Radium Express (ship)
Hull of Radium Express being shipped to Waterways, Alberta, 1939. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Canada | |
| Name | Radium Express |
| Operator | Northern Transportation Company |
| Builder | Russel Brothers, Owen Sound |
| Laid down | 1939 |
| Launched | 1939 |
| Completed | 1939 |
| Commissioned | as Radium Express |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 60 tons |
| Displacement | 88 tons |
| Length | 21.94 m (72.0 ft) |
| Beam | 6.03 m (19.8 ft) |
| Draught | 2 ft (0.61 m) |
| Installed power | 100 hp (75 kW) diesel engine |
| Speed | 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
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 down the Athabasca River and Slave River to Fort Smith, and portaged to the lower river, where she could navigate most of the remainder of the extensive Mackenzie River system.