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Post by northwesterner on Apr 4, 2024 14:29:51 GMT -8
I wonder if Hawaiian Airaways: Horizon Airway or Alaska SkyWest will get AirBus A220 for inter island service like QantasLink replacing the Boeing 717. The A220-300 would be a great plane to do the inter-island flights, but I don't see it happening, especially now with Alaska Airlines taking over the helm. Despite Boeing's maddening problems, Alaska is still very much tied to them. Alaska stays close to Boeing because Boeing has made absolute sweetheart deals (read: below cost) to place 737MAX planes at Alaska and keep them committed to an all Boeing narrowbody fleet.
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Post by northwesterner on Mar 25, 2024 20:54:06 GMT -8
It isn't beeping. How will I keep myself from getting injured by this fast moving door. I really enjoy the Salish class for what they are but those explicitive doors are the worst. Hopefully these new ones increase reliability from the 50% average that seemed to be the case on all four Salish boats. Canada's pervasive culture of safetyism indicates that you will be unable to keep yourself from being injured by that door.
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Post by northwesterner on Feb 26, 2024 22:58:16 GMT -8
These photos were taken using a disc camera, the only camera I had in my pocket that day. I was experimenting with that camera then. Thus, the grainy look. I took these just after sunset. The 1984-installed directional nav lights can be seen in the middle photo. More about the disc camera can be read at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_filmI don't know what it is about it but I just love the look of the Steel E's old houses with this paint scheme I had not seen these posted previously, but FNS these are the only photos I've seen of the Steel Electrics with the old cabins and the WSDOT "T" logo on the stacks.
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Post by northwesterner on Feb 25, 2024 23:00:39 GMT -8
I am in agreement. BC Ferries needs to do what ever they can to accommodate traffic on remaining sailings when a vessel goes down which is the current situation on Route 1. If that means lengthy delays I feel that that is quite alright under the circumstances. The company has been prioritizing punctuality over service and in some situations that is wrong. I have also argued that keeping functional main car deck ramps could really assist during difficult circumstances.
Another thing they could be doing is ensuring that the decks are stacked tightly. They did a much better job of that years ago. Before the platform decks were removed on the Spirits, they had been out of service for many, many years, right?
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Post by northwesterner on Feb 23, 2024 18:01:20 GMT -8
Excellent reporting by the occasionally maligned (as too tough on WSF) Susannah Frame. Nearly a year ago, after the first report was released, I made some comments, here: ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/204491Among the things I noted is a total lack of discipline on the bridge - passing control from one bridge to the other leaving Vashon without a mate present, and on approach to Fauntleroy the quartermaster was doing everything but actually looking out the windows and monitoring the approach. In the linked article, you'll note that WSF has picked up on these issues and claim they have instituted " a new Bridge Resource Management policy that standardize pilot house operating standards fleet-wide." However, it is only in Frame's report today that we hear this Captain's work record really slid downhill the last two years of his career. WSF, facing an employee shortage, particularly of certified deck officers, seemed slow to respond to his performance issues in a meaningful way. She describes an incident where he was standing on the Southworth dock while his ship was sailing, with only a chief mate on board. He later falsified the ship's log to indicate that he was on board. Excuse me. What? "An internal review found Cole violated six codes of conduct including “abandoning his worksite,” “neglecting his duties,” and “falsification of documents.” ... The records disclosed to KING do not show any management action after the January 2020 incident: no reprimands, no suspensions, no disciplinary measures."(Frame uploaded the report, here: www.documentcloud.org/documents/24437303-10820-fact-finding-report)This is insane to me and speaks to deep cultural and management issues at WSF (I mean, we knew that already...) that need to be urgently addressed.
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Post by northwesterner on Feb 12, 2024 21:23:51 GMT -8
When I traveled on her this past weekend, Francois Lake was completely frozen over, with the exception of a trail that she had created to travel back and forth. After evaluating the ice thickness, I determined it to be safe to walk out on to the lake a short distance and snap some unique photographs. I'm not aware of another place one could step out on to ice to photograph a ferry from a unique angle. Wait ... you're an expert evaluator of ice thickness, now?
