American Queen spins in Red Wing

[nigrbob]

such a beautiful boat...the american queen, mississippi queen, and the delta queen all use to come through and dock in new martisville west virginia..they were such amazing sites

[heidimarie0323]

@nigrbob YES they are such beautiful boats... i grew up watching them come thru new martinsville and the hannibal locks and dam... such a shame that they dont run those boats anymore.. alot of wonderful childhood memories watching those boats every summer...

[doughesson]

Bow thrusters and Jacuzzi jet pumps on a paddlewheeler.That ain't right!

[baritonebynight]

@doughesson They should have made her a sidewheeler like all big boats.

[doughesson]

@baritonebynight Sidewheelers might as well have propellors,IMHO.Sternwheelers require steering while sidewheelers are driven.Again,just my opinion.Every pilot & captain I've learned from will probably hold different ones.

[baritonebynight]

@doughesson I could be wrong, but I thought that all of the really large boats (JM White, Robert E Lee, Natchez) were all sidewheelers because they were easier to operate vs smaller boats were sternwheelers. Is this the boat the hit bottom on her maiden voyage because she was too big?

[doughesson]

@baritonebynight She hit bottom near Paducah on a sandbar.I was the tankerman who put drinking water on her in Memphis a couple days before that happened & caught some grief from a dispatcher who told everyone who'd listen that I was the reason she grounded.Some people think anything is funny.