QUEEN OF CHILLIWACK - Photos & Discussion

[lmtengs]

Jun 19, 2012 9:47:05 GMT -8 Queen of Nanaimo Teen said:

Does anyone know if there was some politics involved with the naming of the Queen of Chilliwack?

Not the Chilliwack to my knowledge, but I remember reading here somewhere that the ferry commissioner at the time (or some other head job at BCF) was the MLA for the Skeena riding... so that might be where that comes from.

[lmtengs]

Jun 19, 2012 17:05:23 GMT -8 @4roads said:

Helmut Giesbrecht as the MLA up there from 1991 to 2001. He wasn't part of BCF in a big way at least in the role of being responsible for it. He might have been the government representative on the BCF board. He was Transportation Minister for a short time starting Nov. 2000 but held previous posts in Health and Tourism. MLAs would not have had any "head job" at BCF.

The ferry commision did not exist at the time.

The Skeena Queen was commissoned on 5 April 1997.

There's the name. Would he have been related to BCF in any other way?

[WettCoast]

Some background on how the Wack got its name (thanks to Quatchi). There was a little bit of political lobbying involved. This vessel was named Q of Chilliwack during 1990, almost a full year before it began service in BC. At the time of purchase Bill Vander Zalm was premier and his Minister of Transportation (and successor as Premier) was Rita Johnson.

Jul 24, 2009 9:36:58 GMT -8 Quatchi said:

I've never seen that one, but its more like 1978-80. She received the enclosed bridge wing during the winter of 1980. She was also painted gray in 1981. By the begining of 1982 she looked like she did in the picture in this article.



Another thing I found out in the past few weeks. When the Queen of Chilliwack ran in Norway she had bigger props on her RADs. She was able to make 16-17 knots. BCF replaced them for the newer ones she has now in favor of better fuel economy, less vibrations and less stress on the units. I got this from copies of her original registration documents and specifications I got from a guy in Sweden.

Cheers,

With regards to the Skeena Queen, Mr. K's information is incorrect. It was actually the MLA for North Coast (Prince Rupert, Haida Gwaii, etc) that was instrumental in choosing the name. That was Dan Miller who was Minister of Transportation & Highways. Some years later he served as Premier for a short time. Ironically, he was (& I believe still is) on the board of the current quasi-privatized BC Ferry Services. Helmut Giesbrecht, who served as MLA for the Skeena constituency (Terrace, Kitimat & the 'inland' North Coast area) was never Minister of Transportation.

[WettCoast]

It was Dan Miller who was instrumental in choosing the name Skeena Queen, not Helmut Giesbrecht. The name was chosen to 'honour' the Skeena region, although one might choose to assume that it was for the provincial constituency or perhaps the federal one.

The Skeena Queen entered service several years before Helmut Giesbrecht became a member of the cabinet. It may be that Dan Miller was the Minister responsible for BC Ferries when the name was chosen. I have checked and you are right that he never served as the Transportation Minister, although he had several other portfolios, and was Premier for a short time.

Update: I gather that Dan Miller left the board of BC Ferry Services in 2010. I believe he was replaced by Maureen Macarenko.

[Quatchi]

In talking with John Jansen, who was the Mayor of Chilliwack at the time of the naming of the ship, I asked if he had any influence. His response was "persistent nagging, it seemed to work!"

He said that any City that wanted to be considered for the ships name had to plead a case. At the time Chilliwack was the fastest growing and newest city in BC that didn't have a ship named after it. That's what he said may have clenched the title.

A few years later CFB Chilliwack closed in 1999 and Chilliwack's population fell drastically.

Cheers,

P.S. John also mentioned that Kamloops, Hope and Prince George had submitted their names among others.

[mrdot]

:)ship nomenclature has become problematic since we left the dark ages of geographical BC place names, and entered the renaissance of pvte. cruise industry names, but now that the true finances come bubbling to the surface, and the olympics are not paid down, maybe it's time to dredge up some place names that have fallen on hard times! names beyond hope! mrdot.

