During the first week of May we took a 6 night steamboat cruise, Memphis to
Baton Rouge, on the grand Mississippi Queen. As a practically "new", 30 yr.
old steamboat, the Miss. Queen is a true paddlewheel steamboat; even
generating electric with steam turbines. Side thrusters, used for port
navigation and docking are electric as are the capstan motors. AFAIK, she
is the only all-steam boat operating in the US. Even the legendary 80 year
old Delta Queen has diesel generators for electric and aux. functions.

The Mississippi Queen's main propulsion is from a 2000 HP, compounded, 2
cyl. each side on common piston rods of 10 foot stroke. I am unable to
identify the type of valve gear used on the MQ. As closely as I can tell,
it is a sort of modified Hackworth gear, with valving information being
taken from a set of cams (not eccentrics) operating from the pittman arms.
Can anyone put a name on this type of valve gear? The chief engineer said
he had been asked before but he didn't have a name.

One of the side trips was a visit to the Vicksburg National Battlefield.
Militaria aside, my big thrill was the partially restored civil war era iron
clad steamship, the "Cairo". Cairo was raised from the Yazoo River in the
1960's and put on permanent display in the Vicksburg Nat. Battlefield. The
engines and boilers were amazingly identifiable. Strange to me was the fact
that such an early engine used "modern-type" poppet valves. Live and learn,
I suppose.

Meanwhile, back on the boat, one night's entertainment consisted of a visit
from Mark Twain. He depicted himself, as an old man, shortly before his
death in 1910. He was wonderful, even putting Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain in
the shade.

Bob Swinney