Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape The Internet's leading database of Paddle Steamers past and present


PADDLE STEAMER REACTIVATION PROJECTS


maid of the Loch at Inversnaid s.jpg

Maid of the Loch leaving Inversnaid s.jpg

Maid of the Loch back in service on Loch Lomond ?


It is looking like a very strong possibility, but will depend on sufficient funds being raised to complete the final stages of restoration. A push for funds will be made soon and success will lead to the return of a paddle steamer service on Scotland's most famous lake for the first time since 1981.


Unlikely .... but true. A number of the paddle steamers now in operation had been out of service for many years until they were restored, often by enthusiasts' groups. The total cost of such a refurbishment is enormous, and if undertaken by enthusiasts, has been shown to take many many years. Conditions have to be right - enough people interested to pursue and finance the project, a place to keep the ship safely and cheaply, and the prospect of running her successfully once she has been restored to operational condition. So many factors have got to be positive for there to be a reasonable prospect of a successful outcome, but existing operators are now wise to the benefits of paddle steamers - and the reasons for their original demise might no longer be valid. Supporters have to rally round the most viable projects.
Click on the vessel name or underlined hyperlink for more


PADDLERS OWNED BY PRIVATE OR ENTHUSIAST ORGANISATIONS


These projects really are the most problematic of all, dependent of enthusiasts supplying time, labour, money and all types of skills, often with little or no certaintly that the project will be completed and the ship operated successfully, if at all. It takes optimism, hard work and total dedication, but it has been done in the past and these projects have shown the necessary qualities to be successful.


Maid of the Loch
Balloch, UK

After years of neglect after withdrwal from service in 1981, the last major paddler built for the UK remains moored at Balloch, Loch Lomond, but is now being restored to her former glory. Open for visitors to stroll around and relax in the cafe/bar she is also available as a function suite and with the adjacent steam powered slipway now restored and the working machinery available to view on selected wekends, there is now much to see. There is now a real chance she will return to service in the near future and a final appeal for funds for the necessary final works, including the purchase of a new boiler, is likely to be launched in 2011 with the target for re-entering service still 2013 .

Website  

Neuchatel
Neuchatel, Switzerland

PS Neuchatel (1912-1969) served as a floating restaurant at Neuchatel, with a large enclosed saloon added, until 2007. In 1999, a new society, Trivapor, was established to purchase the vessel, but she was sold on to new restauranteurs. Trivapor, a preservation society dedicated to her reactivation has now bought her and have already purchased the steam engines once belonging to the Chiemsee's Ludwig Fessler. She can be visited by the public on certain days by appointment - see the website.  

Website

K.M. Stanyukovich
Russia

737-series steamer built in Hungary in 1957 is under refurbishment at Gorodets, near Nizhny Novgorod on the River Volga, by a private owner. A new boiler has been supplied by Master-Watt who adapted a boiler from Czech manufacturer TN for Russian conditions and the engine now works under steam. The photos below show that the vessel has been almost completely stripped and renewed. The official website (in Russian but now translated by Google on request) is an excellent sitew showingthe search for a suitable ship and, in detail, the restoration.
Some recent photos are on this link :
http://bu33er.livejournal.com/134102.html#cutid1
http://www.infoflotforum.ru/index.php?showtopic=17564&st=315
and more of her under restoration :
http://www.infoflotforum.ru/index.php?showtopic=17564&st=155
http://www.infoflotforum.ru/index.php?showtopic=17564&st=175
New boiler in place :
http://www.infoflotforum.ru/index.php?showtopic=17564&st=195
http://www.infoflotforum.ru/index.php?showtopic=17564&st=215
Video footage of vessel including engines in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l9wqjjHg5o&feature=player_embedded 

 Website


PADDLER BEING REACTIVATED BY ORIGINAL OWNERS AFTER LONG PERIOD OF INACTIVITY


Italian State Lake shipping companies are not renowned for their commitment to operating historical ships so it came as some surprise thast the decision was made to reactivate Patria after many years of lay-up. had it not been for campaigning enthusiasts she would probably have been scrapped years ago, but the awareness campaign led by Milan academic Flaminio Berganovo had a lot to do with the recent decision. Although the existing lake Como paddler "Concordia" remains underused, it does seem that there will be a place in the schedules for Patria.


Patria
Dervio, Italy

Work started on her in December 2008 and the latest estimate is that works might be completed by the end of 2012. She should then be able to return to service as a steamer - a magnificent achievement because earlier plan to save the ship envisaged a conversion to diesel power on cost grounds.

Website


FORMER RUSSIAN TUG BEING REBUILT FOR PASSENGER SERVICE AT YAROSLAVL


Bystryi
Yaroslavl, Russia

Bystryi was built in 1955 in Kiev at the Lenin Shipyard and was the last of her type on the Volga when it was mooted in 1996 to preserve her for the Polytechnic museum. This never happened and she was laid up at Volgoreschensk. However she was bought by a company based in Yaroslavl in 2006 and after refurbishment will moved there for tourist purposes as a passenger steamer. Renovation is underway at Hlebnikovo, in the northern suburbs of Moscow.
Press report :
http://news.vdv-s.ru/travel/?news=9448
Enthusist's photos of the refurbishment work :
http://riverforum.ru/showthread.php?t=1712

 


EARLY DIESEL-POWERED SIDEWHEELER UNDER RESTORATION IN THE U.S.A.


Elsinore Princess
Lake Elsinore, CA, USA

Hauled overland in 1999 on a three-week road journey from Long Beach (where she had been moored behind RMS Queen Mary) to Lake Elsinore, California, she was originally one of a fleet of 5 ships built in 1923/4 for chewing-gum entrepreneur William Wrigley and named "Princess". Originally with a glass bottom she undertook tours around Catalina Island and was often patronised by the rich and famous. She was sold in 1959 and her glass bottom planked up as a condition of the sale. She sailed around San Pedro and Long Beach until 1994. She is now owned by the Lake Elsinore Princess Foundation but is in poor condition and land bound apparently after a fall in the level of the lake. She is of wooden construction. A designated Riverside County Historic Landmark since 2007.. News report - Jan 2010 

Website


Please click here to go to the page with details of the Paddle Steamer Support Organisations through which you can help and make a real contribution to the projects' success


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Erhaltener Raddampfer : Vapeurs à roues à aubes en preservation