with the comment: "The co-op at Marquette Kansas. Mid century slip form concrete elevator and annex. Late century jump form with truck receiving pit and leg that can be viewed in the second photograph."
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Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
They have two large ground piles.
https://www.google.com/.../@38.5588054.../data=!3m1!1e3...

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
I was curious if the ground piles were made in response to the corn surplus of 2014. I learned they were made a couple of years earlier.
Sep 2011

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
Sep 2012

Dennis DeBruler commented on Bob's post
This town had three railroad "spokes," all of which were owned by Missouri Pacific. Central Kansas Railway (CKRY) had ownership of the east/west route. But they abandoned that route by the time my 2005 SPV Map was published.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...


Friday, April 24, 2020

Elberta, MI: Ann Arbor Ferry Dock (The ships are labeled Frankfort)

(Satellite)

Every source uses the town Frankfort, MI; but the dock is actually in Elberta, MI. The 2005 SPV Map indicates that there was ferry service to Manistique, MI; Menominee, MI; Kewaunee, WI; and Manitowoc, WI.
John Ashley of the Ann Arbor Railroad had an idea. Instead of transferring cargo from railcar to lake boat to railcar, he would ship loaded freight cars across Lake Michigan. On November 27, 1892, twenty-two cars were loaded at Kewaunee, Wisconsin, and ferried across the Lake to Frankfort, Michigan. This was the start of cross-lake railroad carferry service. [WMHS]
Mike Harlan shared
From the Menominee fb group.

Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted
The railroad car ferry Ann Arbor No. [5] at dock in Frankfort, Mich. (Image Source: University of Wisconsin Madison Libraries Digital Collection – The Great Lakes Maritime History Project).
According to at least one source, and a comparison with other historical images, it appears that this is the Ann Arbor dock at Elberta, Mich not Frankfort which is nearby.
The image is from a postcard that is part of the collection of the Jim Dan Hill Library at the University of Wisconsin Superior. Photographer and date information is not included in collection notes, although it does state the vessel has a “modernized wheelhouse and stack.”
[The description continues with more information about #5.]
Tim Hansen: While the boat docks and railyard were physically located in Elberta the Ann Arbor Railroad's schedules and literature typically referred to the terminal as Frankfort or Frankfort, Elberta Boat Landing. I suspect that the Frankfort name usage may have originated in that Elberta was originally referred to as South Frankfort. The photograph predates the 1948 rebuild of the No. 5 in which she received new deck cabins and pilot house.

Marty Bernard posted
Frankfort, MI Ferry Loading Ramp in 1994. Not TOFC but BOFC. Karl Miller photo
Randy Alan: Technically Elberta.
Drew Black: Lifeboat on the carfloat idler car?
Michael Moran: Drew Black sure looks like it.
Ralph Nenn: I will have to verify the date but I believe this boat was shipped to Wisconsin for restoration an later displayed at a Coast Guard station. Sure looks like a life boat off a old ferry that was donated about that time frame.

Greg Mross posted
Ann Arbor No. 7 is primed and awaiting new paint at the Fraser Shipyard in Superior in November of 1964. She would re-emerge as the Viking after a major re-fit. I believe the crane is dropping one of the diesel engines into the engine room as part of the re-powering. John Ingles Kodachrome from my collection.

Peter Carr posted, looking towards the northwest

Gerard Joseph posted
Railroad car ferry operations were once a mainstay in the Great Lakes State...not only in Detroit, but in Ludington with the C&O, the GTW at Muskegon, The AARR in Elberta, and Frankfort , and D&M/Soo Line @ Mackinaw City. and St Ignace. These two are again from My file collection - the AARR in Elberta MI. 1938, and @ Frankfort MI in 1960
1960 photo of the AARR railroad ferry car operations at Frankfort MI

It appears the town as preserved the memory of the AA roundhouse in a park:
Satellite


Bruce Mcpherson commented on John's post
very cool..here's the remains in Frankfort, MI another big car ferry slip
John Campbell Bruce Mcpherson Thanks for sharing, Bruce! Not too many of these structures remain. Elberta slips are gone. I think Manistique slip is still there. The GT Milwaukee and GT Muskegon slips are in shambles, but I think still stand. Kewaunee slips long gone.

