Car Ferry - Transfer  - (1873-1933)

Railroad: Chicago & Canada Southern → Michigan Central → Wabash railroad

Built/Acquired: 1873 / Sold to Wabash in 1910

Crossing: Detroit River, originally at Stoney Island to Gordon, ON

End of Service:1933

Disposition:

Length:

Type:

 This was a wooden sidewheel carferry - the Transfer - built especially for the CASO by Henry Jenking's shipyiard at Walkerville.

It was a "staunch craft", 244 feet long and 75 feet wide including her sidewheels. She had pilot houses for and aft and rudders at either end so that she need not turn around but merely shutgtle back and forth across the sriver. Metal sheathing protected her hull from the ice.

She had three tracks which accommodated 21 railroad cars. She went into service in late July, 1873.

The Transfer was ruled unseaworthy in 1888 and the service stopped completely. Her engines were taken out and the old hull was sold for use as a floating drydock at Windsor. [DFP-1965-0916]

Editor's Note: This reported demise of the Transfer in 1888 contradicts information information from other sources..