[WettCoast]

Jun 19, 2012 19:04:22 GMT -8 @4roads said:

Remember I was focusing on Skeena, his original point of geogrpahy, not North Coast. Macarenko has been on the board prior to 2010. She has been a long time name on the list. Gloria Mackerenko, the CBC News Anchor is her daughter.

Paul, check your map. The Skeena River meets the ocean at Prince Rupert. Prince Rupert is very much a part of the Skeena region even though it is not in the Skeena provincial constituency. The federal Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding better represents the region that is 'Skeena'.

[lmtengs]

In case you didn't realize, PK, I clearly mentioned I was unsure as to exactly whodunnit and which exact riding he was from, just that he was from the Northern part of the Province. Your point is therefore nullified.

[Low Light Mike]

Jun 19, 2012 20:54:52 GMT -8 @cheese12345678 said:

What is legendary Parody?

Hi Cheese:

I think I should explain a few things:

1) The "Queen of Richmond" and "Queen of Kelsey Bay" are both fictional make-believe ships, that don't exist. They are forum jokes.


2) 20 posts on your first-day as a member is too much. You should take a much slower approach to posting on this forum. Spend more time reading the forum, and make fewer posts.
- Please be careful to spell-check and proof-read your posts, before you post. Or make edits to correct mistakes.
- Most of the readers of this forum are likely older than you and we do appreciate new younger members. But please take the time to get to know this forum and it's unique style, before you start making too many short posts.
- Tonight, we've already had to delete 2 of your posts, and combine 3 others into 1. If we keep needing to do this, we'll have to give you a temporary ban from posting, otherwise our forum will get too cluttered with short posts that don't add to the quality of the discussion and the topics.

So please take some time to read the various threads, and show restraint in making posts. That means to slow down and make fewer posts, say just 2 or 3 new posts per day.

Get to know this place and let us get to know you (it takes more than 5-word-posts for us to get to know you...)

If you enjoy ferries, this is a good place for you. But please treat it with respect.

Thanks.

[note to others: I will move this off-topic post in a few days, once I'm sure that Mr. Cheese has read it and understands it]

[WettCoast]

Mr. Cheese...

Mr. Flugel Horn is absolutely right in what he is saying to you above. Please read and consider it carefully.

Re the Queen of Richmond...

Way back in 1961-62 BC Ferries built two new ferries for Route 1 (Swartz Bay - Tsaawwassen). These were the City of Victoria & City of Vancouver (later rebranded 'Queen of'). In 1963 they added two more almost identical vessels (the Esquimalt & Saanich). That made 4 almost identical ferries running on Route 1. They then moved north to Route 2 (Vancouver - Nanaimo) and built 3 more almost identical sisters. These were the Nanaimo, Burnaby & New Westminster. All these boats became known as the 'Seven Sisters' (and also V-class for the Victoria route boats, and B-class for the Nanaimo route boats). It was believed at the time that there would be an eighth sister built so that there would be four almost identical boats working on each run. That last boat, which some believe would have been named the Queen of Richmond, was never built. In fact BC Ferries used the Queen of Tsawwassen (of similar but not identical design to the Seven Sisters; one of the two original 1960-built boats) as the fourth vessel on Route 2. The Queen of Richmond does not exist, but we do go for a ferry forum trip on her every year on April 1st.

Re the Queen of Kelsey Bay

In 1966 BC Ferries started service from Vancouver Island up the coast to Prince Rupert. They started with one new boat - the Queen of Prince Rupert. They did intend to have a second identical vessel on the route such that there would have been service every day in both directions on the new Inside Passage route (also called Route 10). That second vessel did get to the stage of having detailed plans drawn up, but it was never built. What would it have been named? At the time BC Ferries was choosing the names of communities or cities near the terminals at either end of the route. This route ran from Kelsey Bay (north of Campbell River) to Prince Rupert. As they already had a ship named for Prince Rupert they would have named the second ship after some community on northern Vancouver Island. It might have been Kelsey Bay, or Sayward, or perhaps Campbell River.

The Queen of Kelsey Bay exists only in our imaginations, just like the Richmond. We occasionally choose to take our annual April 1st trip on the Kelsey Bay instead of the Richmond.

