I'm taking the Badger, wish me luck

**gnome** · July-09-10, 06:35 PM

The bride and I are heading to Ludington and the SS Badger, a 1953 vintage rail car ferry, for a quick trip to CheeseLandonia.

I'll report back if we don't sink.

**Jimaz** · July-09-10, 06:40 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Badger

**jcole** · July-09-10, 06:47 PM

Good luck. I don't know how quick it really is though. I think it's 4 hours one way.

**Gannon** · July-09-10, 07:24 PM

I've always wanted to try this, if only to avoid the damn traffic going through Chicagoland on the way to avoiding those pesky slow meandering obstacles they call Wisconsin drivers.

How much do they charge nowadays, Gnome?!

Hope the weather is on your side...

**fryar** · July-09-10, 07:30 PM

Sounds like fun. Report back on what shape she* is in, wouldja? People in my family really like boat rides, it's a thing.

*The Badger, not the bride. :-P

**Whitehouse** · July-09-10, 07:43 PM

Just last week this behemoth entered service, connecting the Netherlands and England. The biggest of it's kind.

Length 240m [[app. 785 ft)
Beam 32m [[app. 105ft.)
Cars: 230
Passengers 1200

It is replacing the previous ship with the same name [[build in 2001). Strangely enough they are both identical in length but the capacity of the new ferry is 30% higher than it's predecessor.

Sometimes I have some work to do in the port of Rotterdam. It's always a treat to see those sea castles coming in and going out to sea. Most impressive are the Emma Maersk container class ships. [[There are eight of them all over the world). These vessels are the largest in the world carrying containers. It is estimated that each vessel can carrry up to 11000 containers! [[depending on configuration and size of the containers.) I have seen Edith, Emma and Estelle.

**Pam** · July-09-10, 08:06 PM

Originally Posted by jcole

Good luck. I don't know how quick it really is though. I think it's 4 hours one way.

If you are in a hurry, there is also this ferry:

http://www.lake-express.com/

**downtown_racine** · July-09-10, 08:21 PM

I'm interested to know the pricing structure for the Badger.
I would love to take the family and the 03 Cobra for a ride across the big pond on an old coal burner, the modern diesel jobbie from Milwaukee to Muskegon is $300 one way for a car, 2 adults and a child. Is that ridiculous ?
And you cant even saty with or go to your car while under way, screw that I love driving too much to get jipped like that.

Welcome to cheese land. Cheese, sausage and beer, does it get any better ?

**1KielsonDrive** · July-09-10, 08:37 PM

Just be careful where you sit. She's a coal burner and the soot will get you. Board as early as possible for the best seats and take very warm clothes no matter how hot the weather. Once you get steaming across the lake it can get quite brisk, especially out on deck, no matter the temps and sun. Also, pay attention to docking procedures and let us know how she approaches the turnaround at the Ludington dock. It's fun to watch.

**douglasm** · July-09-10, 08:48 PM

Here's the Badger's web site....

http://www.ssbadger.com/home.aspx

A couple other ex ferry boats are available for tour. The Milwaukee Clipper in Muskegon, and the City of Milwaukee in Manistee. And speaking of car ferries....

,,,,anyone know the fate of the Ann Arbor car ferry Arthur K. Atkinson? Last I heard she was in DeTour Village.

**Mackenzie68** · July-09-10, 09:53 PM

That's the way I fled Detroit in 1981. They cast off before there was an available gas station so my car crossed on empty. I warned the crew that if they let it idle too long they would have to push it. It made it about five miles up the Wisconsin road and I coasted up to a pump. The boat ride was interesting and uneventful. I came back from that vacation in 2005, driving the southern route but I would have been comfortable on the Badger again.

**DetroitPlanner** · July-11-10, 05:46 AM

Originally Posted by douglasm

,,,,anyone know the fate of the Ann Arbor car ferry Arthur K. Atkinson? Last I heard she was in DeTour Village.

Where would Ann Arbor have needed a car ferry that could compare with the Badger??? Me thinks that if any ever existed they would be simple barges similar to the Harsen's.

**Hermod** · July-11-10, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Where would Ann Arbor have needed a car ferry that could compare with the Badger??? Me thinks that if any ever existed they would be simple barges similar to the Harsen's.

The Ann Arbor Railroad at one time operated as many as five ferry routes from Frankfort crossing Lake Michigan. They ran from:
Frankfort to Manitowoc, WI
Frankfort to Kewaunee, WI
Frankfort to Menominee, MI
Frankfort to Manistique, MI
Frankfort to Escanaba, MI [[discontinued early)

The Pere Marquette [[C&O) operated four routes:
Ludington to Milwaukee, WI
Ludington to Manitowoc, WI
Ludington to Kewaunee, WI
Muskegeon to Milwaukee, WI [[discontinued early)

The Grant Trunk Western originally operated from Grand Haven to Milwaukee, WI
and later changed their Michigan port to Muskegeon.

Try George W. Hilton, "The Great lakes Car Ferries". Howell-North Books, 1962. The book also has quite a bit of coverage of the barge car ferries at Mackinac, Port Huron, and Detroit.

**DetroitPlanner** · July-11-10, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

The Ann Arbor Railroad at one time operated as many as five ferry routes from Frankfort crossing Lake Michigan.

Thanks! That makes sense... I pictured someone using a 400' steam boat to get cars across the Huron River!

**douglasm** · July-11-10, 07:56 AM

Sorry, I should have made that clearer. The Ann Arbor Railroad. For years after the AA service ended there was still a sign [[badly weathered the last time I saw it in 1995) by the highway between Clare and Farwell promoting the service.

