Carferry across Lake Michigan

[TC Chris]

Here's a nice short video on the carferry Badger, the last coal-fired steamship in North America.

https://video.wcmu.org/video/ludington- ... oplay=true

Note that the term "carferry" originally referred to railroad cars. Charges for rail shipping around Chicago were excessive and there were frequent delays from congestion, so the railroads bypassed all that by shipping cars across the lake on big ferries. They had to year-round so the vessels were designed as icebreakers. Later, they began carrying automobiles, and now that is the only kind of car that crosses (cars, and occasionally oversized products on trucks).

Chris Campbell

[William]

Thanks, Chris. I was nine when I had my one and only trip on the Badger and the Badger was 9 years old then. I can still remember watching the people, smelling the water, and looking out waiting to see Manitowoc.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

I was on it one time as well , going to Wi to visit my aunt living in Appleton ... that was back in the mid sixties ...