Towboat in Heavy Ice Mississippi River Alton Ill. M/V CAPT. BILL STEWART

[@kingtut8381]

BIG THANX, RIVERMAN. AWESOME !!! LIKE HEARING THE GEESE AND CROWS OVER THE WHINING DIESELS. SO ENJOYABLE

[@DROPTINE]

Awesome stuff My Dad was a Captain for 25+ years worked for Wisconsin Barge Line, Conti carriers and More ! He passed away in his Room just outside of Louisville on the Ohio. I worked for ACBL, Conti carriers and ADM !

[@kengamble8595]

Super good video there guy ! Thanks for sharing and take care. 👍

[@jamesfrommanitoba6363]

Thanks! Great video! I worked in Alton a few years ago. Miss the river and the boats.

[@FairEnouff]

An ACBL boat flying Inland Marine pennants pushing AEP/MEMCO barges. What a mix!! Great video to say the least. Awesome!!!

[@freddecat5484]

Yep, inland crews the boat. ACBL bought most of AEPs assets several years ago. When Inland crews a boat, It will never be the same.

[@BowzerTowboats]

I did not even notice that thanks! And Freds response explains that. Thanks so much!

[@joltinjosie8359]

That's some great camera work!

[@servicarrider]

That is some nice videography. Best drone work I've seen on KZbin.

[@BowzerTowboats]

Wow thanks!

[@captraykelly]

Great footage. Tough job

[@TheMrdavidlangley]

Wow, that's amazing footage. Totally awesome! Fantastic camera work. Thanks Bowzer. Great shot of Alton and the bridge.

[@geraldharper330]

Now that's spectacular...way beyond my imagination.... nicely done

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks so much Dusty!

[@barkbustin]

That is a fantastic shot of the Clark Bridge. That drone must have some range.

[@williamgarden3209]

Enjoyed, immensely , especially the audio!

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks so much, I am trying to add real audio when I can.

[@williamgarden3209]

your efforts are much appreciated.

[@TheWizardGamez]

I find it cool, how the "Ice bow" naturally formed into a wedge, truly shows the superiority of "Le Tri-An'gle"

[@bigronshobbies8209]

Now that was a pretty cool flight and ice footage, well done Bowzer. Just awesome my friend !

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks so much Big Ron! The ice is melting pretty fast now lol.

[@lynadams2220]

WOW!!!!! My old home...🤗💕💕💕

[@johnfenn]

I like the fact you did not put music on there. The natural sounds are way better.

[@WBDE]

I grew up (a long time ago) just outside of Alton and went to Alton schools. In this video you can see how wide the Mississippi River is at Alton. When I was in Alton schools I knew of several people who walked on the ice from Illinois over to Missouri. I never did; especially since the towboats would break up the ice in the middle of the river and anyone who fell through the ice would surely never be seen again.

[@BowzerTowboats]

You would remember the old Lock and Dam 26 and the narrow 2 lane highway bridge along with the old railroad bridge. I got off an acbl boat at that old lock and dam back in the mid-'70s after I was injured and I never went back. I have heard stories of people making it across the frozen Mississippi but I never saw it. Thanks for stopping by!

[@WBDE]

@@BowzerTowboatsI do indeed remember the old 2-lane highway bridge over the Mississippi at Alton. The locks of the old Lock and Dam 26 were right under the bridge. Before it was replaced, that bridge had a safety rating of 0.8 on a scale of 0 to 100. It was a nerve-wracking drive over the bridge during snow and ice. One time my Dad and I were driving back into Alton from St Louis and were heard this music while crossing the bridge. It turned out that the 'Delta Queen' was going through the locks and they had their calliope playing. The railroad bridge that was not replaced was owned by the Missouri Illinois Bridge and Belt Railway, a subsidiary of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

[@davidwpinkston4226]

i walked across in savanna, il in 1982, but nowhere near this wide

[@Ti0midwest]

@@davidwpinkston4226 hello David

[@waynefrederick3047]

Wow, how many xtra tons of ice is he pushing around? Thats gotta hurt his fuel consuption. You'd probably never notice how much is really there without that drone getting down in front of the barges . Cool video Bowzer.

[@christopherlovelock9104]

Being in the UK and watching something like this is nothing short of amazing to me, excellent camera work if I may say so. We have nothing like this, oh yes we have a few 'barges' left but nothing the size that those are, and most of our 'tugs' are used for helping ships in and out of our ports (especially in windy weather). Can someone explain why they are called "TOW BOATS" when all of them seem to me to do is "PUSH".!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks so very for watching and commenting! When pushed by a boat, the barges are referred to collectively as 'the tow,' hence the term 'towboat.' ... Tows can also be pushed by a {tugboat;} the difference between the two is that a tugboat has a pointed bow, while a towboat has a square bow which can face up flush against the tow.

