Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape

PRESERVED PADDLE TUGS
In Chatham, England
John H Amos (seen above in at Chatham 1988) a former River Tees paddle tug, built by Bow Mclachlan of Paisley in 1931, has now been raised on to a pontoon (end of March 2008) and will be berthed at Chatham. She is now in the Core Collection of the National Register of Historic Vessels and whilst this does not guarantee her survival, it recognises her historical importance and means that she will not be allowed to disappear unnoticed. A Maritime Trust now owns the vessel and is developing a business plan for her restoration and future use
Website 
In San Francisco, USA
Eppleton Hall is the third example of a preserved British tug, having sailed under her own power to the pacific coast city in 1969, having finished her working life at Seaham harbour on the north-east coast of England in 1967.
Eppleton Hall - Internet Link
In Greenwich, England
Reliant which operated on the River Tyne was preserved as an exhibit at the National Maritime Museum but in cutaway form. The port engine and paddle wheel is now owned by the Markham Grange Steam Museum (near Doncaster)
In Duisburg, Germany
Oscar Huber, dating from 1922 and the last paddle tug on the Rhein, forms the centre-piece of the Museum of German Inland Waters Shipping at Duisburg-Ruhrort
In Magdeburg, Germany
Wurttemberg (above) the former Elbe tug, is preserved out of the water on the banks of her home river just opposite the city centre. Withdrawn in 1974, she was the last of a long line of paddle tugs operating on the Elbe in the German Democratic Republic, and her role in preservation is as a museum and memorial to her type.
In Regensburg, Germany
Ersekcsnad, the former Danube paddle tug lies as a musuem ship having been saved from the breakers in 1979 and opened to the public after restoration in 1983. The tug was built in 1923 for Bayischen Lloyd but came into Hungarian hands in 1956, twelve years after her sinking in the Danube after hitting a mine. Originally named Ruthof, she was renamed after the location where she sank and she served for the Hungarian state operator MAHART until 1975 running the entire length of the Danube up as far as Regensburg. :More details on the Kingswear Castle website : http://www.megoran.fsworld.co.uk/Ruthof.htm

In Hungary

Paddle tugs Neszmely (ex Bakony) and Zoltan (see photo above, with Neszmely in foreground and Zoltan behind in a photo taked in 2007 supplied by courtesy of Zsolt Szabo) are moored on the Danube as part of a small floating "museum"( internet : http://www.europahajo.hu/neszmely/site_e.php?content=hajoskanzen ) at Szent Ilona bay, at the village of Neszmely. Zoltan was built in 1869, Neszmely in 1957, the last example of this tye of ship built at Obuda shipyard. Zoltan served for over 100 years before becoming a boat-house at the power station at Szazhalombatta for a 30 year period. Neszmely now provides accommodation for up to 48 people as part of a "Forest School" operation, which is a popular one-week long "outward bound" course in the Hungarian education curriculum. Both paddle tugs have lost their paddle wheels. Also at the museum is the vessel MV Kassa, the last Hungarian deep-sea going vessel and the former MAHART tug MV Sopron (1960), which is still operable and actually towed her two Zoltan and Neszmely to their present berths. A range of 4 to 19 day cruises are offered on Sopron. The longer trip reaches and cruises into the Black Sea!

In Romania

Cetatea, a buoy tender vessel, is laid up in derelict condition on the Danube at Giurgiu, With surviving Escher-Wyss compound diagonal machinery dating from 1903, she attracted the attention of Swiss preservationists with a view to using the hull in a proposed replica of the River Aare paddler Wengi (1856). The Romanian government, however, decided she should remain locally and may now become a museum ship. However, as seen in these photos on the link below, in the summer of 2009 she remained derelict.
 Photos 2009 : http://www.marinarii.ro/nave-de-istorie.php?id=4&name=Nava_Cetatea_-_SOS_!!!_Salvati_Nava Follow links at foot of the web page for photograph albums

Republica (1916, by Ganz-Danubius at Ujpest-Budapest) is at Tulcea. She originally sailed for the Hungarian MFTR company as "Csobanc" but after World War I became property of the Romanian state. She has since sailed under the names "Arad", "Capitan Comandor Paun", "Republica" and "Locotenet Comandor Vasile Paun" before reverting to "Republica".   

Decebal is at Braila

In Belgrade, Serbia
Pim is moored at Belgrade on the River sava as HQ ship for the Pim Dredging Company

Zupa is a classical 54 metre long Danube paddle tug built in 1913 at Obuda, Hungary now tied up but deteriorating rapidly, at Belgrade. originally called "Una"she sailed for the Austrian DDSG company until 1914 before becoming "Cozia" and after World War II, Yugoslav-owned and renamed "Zupa".    Internet photo   

In Serbia

Vojvodina is now out of the water, but deteriorating rapidly

In Russia

Sviatitel Nikolai , a tug built in 1887 and which had the distinction of carrying Lenin into exile in 1897, now lies as a museum ship at Krasnoyarsk, the point deep in Siberia to where Lenin was taken over 100 years ago. The ship has now been taken out of the river Yenisey, but lies only feet from the waters on which she once sailed. She is open to the public for a small entry fee.

STERN WHEEL MOTOR PADDLE TUGS

Sumava is still in operation, but now as a passenger cruise boat at Prague, Czech Republic. Sumava's unusual paddle system was devised to allow the construction of vessels with the shallow draght of paddle vessels, but the narrow lines of a screw vessel to allow access through the locks on the River Vltava. Four prototypes were built in the 1930s, and in the 1950s, eight vessels of the same design were built in Prague. Of these, Sumava survives alongside Beskydy which is available to assist shipping on the Elbe/Labe at Torgau, where strong currents often cause problems around a railway bridge. Orlik is preserved in the Netherlands, Lipno is also in passenger service in Prague now under the name "Tyrs". Kamik serves as a floating restaurant in Prague and Jesenicky a similar role in Berlin, retaining its machinery in operational condition.

DEVELOPING THE PADDLE STEAMER RESOURCES PHOTOGRAPHIC 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. Please e-mail the Webmaster

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.

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.

It is generally intended that photos in the Photographic Archive section of the database and made available for sale (with proceeds going towards Paddle Steamer Preservation) will be the photo series taken by the webmaster only, at least at this stage. If we are able to assemble a reasonable number of full series through donation, we would the like to make these available also.

Navigate around the Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape website from this main menu

MAIN MENU 

USE THIS MENU OR ANY APPROPRIATE UNDERLINED HYPERLINK TO MOVE AROUND THE DATABASE

Homepage

The Foundation for Paddle Steamers Worl