BTW, it was not until 1979 that the Vancouver Island terminal for Route 10 moved north to Port Hardy.

Coastal Experience - will there be a fourth Coastal Class (Super C) ship? Maybe, maybe not. Nevertheless, some of us have already imagined the fourth vessel and have christened it the Coastal Experience . With it we will have what some call the 'RICE class' in that the first letter of each ship's name used together spells R-I-C-E.

I do hope this makes things clearer for you and welcome to the WC Ferries Forum.

[Ferryman]

I'm sure you're all wondering what the Queen of Chilliwack looks like inside now after this past refit.

I'm happy to be the first one to share that with you guys!

Arriving at Bear Cove this morning around 07:45







When she's up North, she needs the provisioning for being able to be compatible with Northern Docks. So they bolt these blocks on her already extended rubbing strake





Car deck. The "Forward" end



Heading up the stairs looks alot brighter now. Don't be fooled, the old faux wood paneling is still very much there. It was just painted over, and the "wood" grain is still visible through the paint



Cafeteria







Looking aft down the one public alleyway between the two lounges



The regular seating lounge. The old seats remain, but everything else? Coastalized. Weird.







Finally we'll check out the mid ship area

[Low Light Mike]

Jul 5, 2012 20:40:44 GMT -8 Ferryman said:

I'm sure you're all wondering what the Queen of Chilliwack looks like inside now after this past refit.

I'm happy to be the first one to share that with you guys!

Thanks very much for that work. Very interesting to see.

[Queen of Nanaimo Teen]

Very interesting indeed!

It's a shame those old Norwegian interior lights didn't survive another interior refit

Is there anyway to find out what happened to some of the old stuff that was in her interior? Some of those name plates and such were really nice! (I remember Brett saying he would have liked one a while back)

[Ferryman]

The display with the evolution of the ships on the BC Coast didn't survive, but I noticed a builders plaque did survive which is in the seating lounge. I really didn't have alot of time to have a look around to get a better look.

Couple more photos that didn't make the upload last night because I was tied up with other things.

[Deleted]

Very nice photos. Did you notice if the Expo plates are still being used?

[Queen of Nanaimo Teen]

Is there anyone at BC Ferries I could talk to about acquiring/purchasing one of those signs? Or are they long gone to the dump?

[Koastal Karl]

ooh the Chilliwack looks pretty good inside now. The red seats with the blue carpeting seems kinda odd but I guess they were too cheap to get new seats. wow I have never been to Port Hardy when it has been totally sunny and clear it would be nice for an inside passage cruise right now.

[Ferryman]

Jul 6, 2012 12:16:15 GMT -8 @sccommuter said:

Very nice photos. Did you notice if the Expo plates are still being used?

No, I never had a chance to look unfortunately. I was literally only up in the lounge for 5-10 mins. Most of what I was on board for was down on the car deck, and only while the ship was tied up at Port Hardy. But I'd imagine that the expo plates are long gone now.

Also Sean, I'd imagine that the signs are gone now but you never know. Maybe contact Deas?

[Quatchi]

Holy, sweet Jesus, Mary and John what have they done to my baby.

[Quatchi]

Like.....

[Quatchi]

I knew they were doing interior work, but I didn't think they were going to bastardize her. Sorry... I got get a hold of my self.

[Quatchi]

BUT, I got the RAD controls, they'll never take that away from me.

[Ferryman]

From July 19th at 07:45

Queen of Chilliwack arriving at Bear Cove while the Northern Expedition Departs



Going sideways

[Koastal Karl]

wow that is cool to see the Nor Ex and the Chilliwack at Bear Cove and what is even more interesting is I have never seen it that sunny and clear in Port Hardy! lol!

[Rhody]

I rode onboard the Queen of Chilliwack in December of 2010 while she was filling in for the Queen of Burnaby. I was a bit surprised @ how worn out, ugly and broken her interior looked. I'm glad she's had her interior Coastalized, looks great, thanks for posting the pics Ferryman. Those shots you took of her with Northern Expedition @ Bear Cove, what a contrast in ferry design!!