Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape
From the pier at Balloch where "Maid of the Loch" has remained tied up since 1981, it was always hard to see more than the odd scattered houses on the western shore of Loch Lomond and the town of Balloch itself remained concealed some way down the River Leven. The recently-opened Lomond Shores leisure and shopping development is now attracting considerable numbers to the southern end of the Loch, but to take a trip northwards passing Luss, Rowardennan, Tarbet and Inversnaid reveals the true remote location of Britain’s larges natural lake. Country House Hotels, hunting lodges and isolated villas remain the only developments in an area now largely protected by its National Park status and in earlier years by the ownership of the surrounding land by large private estates.
Despite being a popular tourist destination, Loch Lomond does not have the numerous piers thronging with tourists about to flock down the gangways on to the decks of the enormous fleets of paddlers such as those based at Geneva, Lausanne and Lucerne. By 1981 it was judged that there was no way an economic service could be maintained with anything more than the small motor launches which has run local trips for a hundred years and the incumbent paddle steamer operator withdrew from the market altogether. A new company, which took over the assets and goodwill of the operator, continued to run a full lake service with a much smaller motor boat but by 1989 even this venture faltered.
The decline of lake cruising began soon after the end of World War II, although the immediate post-war years were a mini boom for steamer operators around Britain’s coastline. By 1953, it was some surprise that a new paddler was ordered for Loch Lomond services. Not only was it considerably larger than the vessel it was replacing, it was also employing a form of propulsion abandoned by all other operators in their own renewal programmes. Loch Lomond services came under the same ultimate ownership as the much larger operation on the Firth of Clyde, where large paddlers were being withdrawn in considerable numbers and replaced by much smaller motor vessels to reduce operating costs. In Switzerland no such vessel had been ordered for 25 years. The last Clyde paddler, Waverley, which entered service in 1947 was one of only three paddlers built to replace war losses in British fleets . Draught restrictions at Waverley's home base, Craigendoran, favoured the use of paddlers and the same problem rendered a motor vessel of equivalent size to the new "Maid" as unuitable for use out of Balloch.
No doubt the Caledonian Steam Packet Company regretted the heavy investment of the Railway Executive, the parent company, as services became increasingly loss-making. In 1969, ownership of all marine operations of British Railways in Scotland were transferred to the Scottish Transport Group, another nationalised body, but this time dominated by bus interests. A hard-nosed attitude to financing transport services led to a reassessment of operations on the Clyde and the rapid reduction of traditional passenger cruising in favour of point-to-point vehicular ferry shuttles.
One casualty of this policy was the withdrawal of steamer services from the upper Clyde resorts to Arrochar at the head of Loch Long in 1972. This run, associated with the Paddle Steamer Waverley in the post-war era, was one leg in the traditional "Three Lochs Tour" which brought much patronage to the Loch Lomond steamers. Passengers made the short distance from Arrochar to Tarbet either on foot or by bus, joining the Maid of the Loch for the return leg to Balloch and henceforth by train to Craigendoran (for onward steamer connections) or Glasgow.
Loch Lomond cruising was increasing left to fend for itself as a "stand alone" venture and clearly not regarded as part of the core business of the Scottish Transport Group. Any earlier cross-subsidy, such as from railway interests which benefited from transporting passengers to the loch, was replaced by the demand for direct operating subsidies from local authorities’ tourism promotion budgets. Strathclyde Regional Council, plus the Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire district councils supported services directly for several years, although the former was also called upon to help the now privately-operated Waverley and the remaining attempts by Caledonian-MacBrayne (the STG subsidiary) to provide cruises on the Clyde. It was not to be a long term solution.
Almost 25 years on, The Maid has been saved from complete deterioration at her berth and volunteer work has restored her to a reasonable state for static use as a café and for functions. Purchase by the local county council and subsequent transfer to a charitable trust means that the Maid is now owned by the Loch Lomond Steamship Company and, beneficially, by preservationists. The ultimate aim is to restore the Maid to steam and to a timetable closely reflecting her services up until the end of 1981.
Passenger figures in the 1970s hovered around 100,000 per season and reached 135,000 at their peak. That indicates reasonable loadings. Whilst the market may have changed, there is no reason to believe that it is not still there although not to the extent that is found on the major Swiss lakes. Successful operation would need to depend on good marketing and strict control over costs, inevitably supported by donations of labour and money from enthusiasts. The Waverley operation has shown that it can be done, but only if undertaken in a highly professional manner. Unlike Waverley, the Maid is restricted to her home loch and unable to extend her season cruising in the lucrative areas around the British coastline away from her home base to earn the revenue which has proved to be an indispensable lifeline for the Clyde paddler
The ship itself is now in good shape and with more money available than ever before from an increasingly conservation-conscious public, if not national government, restoration is feasible. Reactivation will depend most on legal operational requirements and the restoration of the slipway at Balloch.
The slipway from which the Maid was launched has deteriorated beyond easy repair since the paddler’s successor MV Countess Fiona was hauled out of the water in 1991, remaining on the slip until scrapped in situ in 1999. It is essential that the Maid can be taken out of the water for overhaul, painting and inspection. The steam winch and housing remain and have been considered for possible lottery funding being of historical interest in their own right, with the added benefit of enabling the Maid of the Loch project to proceed.
Legal requirements, mainly relating to safety legislation and unheard of when the "Maid" last sailed, need to be complied with in full, safety is of paramount importance. On first impression, British legislation is stricter than that relating to many other countries and may lead to insurmountable costs. Support from the relevant authorities will be required to allow the costs imposed to be kept to the absolute minimum necessary consistent with safe working.
Perhaps the nearest equivalent to the reintroduction of services on Loch Lomond will be successful return of PS Schonbrunn, running on the River Danube out of Linz in Austria. Schonbrunn is a larger paddler than the Maid and is owned by a steam railway preservation society and largely staffed by volunteers on this busy commercial waterway. One can only hope that the legal hurdles to operation on the relatively quiet and placid waters of Loch Lomond are not more onerous than those which have allowed Schonbrunn to operate so successfully.
Maid of the Loch might have been the wrong ship at the wrong time on Loch Lomond and a financial headache to her owners. She was, however, a beautiful vessel and the last large paddle steamer built for cruising in Britain. She is surely worthy of preservation in an era of increased interest in our maritime heritage and for the added enjoyment of seeing her enormous engines and clambering up and down the curved companionways between the cosy saloons and the large open deck areas. Paddlers in Switzerland, several now over 100 years old, are officially designated as of national historical importance and are being renovated for many years more operation as the attraction of such vessels for local tourism are readily understood. Maid of the Loch celebrated her half-century in 2003 so is, in comparison, a mere youngster.