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 14, 2024 23:59:38 GMT -8
Not linked elsewhere in this thread is this very 90s promotional video for the Pacificat Project:
This video may have accompanied the display on the Pacificat Project at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in Victoria, in the late 1990s.
While we know the project was ultimately a failure, and obviously this was meant to be an optimistic project for the gov't to improve the economy and infrastructure, what strikes me watching this is just the tone of "this is what's possible and we're going to do it."
British Columbia can't build new ferries, at all now. The next major vessel replacement project has been massively delayed. The Coastals are all limping along, without even a straight answer from BC Ferries regarding what is wrong and what it will take to fix it.
WSF is at an all time low, also can't build boats, has gone from meddling political leadership 15 years ago to neglectful leadership now.
I've spent 7 years in Los Angeles where there is zero sense our government can deliver on anything new.
And then I see this video... Just think about it. When was the last time you saw something like this, putting such an optimistic spin on a big infrastructure project?
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 14, 2024 23:46:00 GMT -8
I have a feeling that if these were never built, we would’ve had 4 Spirit Class vessels and the other 3 Century Class that were slated to be built. Also probably would’ve had overpasses at all interchanges on the Nanaimo Parkway as well but I digress lol It's also important to note that the full post-fast ferry vessel allocation was never made entirely clear. Since the Fast Ferries did not materialize as planned, i.e. slower and couldn't carry as much weight as initially planned, BCF was forced to keep a C Class running on Route 2. I suspect we would have seen only 2 V Class get retired if the Fast Cats stayed online. You make an important point here. I recall that the operating plan was for all 3 cats to provide the same amount of auto-capacity on Rt 2 by providing more frequent, faster trips. Trucks and overheights were really meant to go to Rt 30, which I believe at the time had some capacity to spare. By the time the project was underway, it was known the C-Class were unsuitable for operation on Rt 1 (and we've had some recent discussion on here about a C-Class appearing here and there on Rt 1 through the late 80s, but never since). If the PacificCats had worked out, there would have been 2 spare C-Class, at least, in the summers, with no home.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 14, 2024 22:29:50 GMT -8
Years ago, they probably should have run then up island to Comox if they had some way of unloading the upper car deck. By now there should be a way of dealing with the wake or swell they caused. My guess would be that they are headed to the scrapper's torch. The new Hullo ships do cause some of their own. Somewhere in this thread, it was mentioned what I remember from listening to Vessel Traffic Control when they were operating. While there was concern about coastal erosion from the wake they put out, the real problem was the abundance of log tows in the Georgia Strait requesting the Pacificats slow for "minimal wash". They were constantly slowing and then reaccelerating out in the middle of the Strait, which was a bigger problem for their on time performance than reduced speeds near shore at the ends of the trips.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 11, 2024 23:37:59 GMT -8
Agreed, Campbell could’ve made a political statement by making them function, would’ve destroyed public perception of the NDP even more. But I digress. It is a shame that scrap is most likely the outcome for these three. They’re so unique, I’ve yet to see any other catamaran fast ferry that has dual car decks that are completely RO/RO via dual linkspan. Check out the menu prices in the shot of the cafeteria! Now thems my affordable prices! A Nanaimo Bar for $1.55CAD in 2000 seems very very cheap.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 11, 2024 19:23:10 GMT -8
BC Ferries' retired vessel Queen of Tsawwassen probably on Route 9 somewhere in BC's Southern Gulf Islands (I believe). circa 1990 [InFocus photo, Capt Bob Gentles collection]
From our earlier discussion on Southern Gulf Islands service in the late 80s / early 90s, could have also been on Route 5.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 7, 2024 23:02:04 GMT -8
I view the whole thing as acknowledging that the recent reality for the system is going to be *the* reality for the system going forward. Pre-COVID, running an Issaquah on Seattle/Bainbridge would've been unthinkable. Yet, since September when Wenatchee went into the shipyard, we've seen a lot of Issaquah and Kitsap on that route. WSF has managed to keep two Jumbo Mark IIs there for about 1 of 4 months, and that one month was only after they used Salish at Seattle/Bainbridge for a few days and decided it really didn't work there. With Walla Walla looking like it has taken up permanent residence at Bremerton, they're clearly going to be juggling two Mark IIs plus Spokane between Edmonds/Kingston and Seattle/Bainbridge for the next couple years at least, and sometimes only two big boats, which means something has to give.
