Delta Queen on Good Morning America

[herrmill]

ABC's Good Morning America had a nice profile of Delta Queen on Friday's show. It shows some nice views of the boat & gets to the heart of the matter why she's being retired after this last voyage.

Delta Queen (http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6110442)

Chuck

[Prins Willem]

You get Good Morning America in China?

[Prins Willem]

You get Good Morning America in China?

[Predreadnut]

Probably watches it online. That was a nice peice, but sad. I really gives you an idea of how nice a river cruise on her would be. How can they justify upholding the law now, when they have given her a pass for so long??

[herrmill]

You get Good Morning America in China?

Yes, we have TV here in the Middle Kingdom. Actually, I don't watch TV but saw it online & thought it worth passing on.

[Prins Willem]

How the heck did I double post? Early morning I guess. Herrmill thanks for passing it on, it was interesting, and a bit sad.

[herrmill]

There was piece last Friday about Delta Queen on NPR's All Things Considered which includes an interview with one of her crew who served 40 years aboard her. His words, along with the calliope music, are worth listening to.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96403113

Lets hope a new Congress overrides passes another exemption early next year.

[jeepers1940]

The Delta Queen was in Greenville, MS on Sunday while making a farewell tour on the Mississippi River to ports that it has visited since 1948. It is proceeding south to visit the river ports of Vicksburg and Natchez, MS and then Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA. The Mississippi Queen is accompanying it as the crews and passengers thank the cities that have played host to them for many years.
This farewell tour began on October 21st in Cincinnati and will conclude Friday in New Orleans. It will apparently be the end of a decades-long era of down-river and up-river tours by the Delta Queen. The AP news item did not speculate upon the future of the Delta Queen after the New Orleans celebration.
On a personal note, it was always a real occasion to stand on the bank of the river at 6:00 pm at Natchez, as the Queen cast off lines and stood out in the current, heading up- or turning and heading down-river toward Baton Rouge. People would be lined up on the rails waving goodbye, the sternwheel would be churning the muddy water, the calliope on the aft part of the upper deck would be playing merrily and most of the land-bound folks watching would be wishing they were on board her. You felt that you were viewing a part of Americana that seemed to be right out of the pages of Mark Twain's books, and a part of you had the feeling that the scene might not be around forever.
Even on days when you were at home outside when she left, if the wind was right, you could hear her steam whistle at 6 signaling her immediate departure, followed by her calliope music as she pulled out into the river current.
I'm missing her already.

[herrmill]

Reading that last post sure brought back some great memories when I was a kid when we'd hear that unmistakable whistle & calliope playing a few miles south of town on her way up the Ohio.

In the late '60s when she sailed the Green Line's flag, she would always stop at my hometown for the Viking Glass tour. We'd ride our spider bikes as fast as we could down to the ferry landing where she'd tie up to get in line for the free self-guided tours where we'd try to talk our way past the engineers guarding the boiler room & pester the captain on the Texas Deck with all sort of questions. No fears of liability or TSA rules to be concerned about in those days. ;)

They even sold day tickets for those who wanted to experience the magic of steamboatin' with travel up to Wheeling or down to Marietta from our ferry landing. Her annual visits were always something that were eagerly anticipated by many in our small town, but especially so for this somewhat older kid who thought he was Huck Finn at the time. :D

Here's some of Delta Queen's calliope music to fully understand why she'll be missed. You'll want to watch the entire series, especially the last one since the final tune is rather appropriate for today's event.

Chuck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFgqDSBba1g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZveIu-0MbxQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUrYiWUdDcU

[Norway2112]

As a follower of this beloved old boat I'll never get tired of hearing that Calliope. After nearly 20 years of following her closely I said my goodbye (for now) to her October 24 in Louisville. I spent the entire day aboard with all my steamboatin friends. The mood was kept high spirited because it was one of those occasions to hang out with all your friends that you rarely see, but underneath you could tell she was nearing the end. The crew despite knowing they had no jobs by the end of the week, were very hospitable as always. She's on her way down to New Orleans, LA (NOLA) right now empty, only crew still aboard are engineering, navigation and deck. Sadly, word from the boat last night is they general crew still doesn't know where she's headed when she gets to NOLA or the actual layup plans. Rumors have been flying about Mobile, AL, only thing thats assumed for sure is she'll be laid up with the American Queen at least until April or when another buyer takes her to good hands. She's running with the AQ who is carrying passengers under charter.

Most people have seemed to forget about her middle sister, the Mississippi Queen, who stands little to no chance of ever sailing again. She lies accumulating water, mold and excessive mooring fees at a shipyard in NOLA completely gutted. Her calliope, the largest in the world at 44 whistles, is listed for sale at $75,000 and rumor is she's being considered to be cut down into a river barge, thats how bad of shape the interior is in now. Recent reports say there isn't even toilets left in place. She's so empty she sits low in the stern and listing to one side, every now and then the fire dept has come to pump water out of her as the stern slowly dips dangerously low. While not as pretty as the Delta Queen, the MQ had character and soul and huge following of her own. Also little known fact she's the only true steamboat left...even the Belle of Louisville (1914) and DQ (1926) use diesel generators for electricity and the MQ used only steam for all of her systems, ironic huh? The river world is slowly accepting we may have lost the MQ, so even though the DQ's sailing future is in jeopardy (things are looking up though) we need to be thankful we still have her in existence and its likely we will for some time to come.

Here's a clip of the Delta Queen departing Louisville, KY Oct 24, playing My Old Kentucky Home, a sound I have always enjoyed and the thought this could be the last time I hear it is a real crime against preservation. Enjoy the clip and photos I took of her night time departure. Also below is a video of the MQ's unique callope.

Phillip

Delta Queen departing Louisville, KY Oct 24, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv49sKvBC04

Mississippi Queen calliope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtu0Z3gnQks

Belle of Louisville whistle - iron three chime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18dsewbdybE

DQ's triple chamber Lukenheimer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ37487ucOc

[Kmot]

I'm really glad I was able to experience at least one of the steamboats, before they are all gone!

[herrmill]

As Phillip stated, she's not gone yet so do what you can to lobby your congressmen & enlist others to do the same. Ohio's congressional delegation is trying get her exemption reinstated but they need our support to get this done. A few letters to the appropriate folks won't hurt.

Chuck