70 years under steam power

[TC Chris]

I just saw that they are having a 70th birthday celebration for the carferry Badger, the last coal-fired steamer in service.

https://mynorth.com/2023/05/explore-lud ... cf7812e914

Of course, I fell down a rabbit hole looking into her Skinner Unaflow engines, a famous line of highly-efficient reciprocating steam engines. (Note: the engine type is "uniflow;" Skinner's brand name was "Unaflow.") Kinda like Dynaflow, no? Same age....

Read about Unaflow:
http://www.carferries.com/skinner/

Badger was designed primarily to carry rail cars across Lake Michigan. Now they've modified the car deck to add a second level and they carry automobiles and their passengers. I always encourage travelers headed from or to the west to choose the carferry option--you miss the Chicago urban traffic nightmare and you get to cross our inland sea on a real steamboat. Out in the middle, you can't see either shore. That's how big the Great Lakes are.

Family legend has it that my father proposed to my mother on one of the carferries out in Lake Michigan. As a boat guy I like all the Lake vessels but have a special fondness for the carferries and lake freighters.

Chris Campbell