Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 16, 2009 15:10:59 GMT -8
From QCI Observer paper, online: Ah-ha! That's right... this newfangled ship may be nice, but she will be after all, only an Expedition... never a Queen. ;D
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Post by Mac Write on Apr 16, 2009 17:23:38 GMT -8
My mom just got a new HD 1080[ camcorder last week. It would be perfect for this, can record 3hrs on the built in memory. Now how can it make the voyage up thereā¦
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 16, 2009 17:48:50 GMT -8
Are there any special requests out there? Do you have a camera with a video option? If you do, could you please make a video of the ceremony? For those of us who could not attend, we could live vicariously through you. I will take with me two still cameras, one with the capability of taking videos. I hope to have something to post for everyone on next Monday evening.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 18, 2009 7:44:33 GMT -8
Ferry Farewell on Monday
Wed, 2009-04-15. Local News
The Queen of Prince Rupert will be officially taken out of service on Monday after 43 years of service.
A decommissioning ceremony will be held at the Prince Rupert ferry terminal, featuring a final ringing of the ship's bell.
B-C Ferries is inviting employees, ferry retirees and the general public to the on-board event, which will start at 9:00.
The Queen of Prince Rupert was christened by former North Coast M.L.A. William Murray in 1965 and his wife Gwyneth will be on hand on Monday for its decommissioning.
The ship is being retired as the new Northern Expedition joins the Northern Adventure to serve the north coast and Queen Charlotte Islands.
It actually was Murray's wife that christened the QPR... seems fitting that she should be there to de-christen the ship, too... Ferry Farewell... now there might be a nice book title if you're looking for one.
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Post by Barnacle on Apr 19, 2009 7:50:15 GMT -8
It just clicked with me that the Vacationland had the same goofy basket-mast/one-antenna-for-both-radars set-up that the Evergreen State was outfitted with early in her career. (I say early in her career because if you look hard enough, you can find a few photos of the E/S without it, but they're about as rare as Kalakala photos without the bridge-wing struts.)
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 19, 2009 10:03:17 GMT -8
More QPR memorabilia from the DOT collection... First off is a four page article on the new Queen from the April 1966 edition of Harbour & Shipping. My brother tends to fill in empty spots in his scrap book with other clippings that might not chronologically match the main article. Case in point is the QPR information item above which dates from the early 1980's. Lastly more clippings, one an aerial photo showing Rupert Harbour and the QPR. This comes from a brochure or magazine, possibly Beautiful BC. There is also part of a 1968 Inside Passage schedule. Tomorrow I will be in Rupert for the QPR decommissioning and will post photos & video here.
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Post by Starsteward on Apr 19, 2009 15:59:29 GMT -8
Loads of interior shots from the early days and as of April 1, 2009 will be posted soon..I promise.
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Post by Starsteward on Apr 19, 2009 16:02:48 GMT -8
I'm so glad Wett Coast Kidd will have shots of the decommissioning ceremony I was unable to get due to the re-vamped final sailing schedule for the QPR I have QPR crew sources that are planning on forwarding material from the ceremony as well.
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Post by Starsteward on Apr 19, 2009 16:13:46 GMT -8
The Queen of Prince Rupert's hull and machinery are in very reasonable condition given her 43 years of service. The major problem with doing ANYTHING in terms of alterations/re-makes etc to the QPR can be spelled out in one word: ASBESTOS. Asbestos has been used extensively throughout the ship from top to bottom and in the 'tween decks' so anyone looking to create some sort of 'after-life' for the QPR would be looking at huge costs for asbestos removal/abatement. The asbestos problem, notwithstanding, there are, I agree many possible uses for this ship, although bringing her up to current regulations would be costly. I hear sadly, that it is highly unlikely that this ship will sail in Canadian waters in any capacity as a passenger carrying vessel, more likely to be sold off shore, ie. China, for some sort of 'work vessel'
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 19, 2009 16:20:47 GMT -8
It just clicked with me that the Vacationland had the same goofy basket-mast/one-antenna-for-both-radars set-up that the Evergreen State was outfitted with early in her career. (I say early in her career because if you look hard enough, you can find a few photos of the E/S without it, but they're about as rare as Kalakala photos without the bridge-wing struts.) The Kahloke/Langdale Queen used the same style radar antenna, as well, though I think without the baskets on the mast. I believe it may have been upgraded and changed to a smaller size antenna later in her life.
