Overnight PS Emmylou Trip

[uppergully26]

Hi guys

I don't know if this should be in this forum or the Preserved Boats one, as it's a new build boat with a preserved steam engine...but here goes.

Had a fantastic trip on the PS Emmylou from Echuca a month or so ago. We arrived at the Port to find the boat being prepared for the voyage and some very welcoming crew. They ushered us on board and showed us to our cabin, we got one of the ones on the lower deck, just for'ard of the steam engine!! Nice little cabins they've got: two little bunks and a small washbasin in the corner, not enough room to swing a cat, but what good is a cat on a PS anyway?

After a bit of an introduction and safety talk we finally got underweigh, heading upstream for a couple of river miles. Dinner was served on the rear deck: full table service, white table cloths and all!! The food was great and I don't reckon there would be a better place to eat it than the Murray River at twilight, a red sunset over the River Red Gums is something to behold. All the while the splash, splash of the paddles and the chug, chug of the steam engine keeping time. After we had well and truly eaten too much, we had a look around the boat and rounded up for the journey back down river to drop off the dinner-only passengers. The skipper brought the boat up to the wharf with considerable skill and the passengers disembarked, so we headed back upstream for about a mile. Here they tied up for the night and used some coals from the firebox to get a campfire going. A couple of hours were then spent around the fire talking about the boats and their history then off to bed.

Waking up the next morning was an absolute delight!! To roll over and hear the sounds of the light-up and blow down and the smell of warm oil and steam was enough to get me up n at 'em. I got a few shots of the boat and the mist of the morning that hangs on the river... Breakfast of Bacon and Eggs was waiting on the table, but I was more interested in chatting to the engineer about the engine so mine got cold!! Finally we were ready to again get underweigh...with only one problem, the river had gone down overnight and we were just sitting on the bank. The skipper gave her a good rip on the paddles and we were away, nothing like warming the cylinders through before closing the drain cocks!! We then quietly sailed downstream, under the bridge and past the Port and on to the Campaspe Junction where we again rounded up and headed back to the port. I had quite a long chat to the Engineer about the engine and firing on the steamers and was invited down to the stokehold to throw in a couple of logs and have a look over the engine. They're quite a bit different to the locomotive boilers I fire up at Puffing Billy with coal, but the principles are exactly the same. We then tied up back at the port and the trip was over!! All to soon.

It really was a great trip and I'd recommend it to anyone. Hope you weren't bored by the long post but just thought I'd share...

Also got to have a look on the PS Hero and PS Adelaide but that's another story!!

I'll post some photos soon.

Cheers,
Chris

[PJ]

Fantastic, Chris...your excellent description certainly succeeded in taking us all on the trip with with you and many of us who have had the scent of live steam in our nostrils know exactly what you mean.  Your post once again illustrates the fabulous work that has been done on the Murray to preserve your paddle steamer heritage.

Greatly looking forward to seeing some photos of "Emmylou" and your trip aboard her.

PJ
Victoria, BC Canada

[uppergully26]

OK, the photos are up, under the uppergully26 gallery.

See what you think!

Chris

[thewharfonline]

Chris you're not the Chris that happens to be the volunteer fireman mentioned in the following article fro  Royal Auto are you? I think you are!

By the way this is a great article...can't scan it all today but maybe someone will give you international ducks a copy!

Sounds like a great trip, glad you got to stoke, thats the experience. It was funny on the last day of my holiday my whole fmily went on the Peve and Me, My Girlfriend and my sister got to stoke the engine! See what happens when you make paddler friends!

Anyway here is the article and magazine cover I'm talking about featuring what I belive to be our very own paddle duck Chris...or by some flukey chance someone who sounds very similar to our Chris!

[uppergully26]

Yep, got it in one!!

Had quite a chat to the journalist who was amazed that a 23 year old could be so into steam and the boats and would want to take his girlfriend and cousins on a cruise. She was saying that she didn't even think it would get in the magazine, but it got cover story. Unfortunately I haven't got a copy yet, although we normally get 3 to this house, they must be running late!

It was really quite fortunate as she was also going to have a chat with Kevin Hutchinson on the Hero, so I went with her and had a look on board. Work seems to be progressing at a slow pace, but when she's finally finished she'll be a magic vessel. Kev showed us some photos of the restoration and inside the saloon where stainless steel has been installed for the kitchen. Also got to have a look at the boiler which is in position. There's still a lot of work to do on her and Kevin wouldn't put a date on when she'll be finished. As far as I could tell she's virtually a one or two man job at the moment, so it's gonna take a while I think.

Cheers,
Chris

[thewharfonline]

Kevin wants her finished by the end of this year but I doubt that will happen! (original completiong date 2001!)

Gee if i would have been there she would have been shocked. A fifteen year old kid so hooked on the boats...and I hooked my girlfriend on them too, she misses the engines, the whistles and the boats...poor girl her family probably thinks I've corrupted her!

Its an incredibly good article. She talks to Alan too, he's one of the engineers I worked with and he was going to have me on the AA as his deckhand on the sailpast night but I was already booked on the Adelaide so I couldn't. And she spoke to Frank the port manager and Kevin and you Chris...yeh she has river heritage too though according to the article...wish I did, my girlfriend is an Evans and that name owned a sawmill but its not the right family