O.T SS Badger gets an extexsion.

buzz_morris · **Joined:** Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:32 pm **Posts:** 344

The last coal fired steam ship on the great lakes, SS Badger, received a two-year extension for dumping coal ash into Lake Michigan. Looks like they will convert to putting the ash in a landfill.

http://www.newser.com/article/da56i8j83 ... h-epa.html

http://www.ssbadger.com/news-media/epa-doj.html

whodom · **Posted:** Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:27 am

Woohoo! Good for them. It's nice to know coal-fired mobile steam still does useful work in the U.S.

Coincidentally, I was telling a guy at work about the Badger a few weeks ago; I turned on NPR on the way home that day and low and behold they did a story on it.

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

Benjamin J True · **Joined:** Sat Apr 23, 2011 7:53 am **Posts:** 79

Quote:

What are we, chopped liver?

Some people consider it a delicacy.....

(both the liver and the steam locomotive)

Aarne H. Frobom · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2013 2:57 pm

The media always refer to the Badger as the last coal-burning passenger steamer on the lakes, but I wonder if it is not the last coal-burning, reciprocating passenger steamship in THE WORLD? Certainly it (and the Spartan) were the last built. Does anyone know of any other coal-burning liners or ferries still in commercial (not museum) service in some remote place? I believe this makes the Badger significant at the world-heritage level.

When I rode it last fall, there was a TV crew aboard, but I couldn't manage to get interviewed. I presume they were reporting on the ash issue. I even had a sound bite ready, which anyone else is free to use: "This ship is the last of its kind in the world. The last one! For the EPA to kill this ship is like finding the last brontosaurus in your back yard and shooting it because it's eating the grass." At first I was gonna say ". . . because it poops on the grass" but I figured that was less likely to get broadcast.

Aarne Frobom
Seafoam, Michigan

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Kelly -

The wife and I took a detour on our trip to Ontario last summer so that we could embark on the Segwun. A good dinner and an enjoyable sailing, and you can talk to the Captain "up close and personal" while the boat is in operation! And then there's the smell of coal smoke and a throaty whistle. A great experience.

Les

tomgears · **Posted:** Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:05 pm

Whilst you folks were up in Canada did you happen upon Pumper?

http://www.pumper.ca/

It's been a long while since we've heard anything about her.

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

tomgears wrote:

Whilst you folks were up in Canada did you happen upon Pumper?

http://www.pumper.ca/

It's been a long while since we've heard anything about her.

Tom -

Niagara on the Lake also would have required a "detour", in the opposite direction of the Segwun, so we decided to skip that town. The PUMPER looks interesting, but we knew nothing about her.

Les

S. Weaver · **Posted:** Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:11 pm

Aarne H. Frobom wrote:

The media always refer to the Badger as the last coal-burning passenger steamer on the lakes, but I wonder if it is not the last coal-burning, reciprocating passenger steamship in THE WORLD? Certainly it (and the Spartan) were the last built. Does anyone know of any other coal-burning liners or ferries still in commercial (not museum) service in some remote place? I believe this makes the Badger significant at the world-heritage level.

When I rode it last fall, there was a TV crew aboard, but I couldn't manage to get interviewed. I presume they were reporting on the ash issue. I even had a sound bite ready, which anyone else is free to use: "This ship is the last of its kind in the world. The last one! For the EPA to kill this ship is like finding the last brontosaurus in your back yard and shooting it because it's eating the grass." At first I was gonna say ". . . because it poops on the grass" but I figured that was less likely to get broadcast.

Good for you, Aarne! Sweden has several vessels that run their extensive archipelagos. I don't have a link right off the top of my head, but I recall quite a few on youtube.

Reading 900 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:27 pm **Posts:** 118

There is mention of the SS Pumper in this link, along with a photo of her taken in Oct. 2012. She has apparently been out of service for quite awhile, but she's still floating and in decent shape.
http://lcmm.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/ca ... og-part-5/

Alan

Mark Trebing · **Posted:** Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:27 pm

The S.S. Sabino at Mystic Seaport is coal fired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabino_%28steamer%29

With the engine in a well in the lower deck, you can lean on the rail and watch everything. Questions were welcomed.

If the last trip of the day sells enough tickets, they go further down river and the Northeast Corridor bridge is opened for Sabino to pass through. Is there any other place where a railroad bridge is opened for a coal-fired steamer?

I also treasure the memory of the rainbow that formed over the cylinders from steam that leaked from the rod bearings. (Leakage intentional to cool the bearings.)

When we arrived at Mystic Seaport I wasn't expecting coal fired anything. When I smelled the coal smoke, I excused myself from the group looking at displays near the entrance. My wife says I simply disappeared, but she suggested to the group that they "look for him over by that column of smoke." Smart woman.

-Mark

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:02 pm

Update from http://bridgehunter.com/story/1191/ :

Quote:

According to the Detroit Free Press, it appears the car ferry SS Badger will continue to ply Lake Michigan between Manitowoc and Ludington. The Badger is the last operational car ferry of the once enormous fleet of railroad ferries, and the last coal-fired cargo vessel on the lakes.

And therein lies her problem. The SS Badger has been on the endangered species list since 2008, when the Environmental Protection Agency leveled the ship into its crosshairs. Coal-fired vessels disposed of coal ash by mixing it with water and pouring it overboard. The Badger is no different, and has been disposing of coal ash into the lake since it was built in 1953. The EPA claims the coal ash is a pollutant and ordered the dumping stopped in 2008. The operators were given until 2012 to stop dumping or cease operations. The legal battle has continued ever since.

On October 10, 2013, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff approved a revised deal between the EPA and Lake Michigan Carferry, parent company of the S.S. Badger.

The agreement allows the Badger to continue operations while modifications are made to the ship. The deal calls for a reduction in the amount of ash discharged during the 2014 sailing season and by the start of the 2015 season, the Badger will have to store coal ash on board for later disposal on shore.

With this ruling, it appears the Queen of the Great Lakes Car Ferries (and the last of her breed still sailing) will continue to be an operational historical landmark.

Finderskeepers · **Posted:** Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:20 pm

I rode this historic coal powered steamship
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSS_Earnslaw