John West Wrote:
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> I had an old friend who's father was a Chief
> Engineer on the Delta King and Queen. So I have
> always been a bit interested in them.

My great grandfather (my paternal grandmother's father) was Capt. John Massengale, one of the principals of the St. Louis & Tennessee River Packet Company. My grandmother was born in 1887 and used to tell me stories of riding their boats when she was a girl, thus my interest in them. (Just for the sake of clarity, the Delta Queen wasn't one of their boats.)

> snip <

> Alan DeMoss

Now there's someone I hadn't though of in awhile!

> I have never ridden the Queen,
> although I have a friend who has, and apparently
> it has been heavily modified for its second life
> on the Mississippi.

True. It took on the job of being what I guess we'd now call an excursion boat after the Greene Line bought it. But, it was still a real cool boat to ride (although the last time I was on it was around 1976).

For those interested in more information about the boat, here's its Wikipedia entry: [en.wikipedia.org]

The web sites for its current use as hotel in Chattanooga is here [www.deltaqueenhotel.net] and here [deltaqueenhotel.net]