More broadly, I think WSF is also saying that vessel assignments are going to look weird throughout the system, due to limitations on what's available and what crew they have to do moves. We saw that in the fall, with Salish being used at Edmonds/Kingston for extended periods and at Mukilteo/Clinton for a week, and I think Issaquah ended up running at FVS, Mukilteo/Clinton, Seattle/Bremerton, Anacortes, Seattle/Bainbridge, and Edmonds/Kingston, which is crazy for a 3-month period.
I'm surprised Tokitae has mostly stayed at Mukilteo/Clinton. She would be much better suited than an Issaquah at Edmonds/Kingston or Winslow, not just because of her slightly larger auto capacity but also because of her much larger passenger cabin. I rode Kitsap from Winslow to Seattle a week ago on Sunday, a couple of hours before a Seahawks game. The passenger cabin just can't handle that many walk-ons and covered exterior seating was full on a cold winter day because there was nowhere else to go. Flashbacks to when Chelan was often assigned to do the Anacortes-Friday Harbor non-stop trips in the summer many years ago and some very crowded trips leaving Friday Harbor at 5PM on a Sunday with nowhere to go.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 7, 2024 22:57:35 GMT -8
Amtrak undertakes the same process at Vancouver Pacific Central, followed by a "customs" check at the actual border. This is different than US Customs Pre-Clearance, which if implemented at either of these locations, would eliminate the stop for customs in Anacortes/Friday Harbor, and the US/Canada Border on Amtrak, respectively. That would mirror what US Customs does at Canadian airports for transborder flights. You clear customs at the departure airport, then when you land in the US, they can park at any gate, just like a domestic flight. I think that's also the case in Dublin, Ireland. US Customs set up shop there, too. Can confirm it's the case in Dublin - did it last year.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 7, 2024 22:56:27 GMT -8
You are of course correct, Neil. Is this one of the bits of fallout from the quasi-privatization of BC Ferries put in place by the BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell & their current leader Kevin Falcon? BC Ferries was to manage all things 'in house' including procurement & financing of new vessels. BC Ferries is & will continue to be our 'bridge' across Georgia Strait. There will never be a fixed bridge anytime in the foreseeable future. As it is now, that bridge needs major work. Kevin Falcon, as I recall, was an abysmal Minister of Transportation for the province. I haven't heard that name in years and didn't realize he was back on the scene.
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Post by northwesterner on Jan 3, 2024 23:16:27 GMT -8
I am kinda shocked that Washington State Ferries doesn’t to significantly to changes to the vessels like what BC Ferries does. Yakima and Kaleetan received new pilothouse windows that slanted forward. As did Tillikum and Klahowya.
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 20, 2023 18:46:20 GMT -8
I was looking for a scanned timetable from that era on here but I couldn't find one. It was a pretty limited schedule of service, peak days only, I believe. When Bowen Queen began operating route 9a that effectively replaced the slot for the #3 boat on route 5, right? Route five had a lot of minor vessels subbing in from one time to another, in a variety of limited roles. The Vesuvius Queen did runs between Swartz, Fulford and Otter Bay, and in the mid '80s, the slowpoke Quinitsa joined in. I can't imagine that the Nicola ever was more than an emergency option. Still... from a tiresome old guy/ferry fan's perspective, weren't those times more interesting? Now you've got nothing more than the efficient ' Cumberland/Salish class combo, delivering needed capacity. Phooey, and double phooey. As WettCoast has noted, we don't have comprehensive route assignments for these minor vessels, especially from about 1980 through the mid 1990s. However, these histories have been brain dumped all over the forum. In this post in the Vesuvius Queen thread, long time member chinook2 notes that Nicola was the regular second vessel on Rte 5 in the winter. While the photo is rare, it seems the assignment was regular for a few years. ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/93657
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 19, 2023 19:06:13 GMT -8
I was thinking about that after I asked, ive only seen a couple pictures of her with a coat of arms, its weird. It appears the coat of arms survived the lifting - it was moved to below the wheelhouse at that time. ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/140686It is unclear to me when it disappeared? In this mrdot photo from Summer 2000, she was in Expo livery but had lost the coat of arms. flic.kr/p/2p13bZE
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 19, 2023 16:35:53 GMT -8
