Catching the Lee A. Tregurtha at Night

There were a couple of other people at the bridge when I caught the Oberstar earlier.  One of them mentioned that the Lee A. Tregurtha was heading to the steel mill.  So I looked at Marine Traffic and saw that she was about three hours north of Port Huron.  At the time, that would have her arriving around 10:00 P.M.  I wasn't sure about doing a night shot but I never tried it on the Rouge.  I've wanted to try, so I headed over there.

After asking on Facebook, I figured that I needed around ISO10000.  Fortunately this camera has pretty low noise at that setting.  So first I tried the autoexposure.  It looked okay but I don't think the ship was bright enough.

So I messed with the shutter speed and f-stop.  I was getting closer.  There is a little more definition in the ship.  But it probably helped that the ship was closer.

I think I had it dialed in at this point.  I like the beam coming from the search light.  I like the green on the water.

She was coming down from Marquette with a load of taconite for the steel mill.  The Oberstar was still at the mill but she was further in the slip, so no pictures of her.

I had the timing down of when I needed to leave so I didn't have to dally too much around this area.  I didn't feel unsafe but you never know what's going to be around at night.

Of the frontal shots, I like I like this one the best.

A shot of her pilot house.

I went to the other side.  She passes the bridge.

A shot of the mill.  I really like this one.

She moves forward.  I like the reflections on the water.

I really like this one.  The flare off from one of the plants.

I'm not sure what this is but it looked cool lit up.

The stack looked really cool.

One more before heading off.  I didn't get my full stern shot because I parked on the street and didn't want to be in the way.

A Train on the Overpass

 As I was leaving Belanger Park, I saw this train stopped on the overpass.  I was going to pass on getting a picture but I decided to come back.

It is an SD-40-2 engine built by Electromotive Diesel which used to be owned by GM at one time.  I'm not sure where it was heading but I'm pretty sure I heard it as I taking pictures of the Anderson.

It was a continuation of the SD-40 series.  The first engine of this type was built in 1972 and when production was stopped in 1989, almost 4000 of them were built.  It is powered by a 16 cylinder turbocharged diesel engine which produces 3000 horsepower.  It has a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour.

My First Ship of the Season...the Kaye Barker

Technically, the season opens with the opening of the Welland Canal on March 21, but it doesn't kick into gear until the Soo Locks open at Midnight on March 25th.  I was hoping to head up there to catch the opening of the Locks but the weather didn't want to cooperate.  So instead I headed over to Norfolk to catch ships of a different sort.  Since I got back late Saturday Night/Early Sunday morning,  I could have gone shipwatching Sunday but I was kind of tired.  So today gave me the opportunity to go catch a ship.

The river wasn't particularly busy, so I didn't have too many opportunities but then I saw that the Kaye E. Barker was heading up the Rouge River.  So I decided to go for that.

 I decided to catch her at Belle Isle first but it was snowing.  However, I kind of like the effect of fog and heavy weather.

 She got less obscured.

And then she appeared about as clear as she would.

 I was actually hoping to catch her off the Rocky Beach but I dallied too much.

 This is just as well though.

 I was hoping that I could catch her at the Fort Street Bridge but they are still putting the finishing touches on that and the sign said no pedestrians.  So I waited at the Dix Avenue Bridge.  It's actually a pretty good view.  I've been wanting to get back to it ever since I caught the Lee A. Tregurtha here a few years ago.

 They had to move the other Boblo Boat from the Nicholson Dock to here.  I really hope that they can figure out what to do with her before she gets to a point where they can't do anything with her.

 I didn't remember getting a headshot before, but I don't think I was on this side of the Bridge.

 The water was almost calm enough for a reflection.

 As the boat moved closer, the reflection actually got better.

 Two beauties.

 And she gets closer to the bridge.

 There's a man on the deck, his family was standing next to me.  That was kind of cool to see.

 A shot of the pilothouse.

 Yup, she's pretty well loaded.

 She passes the bridge and starts to make the turn towards the dock.

 A shot of her stack.

 I kind of like the shots from here.

 An almost clean stern shot with the plant in the background.

One more shot before heading home.

It was cool to see my first laker of the season but I didn't particularly care for the snow going with it.  Oh well...soon we will be done with that for a while.

Great Lakes Towing Tugboats

During part of our tour of the Rouge River, we got to see where the Great Lakes Towing tugs were docked.

 These are tugboats that I have seen before but it's always nice to see them since I don't get to see that often.  The first tug we ran across was the Wyoming.  She was built in 1929 and is powered by a diesel engine.

 Next up was the Idaho.  She was built in 1931 and I believe is currently undergoing maintenance.

 Another view of the Idaho.

 The tug Superior.  She was built in 1912.

 She is kind of a neat looking tug.

And a shot of all three of them.

A Tank and Helicopter

I'm not sure what this park is called but I've passed it a few times as I was heading to either Belanger or Bishop Parks.  It is on the corner of Great Lakes Street and Jefferson.  I've been meaning to take pictures of these but everytime I'm in the neighborhood, I have bigger fish to catch.  Well not last night.

 I assume this is part of a memorial to Vietnam War vets because there is an M-60 Tank which served somewhat in Vietnam.

 There is also a UH-1 Heuy Helicopter painted in Vietnam War regalia.  It still looks pretty cool and is in decent shape.

 I suppose if you were going to pick out one icon of the Vietnam War, it would be the Huey.  The Vietnam War was the first war that the helicopter was used extensively and for the most part, the Huey was that helicopter.

 I don't think the M-60 saw much use in the Vietnam War but it was the main battle tank of the Army at the time.  It was more than a match for the earlier Soviet models still in use by the North Vietnamese Army but would have had a tougher time with some of the models being fielded by the Soviets in Europe.  As such, proposals for a replacement would start in the 70's.  Eventually, that replacement would become the M-1 Abrams Tank.

 The Huey was the mainstay of the Army throughout the Vietnam War and well into the Desert Storm era.  It was starting to be replaced by the Blackhawk in the early 80's but it still stuck around for a while.  There is still a variant used by the Marines and I think it is still used by several of our allies.

 During Vietnam, they were equipped with door guns.  Some models were fitted out as gunships.  Those stuck around until the advent of the AH-1 Cobra (which is still used by the Marines today).

 A full on shot of the tank.  Sadly, there was too much in the background.

 There is a nice giant flag flying over the park.  I love the look of our flag against a nice blue sky.

 A shot of the cockpit area.  The crew consisted of a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief and door gunner (or two). 

 It could also carry 14 fully loaded troops (although I doubt that number).  It was also used as a Medevac chopper on occasion.

 If you ever want to read a good book about Hueys, check out a book called "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason.  They are also mentioned in several other books about Vietnam.

 Probably one of the most used images of the Huey is a shot like this where troops are disembarking.

 The other famous shot is of the Huey picking up the remnants of the US staff from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon in 1975.

 I don't think the M-60 is quite as iconic other than being made in Michigan.  I believe it was the last all steel tank used by the US Army.

 A shot of the 0.50 Caliber machine gun.  I believe it was covered so that the crew could use it and stay under cover.

 I was trying to get a shot of both.  I kind of like this one because I almost obscured the stand on the helicopter.

 I could almost title this one, "Declaring war on high prices or something..." but I wont.

 One more shot of the Huey.

And one more of the tank.