Post by Ferryman on Oct 25, 2007 22:05:32 GMT -8
OK, here's a thread being made for future use by all members as a reference. Here I will try and post good examples of telling the difference between these boats before and after Mid Life Upgrades. I won't bother explaining the Queen of Alberni, seeming she's the blacksheep of the C's. If you still can't tell the difference between the Queen of Alberni from the other C's, re-check the BC Ferries website, or "Ships of BC" book if you have it. Anyways, bear with me on the photos, as it's even harder to find photos of these ships in the expo scheme, now that Johns yahoo photos site is locked down, due to yahoo starting flickr.com.
**If you think you have a better photo(s), by all means, send it to me, and I might just post it in place of a lower quality photo (no offence to the owner of the lower quality photo, I still appreciate the photo) I just want a clear example on here**
We'll start now with the first set of twins, the Queen of Cowichan and Queen of Coquitlam. I haven't been able to figure out the differences between the two when they were in their original pastel blue scheme. But my theory for telling these two apart was with their funnels, when they were painted in the Expo Scheme. The 'Cowichan had a thicker black ring painted on the very top of the funnel, yet the 'Coquitlam had a very thin black line painted.
Queen of Coquitlam:
Queen of Cowichan:
So now you may have developed a theory in your mind, that the Victoria shipyard decided to do some sort of trademark signature, as they've done in the past. Well, maybe, but not in the case of the C-Class. On the Queen of Oak Bay and Surrey, that idea was reversed.
The Queen of Oak Bay (being the one built in Victoria), is now the one with the thinner black stripe on the funnel, when compared to the Queen of Surrey.
Queen of Oak Bay
Queen of Surrey
Modifcations, being used as differences with refits.
Some other differences appeared in the late 90's , with the extension of the elevator up to the Sundeck on the 'Cowichan in '96, after her first upgrade. In order for this to work, the mechanical room for the elevator had to be raised up as well, which they ended up installing right behind the #1 end port side behind the bridge. This "little" addition is hard to miss these days. On the Coquitlam, the exhaust pipes on the funnel were extended, for better ventilation. This was something that was done around the year 2000 or so.
On the Queen of Surrey, the exhaust pipes were also extended on the funnel around the same time the Queen of Coquitlam had hers done. This was another easy way of telling them apart up until they were given their MLU.
POST MLU:
The Queen of Coquitlam has more car deck windows on Deck 2 (main car deck), than the Queen of Cowichan. The Queen of Coquitlam also had one of the elevators elevator shaft stretched in her 2003 upgrade. But the mechanical room is no where near as obtrusive as the 'Cowichans.
Now with the 'Oak Bay and 'Surrey, you see the elevator mechanical room on top of the #2 end solarium. They are both identical in the case, so no difference there. The only major difference is one car deck window that you see, on both the port or starboard sides on the Queen of Oak Bay. I suppose this was put in to compensate for the other windows that were covered up. But why is it so out of place, and far from the rest of the windows? Well, if you look directly above that gap between that one window, and the rest of the windows, you see a zodiak. Picture the ship having flames bellowing out of the windows, and then picturing the path the zodiak would be lowered over the side of the ship. That's why those windows are covered up. Why do I mention this window on the Oak Bay? Well, the Queen of Surrey doesn't even have that window!
**If you think you have a better photo(s), by all means, send it to me, and I might just post it in place of a lower quality photo (no offence to the owner of the lower quality photo, I still appreciate the photo) I just want a clear example on here**
We'll start now with the first set of twins, the Queen of Cowichan and Queen of Coquitlam. I haven't been able to figure out the differences between the two when they were in their original pastel blue scheme. But my theory for telling these two apart was with their funnels, when they were painted in the Expo Scheme. The 'Cowichan had a thicker black ring painted on the very top of the funnel, yet the 'Coquitlam had a very thin black line painted.
Queen of Coquitlam:
Queen of Cowichan:
So now you may have developed a theory in your mind, that the Victoria shipyard decided to do some sort of trademark signature, as they've done in the past. Well, maybe, but not in the case of the C-Class. On the Queen of Oak Bay and Surrey, that idea was reversed.
The Queen of Oak Bay (being the one built in Victoria), is now the one with the thinner black stripe on the funnel, when compared to the Queen of Surrey.
Queen of Oak Bay
Queen of Surrey
Modifcations, being used as differences with refits.
Some other differences appeared in the late 90's , with the extension of the elevator up to the Sundeck on the 'Cowichan in '96, after her first upgrade. In order for this to work, the mechanical room for the elevator had to be raised up as well, which they ended up installing right behind the #1 end port side behind the bridge. This "little" addition is hard to miss these days. On the Coquitlam, the exhaust pipes on the funnel were extended, for better ventilation. This was something that was done around the year 2000 or so.
On the Queen of Surrey, the exhaust pipes were also extended on the funnel around the same time the Queen of Coquitlam had hers done. This was another easy way of telling them apart up until they were given their MLU.
POST MLU:
The Queen of Coquitlam has more car deck windows on Deck 2 (main car deck), than the Queen of Cowichan. The Queen of Coquitlam also had one of the elevators elevator shaft stretched in her 2003 upgrade. But the mechanical room is no where near as obtrusive as the 'Cowichans.
Now with the 'Oak Bay and 'Surrey, you see the elevator mechanical room on top of the #2 end solarium. They are both identical in the case, so no difference there. The only major difference is one car deck window that you see, on both the port or starboard sides on the Queen of Oak Bay. I suppose this was put in to compensate for the other windows that were covered up. But why is it so out of place, and far from the rest of the windows? Well, if you look directly above that gap between that one window, and the rest of the windows, you see a zodiak. Picture the ship having flames bellowing out of the windows, and then picturing the path the zodiak would be lowered over the side of the ship. That's why those windows are covered up. Why do I mention this window on the Oak Bay? Well, the Queen of Surrey doesn't even have that window!