Had to be. Joined BCF fleet in 1985 from Ministry of Highways. Made it into the Expo livery, with Expo86 logo. We know her career at BCF was very very short. What operated Comox in 1986? flic.kr/p/e8KHHZI think that may be the only photo I have seen in the expo livery, maybe second? There was a years long debate on here whether that had happened or not! Here's the relative end of that debate, which may have actually preceded the forum by a bit and started in *ahem* Yahoo! Groups: ferriesbc.proboards.com/thread/8335/cps-princess-vancouver-photos-discussion?page=2 [this thread has one Expo photo, but only a small part of the vessel - and reference to a second photo that seems to be lost to the winds of time]. There is reference in that thread to a now long gone photo of her in Expo livery having her pointy bow reinstalled. I have seen that photo, but it only gives a small glimpse of the livery. This one is the only decent shot I've seen. In that thread there is also this fleet listing dated June 1986 from Ferryman with Princess of Vancouver still rostered (and with a 130 car capacity). (Here: ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/70587)If Queen of Sidney was at Comox in 1986, was she just out of service? Even during the Expo summer? In this post from WettCoast ( ferriesbc.proboards.com/post/95747) we see reference to a "new lounge area" as part of the bow removal work. This most certainly was converting the main passenger level car spaces back into a passenger space. The linked photo in Expo livery make it look like this is active passenger lounge space and note that the additional lounge present in the last days of her CP service on the sun deck has been removed.
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 18, 2023 19:29:52 GMT -8
Just some notes from summer 1985... Comox: 130 cars... Princess of Vancouver? Had to be. Joined BCF fleet in 1985 from Ministry of Highways. Made it into the Expo livery, with Expo86 logo. We know her career at BCF was very very short. What operated Comox in 1986? flic.kr/p/e8KHHZ
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 17, 2023 1:04:17 GMT -8
The link above shows the unexpected return, many years ago now. An amazing thing about this forum and its continued existence (persistence?) is occasionally taking a trip down memory lane and looking at the date and H*ly Cr*p that was more than 15 years ago!
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 15, 2023 12:03:38 GMT -8
Tenaka, c1986 - location & photographer unknown (Capt Bob Gentles collection)
Originally, the Comox Queen; my guess on location Heriot Bay, Quadra Island
So... the M.O.H. fleet was absorbed into BC Ferries in 1985, right? Seems pretty quick to get these all repainted into the BCF livery.
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 14, 2023 14:21:29 GMT -8
Tachek is in my notes from '91-'99 as the #3 boat on Route 5, with Nicola as the spare to Tachek for that entire decade more or less. That is from BC Ferries' annual reports of the time. That's got to be a pretty rare assignment - cool photo catch. I was looking for a scanned timetable from that era on here but I couldn't find one. It was a pretty limited schedule of service, peak days only, I believe. When Bowen Queen began operating route 9a that effectively replaced the slot for the #3 boat on route 5, right?
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 10, 2023 23:02:13 GMT -8
BC Ferries' Nicola - circa 1990 location & photographer unknown (Capt Bob Gentles collection) The location looks like Swartz Bay. I have to wonder what use a vessel this small would be on any route out of Swartz Bay. Any help in pinning down the location & approximate date would be appreciated ...
I had thought, in some of the old schedule discussions, that we'd noticed one of the small single ended MOH vessels assigned to the Gulf Islands in the summer on a very limited, overflow type schedule.
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Post by northwesterner on Nov 10, 2023 21:05:18 GMT -8
While surfing the internet recently I stumbled upon something most people (including myself) on this forum have likely never seen before, a rare picture of the Queen of the Islands in expo livery. I recall the discussion many years ago on this forum whether on not the QotI was ever painted in expo colours, this confirms it! Thanks "Ferry Freak Shane." That is great to see. I love a solved mystery. 1) She looks good in that livery. 2) Good to see Shane, a long time forum member pop-in every now and then.
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Post by northwesterner on Oct 13, 2023 12:13:10 GMT -8
The most bothersome part of this report to me is not the sensational "he fell asleep" headline, but the total lack of compliance for bridge procedures while docking. This was also noted in the internal WSF report released a few months ago.
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