As to the Arthur K. Atkinson, it was last reported in DeTour Village in 2004. If it's still there, and anyone has a picture, I'd like to see it.

**Hermod** · July-11-10, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by douglasm

Sorry, I should have made that clearer. The Ann Arbor Railroad. For years after the AA service ended there was still a sign [[badly weathered the last time I saw it in 1995) by the highway between Clare and Farwell promoting the service.

As to the Arthur K. Atkinson, it was last reported in DeTour Village in 2004. If it's still there, and anyone has a picture, I'd like to see it.

The Ann Arbor Railroad [[originally the Toledo & Ann Arbor) was a railroad from Toledo through Ann Arbor to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. The Ann Arbor also owned the Manistique and Lake Superior short line which connected the ferry port at Manistique to the Soo Line in the UP. The AA was never a very profitable railroad and it was only the ferry connection "bridge traffic" which allowed it to survive.

**econ expat** · July-11-10, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

The Ann Arbor Railroad [[originally the Toledo & Ann Arbor) was a railroad from Toledo through Ann Arbor to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. The Ann Arbor also owned the Manistique and Lake Superior short line which connected the ferry port at Manistique to the Soo Line in the UP. The AA was never a very profitable railroad and it was only the ferry connection "bridge traffic" which allowed it to survive.

The AA Ferry took a big financial hit when the RR was allowed to abandon most of the rail lines. The government subsidies [[per mile...)for the railroad were actually helping to keep the ferry operating from Frankfort/Elberta until the early 80's.

**gnome** · July-11-10, 05:24 PM

Trip went smoothly, even had a stateroom for taking a little snooze. A tad pricey at $200 for two adults and a car, but if you contrast the price of two and half tanks of petrol, the price difference hovers around $75.

So is taking a nap worth $75? This time I'd say 'you betcha'.

**MikeM** · July-11-10, 10:21 PM

I grew up watching the Ann Arbor ferries come and go from Elberta, and traveled on the City of Green Bay, AKA, and Viking to Manitowoc and Kewaunee. My brother-in-law was a watchman on the Viking until it ceased operations.

My wife grew up in the Ludington area and worked hospitality on the Badger for a couple of years. She has great stories of working there, like the time it ran into the Ludington breakwater in the fog. The distress signal was sounded and everyone rushed to their stations to don their gumby suits, not knowing what they had hit. She remembered that the Arthur M. Anderson was in the harbor earlier unloading gravel, and thought that's what they hit - and that the Badger would capsize and be burried in gravel. Then there was the Coast Guard investigation and the drug tests. She and her grilfriend remembered taking brownies to the officers on the bridge in the hours before the collision. Access to the bridge was strictly off-limits under way, but often ignored. They feared that the Coast Guard would find out and blame them for the entire accident: distracting the crew with their brownies. Glad you survived Gnome.

**GPCharles** · July-12-10, 08:22 AM

A trip on the Badger is something everyone should do once. We still have the coffee cup my wife won playing "Badger Bingo."

**Lowell** · July-12-10, 09:04 AM

I took the Badger from Ludington to Milwaukee back in the late 70's. It was wonderful relaxing ride.

Last year I had a business trip to Milwaukee so I decided to take the high speed ferry from Muskegon. It is quite and improvement over the Badger ride. The ferry is essentially a giant double hull catamaran which gives it a top speed of 40-50 MPH with very little pitch and landing you close to downtown Milwaukee in about 90 minutes. So it turns out that Milwaukee is only 4-5 hours away topped off with a relaxing cruise across the lake -- far better than slugging it out around the lake and through fickle Chicago traffic and about the same time as flying. Regarding the latter, Delta has the monopoly on the only direct flight from DTW to MKE and I have paid $1000+ and $700+ the two times I have flown that 250 mile flight! Fortunately I was reimbursed. The ferry is not cheap, $450 for a car and two passengers, but you can cut costs by leaving your car in Muskegon for $3 a day and cabbing to downtown Milwaukee for about $15.

Muskegon Harbor with the old ferry - forgot its name.

Exiting the harbor, you can see one of the hulls on the right.

Sidelight, a submarine ready to torpedo Asian carp?

Milwaukee rising.

**1KielsonDrive** · July-12-10, 12:18 PM

That's the Milwaukee Clipper. She sat beside the Aquarama for many years. The Aquarama was hauled out around 1987 - 88, to be tied up at Port Stanley, Sarnia, Windsor and maybe a few other places before meeting her final fate. The owners were attempting to sell the Aquarama as a core element of riverfront convention/festival/hotel development. The Clipper went to Chicago and docked in the Chicago river on the north side at the Sun-Times Building for many years.

**douglasm** · July-12-10, 01:45 PM

The Milwaukee Clipper is the old Juniata, built in 1904 [[named after the Penna. railroad shops operated by the Anchor Lines owner, the Pennsylvania Railroad) and, I believe, the oldest passenger ship on the lakes. Retro Milwaukee has a nice little article, pictures, and old adverts for the ship here.....
http://www.retrocom.com/retromilw/clipper1.htm
Note that the center stack seen in Lowell's picture is a fake. The actual stack is aft.

**Jimaz** · July-12-10, 02:26 PM

MilwaukeeClipper.com

What is the story behind that submarine?! That thing's enormous!

**EastsideAl** · July-12-10, 02:43 PM

Those who want a closer and cheaper cross-lake boat ride can take the ferry out of nearby Kingsville or Leamington ON across Lake Erie to Sandusky OH, with a stop on Pelee Island. In the last few years they put a larger boat into service on the run, with room for more cars. The one-way fare for a car and 2 adults comes to about $90.