Bruce Mcpherson commented on John's post

Paul Erspamer posted eleven photos with the comment:
Ann Arbor No. 5, built in Toledo & launched Nov. 1910, was huge: 360-ft. with a capacity of 30 railroad cars on four tracks in her car deck. At the time, AA #5 was largest carferry on the Grt. Lakes, & also the first ever launched with a sea gate [A safety device designed to keep water from flooding from the car deck at the stern, deemed necessary after 1909 Lk. Erie loss of MARQUETTE & BESSEMER No. 2 & 1910 loss of PERE MARQUETTE 18 off Sheboygan, Wis.].
AA #5 had two triple-expansion steam engines & steam from 4 scotch boilers from Marine Boiler Works of Toledo, driving 3000 horsepower.
AA #5 worked hard until Ann Arbor Railroad, [along with sister railroads operating cross-lake ferries, like Grand Trunk Western & Pere Marquette/C&O] encountered changing market conditions. AA #5 was converted to oil in 1964, then sold to Bulk Food Carriers of San Francisco in 1966. The ferry then swapped back and forth for years in the federal government’s ship exchange program. Ultimately, AA #5 was sold to Bultema Dredge & Dock Company in 1967. She was cut down & used as a temporary breakwall during construction of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant at South Haven MI, 1967-69.
AA #5 was pounded during storms in winter 1969-70. Broken, Bultema cut the forward section of the fine carferry into pieces, hoisted them on a barge and hauled them to a scrap yard. But the aft 150 ft of Ann Arbor #5 was floatable and could be towed intact, requiring less time and effort. A tug pulled the damaged vessel out of position on the breakwall & towed her onto the Lake. With pumps, they were able to keep AA #5 afloat as they headed west, away from the power plant.
Soon after turning north towards Holland, MI, a leak developed in the watertight wall. Fighting to keep the last main pump operational, John Bultema II, 20 yrs. old & working for his father, lost his battle as the water rose.
Bultema was plucked off the sinking hulk by a crane just seconds before the barge rose up stern first and plunged to the bottom in 160 ft. The men aboard the tug watched & some claim they heard an impact as she hit bottom. Back at company HQ, Bultema Jr. reported the loss to his father, John Bultema, Sr., whose reaction was relief that no one had been injured or died.
The AA #5 wreck is in 163 ft. & her twin propellers & huge rudder are at about 125 feet. Divers must orient themselves to depth: As they swim forward from the stern, they descend rapidly & might quickly find themselves at 160 ft. michiganshipwrecks.org
[Several comments about the early sinkings and seagates.]
Robert Strauss Actually, the No. 5 was never converted to oil, tho at that time Manitowoc had put together a proposal for such a conversion. She remained a coal burning hand bomber to the end.
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Gerard Joseph posted
Railroad car ferry operations were once a mainstay in the Great Lakes State...not only in Detroit, but in Ludington with the C&O, the GTW at Muskegon, The AARR in Elberta, and Frankfort , and D&M/Soo Line @ Mackinaw City. and St Ignace. These two are again from My file collection - the AARR in Elberta MI. 1938, and @ Frankfort MI in 1960

1938 photo showing the AARR yard and railcar ferry's at Elberta MI
Steven Kelsch Ann Arbor No. 5. Ann Arbor No.3 and the Ann Arbor No.6. The No 4 had been sold to the State Of Michigan in 1937. Love the switch engine
Les Bagley You can still see three of them and even ride on one!
The Grand Trunk (and later Ann Arbor) Ferry, the SS City of Milwaukee of 1931, is today a museum ship, berthed in Manistee, Michigan. She is normally open for visitor tours between Spring and Fall, virus quarantines excepted.
The SS Badger, the last carferry built in 1952, still carries automobiles, trucks, and passengers (but no more train cars) across Lake Michigan every summer, between Ludington and Manitowoc, WI. The Badger is also the last coal-fired steamship operating on the Great Lakes. The virus has also limited her 2020 sailing schedule.
And finally, though she’s been laid up for years and cannibalized for parts, the Badger’s identical sister ship the SS Spartan is also tied up in Ludington. She can be easily seen from nearby, but she is not open to the public.
Deb Jabs I never knew they put rail cars on the boats.
Tom Groenevelt Car ferry referring to RR Cars, automobiles were actually secondary except in the straits up until the Bridge was built.
Les Bagley George Hilton, in his book “Great Lakes Carferries,” noted the differences between Great Lakes ferry types.
First, we all know that “passenger ferries” only carry passengers, and maybe a few bicycles.
Now it gets more complicated. In Europe, a ferry fitted with railroad tracks is called a “Train Ferry.” But in North America, a “train” is defined as “one or more locomotives which may or not be attached to cars.”
Since in normal practice, the Great Lakes ferries never regularly carried heavy locomotives, they couldn’t really be defined as “train ferries.” But they did carry railroad CARS, so they were defined in America as “Car Ferries,” or “carferries.”
But what about automobiles, which today we also call “cars?” They hadn’t even been imagined by most people when railroad “carferries” were developed. “Cars” were always things that traveled on rails. So today, since the term carferry was already being used, boats that ferry rubber-tired vehicles are designated “auto ferries” or “highway ferries.”
From time to time there have also been a few “truck ferries” which almost exclusively handle commercial truck traffic.
Of course, any of the vessels could be used for other purposes. Some railroads chartered their ferries as summer excursion steamers, and for years, the Ann Arbor, Pere Marquette/C&O/Chessie/MWT, and the Mackinaw Transportation Company boats often supplemented railroad business by carrying autos, trucks and passengers as needed, in addition to rail cars.
But the boats were generally described by the main purpose and design for which they were built or the main traffic they served.
So for example, the last carferry to sail, the SS Badger, might still be called a carferry by fans. That’s the primary reason she was built. But since the 1980s, she no longer has tracks on her deck, and her primary use is now to carry automobiles, trucks, and passengers, so she’s now technically an “auto ferry” or “Highway ferry,” since she’s also the seasonal continuation of US Highway 10 across Lake Michigan.

