Car Ferry - Pere Marquette City of Midland 41 - (1941-1983)


Railroad: Pere Marquette railroad

Built/Acquired: 1941 - Built by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, WI

Crossing: Lake Michigan

End of Service: 1983

Disposition: In 1997, now a barge Pere Marquette 41

Size: 406' long, 58.2' wide. 34 freight car capacity. 75 staterooms.

Type: 72 staterooms, 50 automobiles and 34 railroad freight cars on four tracks.

Ref: [COFTD]


Cost was $1.75 million in 1940. One of the last coal-burning car ferries on Lake Michigan. Powered by two Skinner Unaflow steam engines and capable of up to 20 mmph (17.4 knotts) with a cruising speed of 17.6 mph.

The ship contained many amenities for automobile and passenger traffic that crossed Lake Michigan in summer months. Nickname was "Queen of the Lakes".

In 2020, purchased by Interlake Holdings and used to carry bulk caergo.

Bibliography

The following sources are utilized in this website. [SOURCE-YEAR-MMDD-PG]:

  • [AAB| = All Aboard!, by Willis Dunbar, Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids ©1969.
  • [AAN] = Alpena Argus newspaper.
  • [AARQJ] = American Association of Railroads Quiz Jr. pamphlet. © 1956
  • [AATHA] = Ann Arbor Railroad Technical and Historical Association newsletter "The Double A"
  • [AB] = Information provided at Michigan History Conference from Andrew Bailey, Port Huron, MI

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