Russel Brothers

Last updated
Russel Brothers
PredecessorRussel-Hipwell Engines Limited
Founded1907;114 years ago (1907) in Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
FoundersColin and Jardine Russel
Defunct2006 (2006)
Headquarters
Ownen Sound, Ontario
,
Canada
Key people
Colin and Jardine Russel
ProductsBoats, diesel engines, steel

Russel Brothers Limited was a Canadian steel boat builder, diesel engine manufacturer and steel fabricator. The company operated in Fort Frances, Ontario from 1907 to 1937 and then in Owen Sound, Ontario from 1937 to 1994.

Contents

Founded in Fort Frances, Ontario in 1907 by Colin and Jardine Russel, [1] it moved to Owen Sound in 1937 and remained there until 1974. [2]

After 1950 Russel Brothers became Russel-Hipwell Engines Limited (named of unit founded in 1943). In 1961 the name Russel Brothers Limited reemerged and lasted until 1994.

The company built 1200 boats in its lifetime as Russel Brothers and Russel-Hipwell. [3] The company built mostly tugs and logging boats, but made diesel switching locomotives as well. During World War II they made boats used in the D-Day landings. [4]

While the company ceased manufacturing boats in 1974, the company continued metal fabrication until 1994. The company went bankrupt and property was sold for condos in 2006. [5]

Products

Manufacturing Locations

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MV <i>Glenada</i>

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MV <i>Robert W.</i>

M/V Robert W. is a tugboat that was built by the Russel Brothers Ltd. shipbuilding company in Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1948. The tug is 60 feet long, 16 feet wide, 8 feet 4 inches in depth, and of 48.5 gross tons. It was originally powered by two Cummins NHMS 6-cylinder marine diesel engines originally producing 175 hp each but has been repowered with 2 cummins model NT380M marine engines producing approximately 400 BHP each; the tug originally had a Sheppard 32-volt DC diesel generator for auxiliary power but has been replaced in the mid-1990s with a Lister Diesel model ST2 2-cylinder air-cooled diesel 120-volt AC generator. It was built in 1948 for the Long Lac Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd in Toronto, Ontario, until purchased by Thunder Bay Marine Services in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1990. In 2 locations on the Robert W. there are factory brass plaques that state the vessel is boat number 791, length is 60 feet, beam is 16 feet, and year 1948.

SS <i>Brulin</i>

SS Brulin was a lake freighter that worked the North American Great Lakes routes from 1924 to 1960. She was renamed Outarde in 1939, and James J. Buckler in 1960, shortly before she ran aground and sank during salvage operations. Brulin was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Hebburn-on-Tyne and launched on 31 July 1924, for the Montreal Forwarding Company. She was built to the maximum dimensions of the canal locks that preceded the St Lawrence Seaway.

Brompton Caribou

'Brompton Caribou' is 28 feet 6 inches long, 7 feet 6 inches wide and has a depth of 2 feet 9 inches boat commonly known as a "Gator Tug", or "Winch boat" made by the Russel-Hipwell Engines Company in 1955 and is hull number 1058. It is made with a welded 3/16" steel hull in the clinker configuration and a cabin made of 18 gauge steel. It has a cable steering system with a plate steel rudder, 26" diameter Propeller with a rather heavy duty shield around the prop made of round bar to shop logs and debris from damaging the propeller, English made Lister model FR4 4 cylinder water-cooled diesel engine producing 36 hp at 1,800 rpm and a Twin Disc model MG-61 reversing marine gearbox with a 3:1 gear ratio. This boat also originally had a Russel-Hipweel winch, model W-434 that was driven by a PTO on the front of the engine but it has since been removed. The standard models have a simple rectangle cabin with a large sliding windows on both the port and starboard sides, a smaller sliding window and a door that opens to the inside on the front, and a little sliding door on the back of the cabin. They usually have the exhaust pipe going out through the side of the hull approximately a foot below the bulwarks on an angle facing aft, but many have had the pipe removed and installed going up through the roof of the cabin.

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Ongiara (ferry)

The Ongiara is a 57-year-old Toronto Island ferry operated by the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division of the City of Toronto government. The ferry serves the Toronto Islands from a dock at Jack Layton Ferry Terminal in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

<i>Radium Cruiser</i>

The Radium Cruiser was a Russel Brothers tugboat operated on the Mackenzie River system for the "Radium Line". She was constructed in Owen Sound, Ontario, in 1939, then disassembled and shipped by rail to Waterways, Alberta. Waterways is a river port, and was then the northern terminus of the North American railway grid. Waterways is on the Clearwater River, not far upstream from where the river empties into Lake Athabasca. The waters of Lake Athabasca flow into Great Slave Lake down the Slave River, and then down the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean.

Radium Franklin

Radium Franklin was a tugboat built in 1951, and operated by the Northern Transportation Company - popularly known as the "Radium Line", because many of their tugboats contained Radium in their name, since they were originally built to haul Uranium ore from Port Radium, on Great Bear Lake. She was retired in 1979, after spending most of her career hauling barge packed with ore, and then briefly serving as a yard tug.

References

  1. Barrett, Harry B.; Clarence F. Coons; Ken Armson (2010). Alligators of the North: The Story of the West & Peachey Steam Warping Tugs. Dundurn Press. pp. 133–136. ISBN   978-1-55488-711-8.
  2. http://russelbrothers.com/
  3. http://russelbrothers.com/
  4. http://russelbrothers.com/
  5. http://russelbrothers.com/