Another postcard showing a rear view of the Ashtabula.

Logo courtesy of X (Cy Mandua), a fellow dog, except of another sort.

Marquette and Bessemer Dock and Navigation Company

The company was jointly owned by the Pere Marquette Railway and the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, mostly to carry coal for Pere Marquette locomotives in Canada.  The three company boats operated between Conneaut, Ohio, Port Stanley, Ontario and Erieau, Ontario.  This service ended in 1932.

The Marquette and Bessemer No.2 (I), which foundered in Lake Erie in 1909 with the loss of her entire crew, is shown in Conneaut Harbor.

Another view of the Marquette and Bessemer No.2 (I) and her captain.  Notice the dynamite going off while trying to free the boat from the ice.  This postcard may have been a tribute after she down in Lake Erie.

A Detroit Publishing Company photogragh of what I believe is the ferry slip at Conneaut.

The Marquette and Bessemer No.2 (II), built to replace her namesake, is shown as the Moses Cleaveland in 1937 while she was used as a showboat at the Cleveland Great Lakes Exposition.

Ontario Car Ferry Company

Jointly owned by the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburg Railway (B&O) and the Grand Trunk Railway (CNR), the company operated two boats between Rochester, New York and Cobourg, Ontario.  Both boats were named......Ontario.

A view of the Ontario No. 1 at her berth.

Logo courtesy of X

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company

This postcard scan is of a Chesapeake and Ohio Railway carfloat used between Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia.

Not a carferry, but here is a picture of the Chesapeake and Ohio Lines ferry boat Virginia. Here is another view of the Virginia.

Prince Edward Island Ferries

Not too up on my Canadian geography (or history), but these ferries operated across the Northumberland Strait between Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick and Point Borden, Prince Edward Island.  They were operated by Canadian National, and carried railroad cars, automobiles, and passengers.  Railroad service ceased in 1989, but the ships continued to provide transportation across the strait until the construction of the Confederation Bridge.

The S.S. Prince Edward Island, built in 1914, was the first train ferry in the Northumberland Strait service.

The S.S. Charlottetown at Cape Tormentine in this scan.

These ferries operated year-round.   Here is the M.V. Abegweit breaking ice in the Northumberland Strait.  At the top of this page is another view of the Abegweit.

Now berthed in Chicago, the Abegweit is owned by the Columbia Yacht Club and used as the clubhouse.

This is a view of the new Abegweit, which was built in 1982 to accomodate rail cars, but was never used for that purpose.   It was sold in 1997, probably due to the opening of the Confederation Bridge, and if anyone knows the disposition, please email me and let me know.

The John Hamilton Gray took the last railcars off Prince Edward Island on December 28, 1989.   Marine Atlantic photo

Here is a link to a page devoted to the "Abby" and another to all the Marine Atlantic (former CN) ferries. 

Southern Pacific Railway Ferries and Barges

I can't tell you much about the SP Ferries except that they were in operation on the Mississippi River near New Orleans and in San Francisco Bay.

The caption for this Detroit Publishing Company photogragh identifies the Carrier as operating in New Orleans.

Postcard scan of the Mastodon, a barge, crossing the Mississippi River at Avondale.   Another barge on the same route was the El Grande.  

One of my favorite postcards is this Detroit Publishing Company card of an on-deck view of the Solano.  The Solano operated between Benicia and Port Costa, California.  This card appears to have been produced before the Central Pacific Railroad became part of the Southern Pacific.

A view of the Contra Costa, the other SP steamer which operated on the same route as the Solano.

Soviet Union/Russian Car Ferries

A couple of photos of the car ferries that operate from Sakhalin Island off the coast of Siberia.  These photos were taken by Valentin Shinkariov and come from Dmitry Zinoviev's Sakhalin Railroad Page.

This railroad car ferry operates between Baku and Krasnovodsk in Azerbaijan.   Does that explain everything?

A link to a page that lists other railroad ferries that operate in the ex-USSR.

Flag Gif is from one of the German Communist Party organizations. (I think)

Links to Other RR Nautical Sites

New York Regional Rail operates the New York Cross Harbor Railroad Terminal Corporation, the last remaining carfloat operation in the northeast USA.

Seattle & North Coast Railroad Historical and Technical Society has many photos in their Marine Operations and Port Townsend photo galleries.

Suprise, suprise, this page is still but will be updated regularly.  Underconstruction gif file, courtesy of Joe at National Signal Corporation, all rights reserved.

Back to Trackdog's Michigan Railroad Carferry Page

By golly, of you have taken the time to look at this page since 05/01/98.  This page was last updated on 12/30/99.