Russel Brothers Limited OWEN SOUND, ONTARIO Steelcraft Boat Builders
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| Radium Express
Canadian List of Shipping 1956: Radium Express [C.171802] registered at Vancouver. Built at Owen Sound 1939. Dimensions: 72' x 19'8 x 5'5; 88 g.t.; 60 n.t.; 240 hp. Owned by Northern Transportation Co. Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta. Russel Brochure: pic. Canadian List of Shipping 1970: Steel tug Radium Express [C.171802] registered at Vancouver. Built at Owen Sound 1939. 72';88 g.t. Rebuilt 1953 at Waterways, Alberta. Canadian List of Ships 1997: Owned by Northern Transportation Co. Ltd., Hay River, N.W.T. Transport Canada List Ships 2003: Owned by Northern Transportation Co. Ltd., Hay River, N.W.T. Diesel tug (70 ft or 21 m long, 20 ft or 6.1 m beam, 3 ft or 0.91 m draft, 240 bhp) launched by Northern Transportation Company in 1939 for use on the Slave /Mackenzie River and Great Slave Lake routes. Rebuilt in 1953. In 2013 it was observed drydocked at the NTCL shipyards in Hay River. In 2019 it remains drydocked in Hay River and is scheduled to be scrapped by the GNWT as the vessel is no longer seaworthy.
From Wikipedia May 23, 2018: The Radium Express is a tugboat operated by the Northern Transportation Company. The vessel was built in Owen Sound, Ontario, disassembled, and then shipped by rail to Waterways, Alberta, which was then the terminus of the North American railway grid.
Like the other vessels in the "Radium Line", she was reassembled in Waterways, on the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Mackenzie, and then proceeded up the Slave River to Fort Smith, and portaged to the upper river, where she could navigate most of the remainder of the extensive Mackenzie River system.
In 1938 the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reported the vessel was designed to travel at up to 20 knots, faster than the Radium Line's larger vessels, so it could take over tows in regions of particularly rapid current. The Canadian Transportation Agency reported her speed as 9 knots in 2011.
On November 16, 1945, the Radium Express and the Radium King were caught by freeze up in Yellowknife.
specifications
Gross Tonnage: 88 t
Net Tonnage: 60 t
Length: 21.94 metres
Breadth: 6.03 metres
Depth: 1.67 metres
Draught: 0.91 metres
Self-Propelled Power: 474 brake horsepower
Speed: 9.0 knots
"Canada's publicly owned Northern Transporatation Company operates a rugged service. Since the channels encountered in the Athabasca, Slave, MacKenzie and Great Bear rivers are sometimes only three feet or a little more in depth, all the Radium line vessels are of shallow draught.They are built to push heavy barge loads of freight." Saskatoon Star-Phoenix - Sep 9, 1948
In 2005 Atomic Energy of Canada published a study of the toxic legacy of the mining of radioactive ore at Port Radium. According to the report the Radium Express and all the other surviving vessels of the Radium line were found to be free of contamination, with the exception of the Radium Gilbert. The 2005 study said the Radium Express was being stored, in Hay River. |
Sea trials in Owen Sound bay, 1939.
Owen Sound, 1939. Factory photo from Art Busch's scrapbook, courtesy Fort Frances Museum.
Ready for shipping, in Owen Sound, 1939.
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From Russel company brochure: WORKBOATS AND LAUNCHES.
Don Moon archive. |
Factory photo from Art Busch's scrapbook, courtesy Fort Frances Museum.
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Saskatoon Star-Phoenix - May 30, 1938. Article on the newly ordered Radium Express. It was a quick and very shallow boat! Second article Edmonton Journal Nov 16, 1945 - the Express caught in the Yellowknife winter ice-up only a few hundred yards from shore.
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Victoria Times Colonist, Mon. Mar. 17, 1939
clipping courtesy Leigh Cossey, Jan. 27, 2020.RADIUM FLEET IS INCREASED - Two Diesel Tugs Are Added to Sub-Arctic Shipping Routes Modernization of Canada's sub-Arctic shipping routes and ships has made more progress since the discovery of radium at El-dorado, Great Bear Lake, than during the half-century preceding, and two more of the thick-skinned steel tugs of the radium fleet, famed through the north as being able to navigate "in a heavy dew," are now under construction in Owen Sound, Ont.
