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


PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS WEBSITE IS NOW ONLY AVAILABLE AT : http://paddlesteamers.freehostia.com

Unfortunately the website became too large for its original internet location and had to be moved
This mainly text-only version represents the website as it was up until 1st July 2009 and does not include any more recent information or updates.
It includes some photographs which were included in earlier versions of this website. For the latest information and all the photos, click on the link above


Steam Engines of operational and preserved Paddle Steamers

Notes about how paddle steamer engines work


OPERATIONAL STEAM ENGINES
United Kingdom

Waverley

1947

Triple Expansion Diagonal
24, 39 and 62 inch cylinders x 66 inch stroke
Rankin and Blackmore, Greenock, Scotland

The world's last "Sea Going" Paddle Steamer - still operational on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and around the UK coast outside the main summer season


Switzerland

Switzerland has the world's largest fleet of operational paddlers with large diagonal engines, supplied by the Sulzer and Escher, Wyss companies

Comparison of visible crankshaft area of 11 operational Swiss Steamers : click here
Uri, Unterwalden, Schiller, Gallia, Lotschberg, Blumlisalp, Stadt Rapperswil, La Suisse, Savoie, Simplon, Montreux

Illustration - PS Gallia


Germany

Leipzig

Compound Diagonal

A small set of compound diagonal engines for PS Leipzig of 1929 and her sister ship Dresden of 1926 in regular use during the long spring to autumn season on the Elbe cruising out of Dresden

s204201-81.JPG

Meissen

2 cylinder oscillating

Pirna

2 cylinder Oscillating

Seven of the nine paddlers operating in the Dresden area of the Elbe (2004) are driven by oscillating engines which continue to give excellent service despite being obsolete by the end of the 19th century....

sHPIM2394.JPG

Krippen

2 cylinder oscillating

Photo courtesy of Nigel Clark

Hohentwiel Engine 1s.JPG

Hohentwiel

Compound Diagonal

Photo courtesy of Andreas Heene


Austria

Gisela

Oscillating by J Ruston (Prague)

Operation on a limited programme of regular and special services in July and August on Traunsee and one of the few remaining examples of this type of engine

Photo courtesy of Jessica Drescher

Schonbrunn

Compound Diagonal


Czech Republic

Vysehrad Engine.JPG

Vysehrad

1938

Compund Diagonal by CKD (Prague)

Photo courtesy of Nigel Clark


Italy


sPiemonte engine.jpg

Piemonte

1904

Compound Diagonal by Escher, Wyss (Zurich)

Photo courtesy of Olivier Bachmann

Concordia

1926

Triple Diagonal by N. Odero, Genoa


PRESERVED STEAM ENGINES (still in vessel hull)


United Kingdom

Wingfield Castle

1934

Triple Expansion Diagonal

18, 28.5 and 46 inch cylinders x 51 inch stroke

Preserved in the vessel and able to turn under electric power to illustrate steam power at the municipal museum at Hartlepool, England

Medway Queen

1924

Compound Diagonal

Now dismantled and in storage as the vessel has been scrapped - but Medway Queen will be rebuilt and the engines will be returned to the "new" hull.

Photo courtesy of Len Knight

Maid of the Loch

1953

Compound Diagonal by Rankin & Blackmore (Greenock)

Under restoration at Balloch, Loch Lomond, with a return to steam the declared objectives of her charitable owners and the prospects of success looking good

Lincoln Castle

1940

Triple Expansion Diagonal

Lincon castle is unlikely ever to sail again, but she has a new life as a restaurant moored in Alexanda Dock, Grimsby in England

Photo courtesy of David Ornsby

Hungary

 

s206012-15.JPG

Kossuth

1914

Compound Diagonal

There have been periodic thoughts of reactivating the former Danube steamer Kossuth but that still seems very unlikely. For over 20 years she has served as a restaurant, moored in the centre of Budapest and is now benefitting from the increasing numbers of tourists visiting the Hungarian capital.

Szoke Tisza

1917

Three cylinder compound


Hotel Aquamarina Engines.jpg

Hotel Aquamarina (former Russian/USSR ship "Pamjaty Azina"), now moored at Budapest, Hungary


PRESERVED STEAM ENGINES (removed for museum display or other preservation)


Switzerland

Pilatus

Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

The machinery of the former Lake Lucern paddler have been preserved at the Verkehrshaus Transport Museum, Luzern, Switzerland which also has PS Rigi as an exhibit

LudwigfesslerEngine.jpg

Ludwig Fessler

1926

Compound Diagonal by JA Maffei (Munich)

The engine was saved when the steamer on Germany's Chiemsee was converted to diesel in 1973. After being in store in the Netherlands they were purchased by a Swiss preservationist society for planned use in the surviving hull of PS Neuchatel which was in use as a resturant at her home port in Switzerland. The engines are now at Yverdon with further work being undetaken on them and the Neuchatel itself is now in the ownership of the Trivapor organisation.


Germany

Diessen Steam Engine s.jpg

Diessen

Ammersee, Germany

1908

Compound Diagonal by JA Maffei (Munich)

The steam machinery was removed in 1974 and is owned privately by an organisation hoping to establish a naval museum in southern Bavaria.


Goethe

1913

Compound Diagonal by Sachsenberg (Rosslau an der Elbe)

Removed from Goethe after the end of the 2008 season due to the large cost of repairs to a long-standing crack in the engine entablature. Goethe will reappear in 2009 with twin diesel-hydraulic drive units whilst her steam engines will be displayed at the city museum in Cologne.


Hungary


Vertes Engine 2.jpg

Vertes (ex - Tihany)

1914

These engines were removed from the danube paddle tug Vertes after it was withdrawn in 1963. They are displayed complete with paddle wheels in the grounds of the Transport Museum in Budapest

Photo courtesy of Zolt Szabo


A number of steamer engines survive in museums or private collections : Statically Preserved Engines


CAN YOU HELP WITH THIS DATABASE ?


The webmaster would be delighted to receive any updates of relevant information and photographs (of which you own copyright) which could help to keep this database as up-to-date as possible and fill in gaps in the historical record.

I know that many of you will have photographs of paddle steamers on the internet on photo-sharing websites such as Picasa and Flickr. No photos are used on this website unless they were taken by the webmaster or someone who has given express permission for their own photos to be used. However, some photos from Flickr etc may be used so long a the copyright tag (Creative Commons etc) allocated to the photo at the time of downloading allows.

Tramscape is trying to develop this website as the main source on the internet for paddle steamer information and photos, so the webmaster would be very grateful if you would allow use of your photos in this database so they can be seen by the wider paddle steamer interest group who will be reading this website.

Please
e-mail the Webmaster your information and photos or general authorisation to use photos from another website source. Thank you very much


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OTHER ASSOCIATED WEBSITES

 

Clyde Turbine Steamer Foundation
Steamships with Reciprocating Engines

Tramscape Tramway Photographs

Clyde and other passenger turbine steamers, surviving ferries and ocean liners
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Link to Tramscape's extensive tramway photograph collection