[@christopherlovelock9104]

@@BowzerTowboats Thanks for that info. Yes, all our 'tugs' have pointed bows, even the ones designed to assist large ships/liners in and out of ports, mind you I don't think any of ours are much over 7,000 hp so it is not uncommon to see 3 or 4 helping a large ship. Some pull, whilst others just 'nudge' the ship from the side - even those have 'pointed' bows.

[@davidglaum2538]

Christopher Lovelock This is a small tow in summer they get about three times as big. The traffic on the Mississippi amazing.

[@brian.7966]

that must make a hell of a difference pushing all that weight of ice,

[@ronnieflorence5252]

👍 Good job!! WOW

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks he was sure pushing a bunch of ice lol.

[@Rollo905]

Just wondering, I knew a couple of Captains, father and son named Bill Stewart, Sr and Jr. They both worked foe either AEP or ACBL back in the late 1970's and 1980's. It would be amazing to know that this vessel is named for one of them.

[@MrGeroth]

Awesome

[@neillsmart213]

Nice one :)

[@johnwilliamson5191]

Great upload are you part of the crew or not?

[@gaspode2005]

Man that is serious ice. Great shots Bowzer. How are you finding the Pocket Osmo - I've seen rather mixed reviews?

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks! So far I do not like the pocket osmo. It does make pretty good audio though.

[@gaspode2005]

I was toying with buying one to replace my Feiyu Tech G5 + GoPro set-up, but I think I'll wait and see how the Mk ll performs when they get round to releasing it.

[@RVJimD]

Holy Crap that is a LOT of ice! It's that more than normal for this time of year? It only got really cold up here a week ago. Love the shot from the bow and the shot with the bridge and marina in the background! All that ice has to make trouble at the lock?

[@BowzerTowboats]

Thanks! We can get ice pretty quick here when it gets so cold and the lock and dam helps hold it back. They have a lift type gate on the north side so the ice doesn't mess with that and they can flush out ice on the south side of the lock chamber. I don't know what they would do if this tow pushed so much ice ahead and into the lock.

[@captviper]

26 is a 1200 foot chamber and he only has 12, so he should be alright.

[@WBDE]

This video was taped just above Lock and Dam 26 which tends to make more ice in the river above the dam

[@erikb8877]

That’s nothing, not a lot for Alton. Barge traffic on the Upper Mississippi and the Illinois River breaks the ice up into pieces small enough to flow downstream. Then it all gets jammed up above Mel-Price, often many, many miles. Sometimes the ice is from surface to bottom. I remember one very cold winter coming down off the Illinois River. Spent the next 5 days trying to get into the lock with 12 loads, a distance of 10 miles or so. Very little sleep and we ran out of fresh water because it was too cold to get water in Hennepin. I was also dangerously low on fuel at only 12,000 gallons onboard.

[@MichaelGa]

How do they control the direction of the barge, especially in that ice.

[@clodwolf]

GPS and big rudders

[@BowzerTowboats]

Looks like he had trouble steering from the ice which resulted in backing up and taking another run at it.

[@loisgustafson4522]

How does the captain make the front of the barge go the way he wants?, in other words how does one steer this? Ron

[@dona1952]

According to my husband, you let the river push the front of the tow around, along with help from the rudders and backing up if you're going around a curve. The rest of the time you use the rudders.

[@erikb8877]

Its kinda like drifting (the automotive type) a 1200’ long racecar

[@patpetersen7645]

anybody remember federal barge lines, Ohio river company.

[@rickygreer7288]

Them EMD,S🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶Right on along..

[@charlietanner6211]

how thick of ice can they push through and what if ice get,s under tow hits propellor i,m courious

[@arfshesaid4325]

looks like 4 to 6 inches here, at a foot thickness i would say they would be going nowhere

[@erikb8877]

The propellers on that boat are 108” in diameter, 5 blades, made of stainless steel and are about 1” thick a the tips(the thinnest part). Ice has no effect. Pushing straight through a foot of ice is no problem, it’s turning that’s difficult

[@LM-sc8lu]

The only thing I know abbout tow boats is what I just watched. So, if the boat is PUSGIN barges, why is it called a "tow boat?"

[@BowzerTowboats]

All those barges tied together is called a tow. From what I understand that's where it came from but it could go back further when some barges were pulled along or towed by horses onshore. When I worked out there in the 70's that's what they were called and most if not all people employed in this business use that terminology. Thanks for watching!

[@erikb8877]

It is a term held over from way back in steam boat time when they would pull barges. Back when the barges were made of wood and the men were made of steel😁

[@donelder8338]

Why do they call it a tow boat, when it actually pushes

[@fredherbert7920]

Back in the day of steamships, these boats used to tow engineless wooden boats that were often used for entertainment purposes, called showboats. Hence the name.