Ordered for Northern Transportation Company Limited, they are the Radium Express and Radium Cruiser, both to be diesel driven with a draft of a few inches only, tunnel type, twin screw and, respectively, 60 and 50 feet in length.They will be shipped by rail to the end of steel for launching and will have engines and other equipment installed there. They will go into service on the Athabaska and Bear Rivers.
Two years ago, the Radium Queen and Radium King, built at Sorel, Quebec, were shipped in sections, were welded together again in sub-Arctic shipyards and launched thousands of miles from the spot where they were built. They were the first of the modern vessels. Modern tanker-barges for fuel oil and and other smaller ships have since been added. In the case of Northern Transportation, these vessels operate over 2,500 miles of freshwater routes in the sub-Arctic and Arctic, starting from Waterways, Alta., and going as far as the mouth of the Mackenzie River.
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The Montreal Gazette, 13 Apr 1939, P. 21
TWO SHIPS ORDERED FOR RADIUM FLEET Northern Transportation Co. to Use Them in Trade from Eldorado Mines
DRAFT ONLY FEW INCHES 60-Foot, Diesel-Driven Vessels Cover Vast Sub-Arctic Area, Replacing Planes in the Service
The Northern Transportation Cormpany, which operates a river service out of Great Bear Lake, carrying radium from the mines at Eldorado, has ordered two additional ships for its rapidly growing fleet. The vessels, Diesel-driven with a draft of only a few inches, are under construction at Owen Sound, and wih be christened Radium Express and Radium Cruiser.
Two years ago the Manseau shipyards at Sorel built the first two ships of the fleet Radium King and Radium Queen, transporting them north by rail in sections, and welding them together in sub-Arctic shipyards at Waterways, Alta.
The vessels operate over 2,500 miles of fresh water routes in the sub-Arctic and Arctic, starting from Waterways and travelling as far north as the mouth of the Mackenzie River, cruising the Athabaska and Bear Rivers en route.
Formerly radium was shipped from Eldorado by air, but at the present time practically all the rich radium-uranium concentrates are carried south by these little Diesel ships of the "Radium Line," the manager of which is A. M. "Matt" Barry, famous as an Arctic flyer.
The new vessels will be approximately 60 feet in length, and will be twin-screw. They will be shipped by rail from Owen Sound to the end of steel and will have engines and other equipment installed. These ships are unique as they are launched thousands of miles from the place where they are built.
It is estimated that more than $2,000,000 worth of radium-uranium and silver-copper concentrates will be moved out of the north by ships this summer. This, it is further stated, will be the largest movement of partially-processed radium in history.
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Star-Phoenix, Saskatoon, 09 Sep 1948, Page 13
The Northern Transportation's diesel-powered fleet includes three vessels operated between Waterways and Fitzgerald. They are the Radium Queen, 330 h.p.; the Radium Scout, 136 h.p.; and the Clearwater, 270 h.p.
From Fort Smith to Yellowknife and down the Mackenzie to Fort Norman and Kittagazuit, the company operates its biggest vessels, and the new Radium Yellowknife with two 625 h.p. engines, will operate on this route. Others in service there are the powerful Radium Charles, 1,200 h.p.; the Radium King 800 h.p.; the Slave, 270 h.p.; the Peace 270 h.p.; and the Radium Express 240 h.p.
Up the Great Bear River from Fort Norman, the ships are the Radium Cruiser, 136 h.p., and the George Askew, 135 h.p. Beyond the St. Charles Rapids, in the upper stretch of the Great Bear River, the Radium Prince, 240 h.p., and the Radium Lad, 120 h.p., operate.
Then across Great Bear Lake, the Radium Gilbert, 480 h.p., carries the freight, with the Great Bear, 240 h.p, based on Port Radium.
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Edmonton Journal, 25 Mar 1939, Sat Page 38
Northern Transportation Company limited "The Radium Line" Operating a modern fleet of boats from railhead to Lake Athabaska, Great Slave Lake, Mackenzie River and Great Bear Lake.
Fleet Includes new steel boats, Radium King, Radium Queen, Radium Express, Radium Cruiser and Radium Scout. For rates and sailing dates wire or write. 719 McLEOD BUILDING EDMONTON, ALBERTA Telephone 26540
Montreal Gazette, April 12, 1939..."Both of the additions to the sub-arctic fleet will be capable of operating in extremely shallow water and hulls will be of extra-heavy steel construction. The 60 foot "Radium Express" twin screw, tunnel-type, will go into service this spring on the Bear River section of the 2500 mile freshwater route over which Northern operates. The new "Radium Cruiser", slightly smaller and of similar type, will operate on the Athabaska from Waterways."