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 19, 2009 16:41:36 GMT -8
The Queen of Prince Rupert's hull and machinery are in very reasonable condition given her 43 years of service. The major problem with doing ANYTHING in terms of alterations/re-makes etc to the QPR can be spelled out in one word: ASBESTOS. Asbestos has been used extensively throughout the ship from top to bottom and in the 'tween decks' so anyone looking to create some sort of 'after-life' for the QPR would be looking at huge costs for asbestos removal/abatement. The asbestos problem, notwithstanding, there are, I agree many possible uses for this ship, although bringing her up to current regulations would be costly. I hear sadly, that it is highly unlikely that this ship will sail in Canadian waters in any capacity as a passenger carrying vessel, more likely to be sold off shore, ie. China, for some sort of 'work vessel' Cleaning the asbestos should be easy... re-register the ship to some third-world place where asbestos is still healthy (but keep it secretly under our ownership here in BC), then sail the QPR over there... send swarms of children aboard to have fun cleaning the ship... seal it all up again, transfer the registry somewhere else, again and then attract some bids from high rollers looking for a new yacht with classic cruise ship lines. Actually, the best suggestion I heard was from one of the terminal attendants in Skidegate on our last group trip, but, unfortunately, it also would require cleaning the asbestos, as well as all the lead-based paint. The suggestion was to send the QPR in for one final refit (or detox as the case may be), completely strip her, clean all that nastiness out of her, then tow her back up to the Charlottes somewhere north of Masset and give her a fitting send off to become a new artificial reef in the same Islands whose lifeline she served as.
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FNS
Voyager
The Empire Builder train of yesteryear in HO scale
Posts: 4,947
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Post by FNS on Apr 19, 2009 18:37:48 GMT -8
04-19-2009 1900PDT I was looking at BCF's northern "in-service" tracker this evening and have captured the QUEEN OF PRINCE RUPERT making, what appears to be, her final landing at her namesake city.
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Post by Mac Write on Apr 19, 2009 20:50:11 GMT -8
I wonder if she will make a public stop in Vancouver (Doubtful).
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Post by herrbrinkmann on Apr 19, 2009 21:37:30 GMT -8
I got this amazing picture mailed - that trio will never meet again:
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Post by WettCoast on Apr 19, 2009 22:09:09 GMT -8
This is a really cool picture Markus. I am trying to determine if it is 'photo shopped' or what. If real, it had to have been taken tonight, say about four hours ago. The location is the Atlin Cruise Ship Terminal in Prince Rupert Harbour. The weather & lighting looks about right for a few hours ago this evening.
Thank you so much for sharing.
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Post by herrbrinkmann on Apr 19, 2009 22:22:22 GMT -8
That is a real picture, they did this as a tribute I was told.
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Post by Dane on Apr 19, 2009 22:31:25 GMT -8
That's a really great photograph!
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Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
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Post by Mill Bay on Apr 19, 2009 22:51:21 GMT -8
That is a real picture, they did this as a tribute I was told. Phenomenal!! You can almost see the QPR putting on a brave face and trying not to cry.
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Post by Scott on Apr 19, 2009 23:20:24 GMT -8
Great photo! I think we might be seeing that one again in promotional material.
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Post by Kahloke on Apr 20, 2009 7:11:06 GMT -8
Wow - stunning! That's one for the history books.
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Post by Northern Exploration on Apr 20, 2009 7:52:37 GMT -8
Thanks Markus for posting that. Too bad the QPR wasn't a little less rusty. A similar shot of the Coastals would be cool sometime.
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Post by timmyboy on Apr 20, 2009 8:58:37 GMT -8
Great Photo Markus. It really is intriguing to see the incredible size difference. One picture to the next just doesn't show how much larger the ships become.
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Post by Balfour on Apr 20, 2009 9:16:46 GMT -8
I'm Speechless...
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Post by Ferryman on Apr 20, 2009 9:32:11 GMT -8
I love that aerial photo! I'm happy they did that! I have a new desktop background on my laptop now. EDIT: Just found someone on FLickr who's hosting more photos of this from a different angle. www.flickr.com/photos/7628167@N03/
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Post by norex on Apr 20, 2009 9:51:40 GMT -8
This Sail Pass was organized bc BCFS as a special tribute to the QPR. Once the 3 ships were lined up, a series of ship whistle were made as follows:
NOREX: _ _ . _ (letter Q in morse code)
NORAD: . _ _ . (letter P in morse code)
QPR: . _ . (letter R in morse code)
This was followed by the QPR starting on one blast of 15 secondes, NORAD starting 3 secondes later with a 12 second blast and the NOREX 3 seconds later for 9 secondes, thus all 3 vessels sounding for 9 seconds together.
This is front page material...
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