The morning sunrise has just begun to color the sky at the Chessie
System Marine Department pier in Newport News, Virginia in November
1984. One of the railroad's elderly diesel tugs built by RTC shipbuilding
at Camden, New Jersey in the 1950s awaits the days work moored
along side a retired railroad carfloat.
The Chessie System tug M. I. DUNN powers west
across Hampton Roads at sunset running alongside the newly delivered
tug CHESSIE. The M. I. DUNN would be retired following the delivery
of CHESSIE's sister tug SEABOARD a few months later, and the CHESSIE
and SEABOARD were subsequently sold to McAllister Brothers Towing
when CSX disbanded their marine operations.
In this flashbulb assisted night time-exposure
photo the Chessie System Railroad tugboat J. SPEED GRAY sits alongside
the retired railroad carfloat that served as a landing float at
the Marine Department Offices in Newport News, Virginia.
This is a flashbulb assisted open-shutter night
time exposure of the J. SPEED GRAY along side the carfloat in
Newport News. This kind of photograph is very difficult to do
with a tugboat, since the vessel moves around during the time
exposure. It requires opening the camera shutters and then setting
off the flash just as the tug reaches the highest point of its
motion on the swells. Jim Boyd worked with Preston Cook on the
photo setup and lighting of these two night shots..
MORANIA #24 transits the Cape Cod Canal westbound
in this photograph from November 1980. The canal remains one of
the best locations in New England to view tugs and barges at work.
There are many areas that provide excellent scenes along the Cape
Cod side of the waterway.
The tug PLEON sits in drydock at the Boston Fuel
Transportation docks in East Boston, Massachusetts in November
1990. The vessel is the former Erie Railroad tug MARION, designed
by noted Naval Architect Joe Hack.
All hands are busy at work making fender repairs
on the NY Cross Harbor tugboat CROSS HARBOR I. during a brief
lull in the routine of towing railroad carfloats back and forth
between Greenville, New Jersey and Brooklyn, NY in 1984.
The IOT tug VOYAGER II provides a full reflection
in the calm water as it transits the Capt Cod Canal eastbound
in January 1979. IOT later became Sonat Marine and Maritrans.
US Navy tug DEKANISORA (YTB 252) pulls alongside
a NEWPORT (1179) Class LST off the coast of Virginia in March
1984. The elderly 1942 built tug was sold to to the Greek Navy
in 1986 and is still operating with the name PELOPS..
The Chessie System Railroad tugboat M. I. DUNN
maneuvers into the pier at Newport News in the gathering dusk
in early 1984. At this point, with her replacements arriving,
the question posed by her name could be answered "Yes".
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