Les Bagley commented on Tom's comment
Actually, from 1923 to 1957, the State Highway Department ran auto ferries at the Straits. They used one of the railroad ferries, which doubled as icebreakers for winter service, before 1952, when they got an ice breaking auto ferry of their own.

Paul Erspamer commented on Gerard's post
[Ann Arbor #5]



Glen Rice posted
[I didn't see this accident recorded in the ship's timeline.]

Ann Arbor #6/Arthur K. Atkinson
Originally ordered for service on Lake Erie, the #6 was diverted to Lake Michigan and the service of the Ann Arbor. In 1959 the ship was dramatically rebuilt. Steam engines gave way to diesel power and the hull was lengthened from 338 to 372 feet, allowing the vessel to carry 30 railroad cars. The ship re-entered service with a new name, Arthur K. Atkinson, in honor of the then president of the Ann Arbor's parent firm. Between 1973 and 1979 the Atkinson was laid up with a broken crankshaft. Eventually put back into service in 1980, the ship was laid up in 1982. It has passed through the hands of several owners since then, but has never been put back in service.
Robert Warrick posted
Ann Arbor Railroad, That is the MV Viking
Empty cars return back to Ford Motor in Detroit.



I never knew that Wabash used to own Ann Arbor.
Clare Union Railroad Depot posted
THE SS CITY OF GREEN BAY, FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE SS WABASH: article by Robert Warrick, uncredited photo from the Warrick files
On June 13, 1974, the Ann Arbor Railroad car ferry City of Green Bay was towed from Frankfort Harbor as dozens of onlookers sadly witnessed the first leg of her final voyage. Originally built as the SS Wabash, she carried an estimated million rail cars across Lake Michigan in her 45 years of service to the Ann Arbor Railroad 
The French phrase “Bon Voyage”, an expression of good wishes when one leaves on a journey, hardly seems adequate here. Under tow, she traveled under tow nearly 7000 miles, crossing through Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario before moving up the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the the Atlantic Ocean destined for her final port. This is her story.
When the Wabash Railroad officially took stock control of the Ann Arbor on November 2, 1925, the car ferry fleet had transported over 80,000 cars that year. To keep up with a growing demand for cross-lake service, Wabash ordered the largest car ferry yet built for the Great Lakes from the Craig Shipbuilding Company of Toledo. Launched in March 1927, the SS Wabash was soon completed and arrived in Frankfort three months later.
The last ferry built for the Ann Arbor, she could carry 32 freight cars. Owned by the Wabash Railroad but leased to the Ann Arbor, she sailed for 35 years before being sent to the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin for a minimal rebuild and update in 1962, including conversion from coal fired boilers to oil as well as raising her spar deck to accommodate taller freight cars. The Wabash now sported the Detroit Toledo & Ironton Compass Herald of her new owner on her streamline stack.
The following year, The Wabash returned to Manitowoc and was fitted with experimental propellers designed to increase her speed. She then emerged from the shipyard renamed the City of Green Bay in honor of the hometown of DT&I’s largest interchange partner. For eight years, she sailed as the railroad struggled to profit.
To cut costs, the Coast Guard certification on the Green Bay was allowed to expire in 1972. She was laid up in Frankfort Harbor until her official retirement in 1974. That same year, she was sold to Marine Salvage Limited in Port Coulbourne, Ontario. Upon arrival at Marine Salvage, her car deck was loaded with scrap metal to make her seaworthy to conclude her final glorious 7000 mile journey to Spain, where, after decades of traversing winter storms, thick lake ice, and summer gales, her days came to an end as she was finally scrapped.
Robert Warrick shared