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19390412&id=EZgtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wJgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2902,2047114 |
Owen Sound Sun Times. 1939 article features R.J. Foote, Radium Express, and Radium Cruiser.
Gerry Ouderkirk archive.
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Radium Express in the NWT Archives https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_results.asp?TrackID=717157
Radium Express in the NWT Archives https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_results.asp?TrackID=717157
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Tugs (Dease Lake, Radium King and Radium Express) and barges at the Government/Northern Transportation dock McDonald Drive, Jolliffe Island tanks in foreground, Yellowknife, 1949.
CREDIT: NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 4357
https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_display.asp?Accession_Number=N-1979-052&Item_Number=4357 |
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Tugs Dease Lake, Radium King, Radium Express and barges at the Government/Northern Transportation dock McDonald Drive, Yellowknife, 1949. CREDIT: NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 4360
https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_display.asp?Accession_Number=N-1979-052&Item_Number=4360 |
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Radium 143 barge and Radium Express tug at the Government/Northern Transportation dock McDonald Drive, church in background, Yellowknife, 1949.
CREDIT: NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 4358
https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_display.asp?Accession_Number=N-1979-052&Item_Number=4358 |
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A tug and barge (Radium 432 and Radium Express) at the government dock, Old Town, Yellowknife. CREDIT: NWT Archives/Henry Busse fonds/N-1979-052: 4473
https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_display.asp?Accession_Number=N-1980-002&Item_Number=0038 |
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Radium 432 barge and MV Radium Express at dock side. Yellowknife. (pre 1950).
CREDIT: NWT Archives/Cominco Ltd. fonds/N-1980-002: 0039
https://www.nwtarchives.ca/item_display.asp?Accession_Number=N-1979-052&Item_Number=4473 |
from https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Radium_Express_(ship)
The Radium Express is a Russel Brothers tugboat operated by the Northern Transportation Company. The vessel was built in Owen Sound, Ontario, disassembled, and then shipped by rail to Waterways, Alberta, which was then the terminus of the North American railway grid.
Like the other vessels in the "Radium Line", she was reassembled in Waterways, on the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Mackenzie, and then proceeded up the Slave River to Fort Smith, and portaged to the upper river, where she could navigate most of the remainder of the extensive Mackenzie River system.
In 1938 the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reported the vessel was designed to travel at up to 20 knots, faster than the Radium Line's larger vessels, so it could take over tows in regions of particularly rapid current. The Canadian Transportation Agency reported her speed as 9 knots in 2011.
On November 16, 1945, the Radium Express and the Radium King were caught by freeze up in Yellowknife.
specifications
Gross Tonnage: 88 t
Net Tonnage: 60 t
Length: 21.94 metres
Breadth: 6.03 metres
Depth: 1.67 metres
Draught: 0.91 metres
Self-Propelled Power: 474 brake horsepower
Speed: 9.0 knots [sic]
In 2005 Atomic Energy of Canada published a study of the toxic legacy of the mining of radioactive ore at Port Radium. According to the report the Radium Express and all the other surviving vessels of the Radium line were found to be free of contamination, with the exception of the Radium Gilbert. The 2005 study said the Radium Express was being stored, in Hay River. Rebuilt in 1953. In 2013 it was observed drydocked at the NTCL shipyards in Hay River. In 2019 it remains drydocked in Hay River and is scheduled to be scrapped by the GNWT as the vessel is no longer seaworthy.
In 1994 Radium Express was still stored in Hay River.
source
Lister, Horn River & Radium Express (on right). Laid up tugs in Hay River, N.W.T. (Canada). Picture taken august 20, 2009 on our trip through the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Photographer: Stefan Niederer. Click to enlarge to 3264 pixels wide.
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=996416
Radium Express in Hay River, NWT July 29, 2013. Photo by Rob Farrow.
Radium Express at Hay River NWT shipyards 2013.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Radium_Express_at_Hay_River_2013.jpg
For more Russel exhibits visit Owen Sound Marine & Rail Museum 1165 1st Ave West, Owen Sound, ON N4K 4K8
(519) 371-3333  http://marinerail.com |
