Paddle Steamer Resources by
Tramscape
LAKE
LUCERNE (VIERWALDSTATTERSEE) -
SWITZERLAND : Schiffahrtsgesellschaft
des Vierwaldstattersees (SGV)
Above : PS Gallia at Brunnen in 2008. For passengers sailing
from Lucerne, Brunnen is the main resort on the lake.
The SGV operates five
paddle steamers, built between 1901 and 1928, and several other motor
vessels for cruises on Lake Lucerne primarily from the city of Luzern
to Fluelen, but also with services to Kussnacht and Alpnachstad.
Important piers en route are at the resorts of Weggis, Vitznau,
Beckenried, Gersau and Brunnen. Connection is made at various piers
with mountain railways and cable cars, notably at Vitznau for the
Vitznau-Rigi Bahn, the world's first cog-wheel railway. Originally
the lake formed part of the route from Northern Europe to Italy, but
once the railway was completed to Fluelen, the steamers provided
primarily day trips for tourists.
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Stadt Luzern at her home base,
Bahnhofquai, Luzern.
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Unterwalden amidst magnificent scenery at
Buochs
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Uri at Kehrsiten-Burgenstock in 2001 - her
centenary year
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The five paddle
steamers are now regarded as priceless tourist assets, evoking
memories of the "Belle Epoque" of the early part of the century and
they are maintained in spotless condition. To ensure their survival,
the vessels have undergone extensive reconditioning, and in the case
of Uri, a complete rebuild, whilst retaining and restoring thier
original character. PS Schiller was taken out of service after the
1997 season for her rebuild and was relaunched in February 2000. Since 1972,
there has been cooperation with the local enthusiast's society Dampferfreunde
Vierwaldstattersee with regard to attracting finance to assist with
steamer preservation.
The next steamer re-fit is PS Unterwalden,
whose original retirement in 1977 prompted the prompted the first success of
the Dampferfreunde
Vierwaldstattersee and the reversal of SGV's original decision, even after the
ship's name had been given to the newly-built motor vessel now called Europa.
Her original boiler was given clearance to sail through the 2008 season only,
soshe went intothe SGV dock for her overhaul after the end of that season..
The SGV is a big undertaking. In 2006 it
achieved 2.28 million passenger journeys (a 5% increase on the previous year)
and a turnover of 41 million Swiss Francs (a 40 % rise!), employing over 400
workers in the summer season. Over 515,000 journeys were recorded in July,
and over 29,000 in the quietest month (February). July 30th was the busiest
day with 25,003 passengers. 2007 proved to be even more successful - a record
year. Services are fully integrated into the various national
and local Swiss transport ticketing systems, which means that the numerous available
passes are accepted subject to the conditions of those passes.
As well
as the five paddle steamers, SGV has 15 motor vessels (11 of which could be
considered as large) and a new 300-passenger catamaran will enter service in
2009, generally serving the Lucerne / Stansstad / Kussnacht areas but primarily
be available for charter if requested.
Go to the SGV website
for more details and current timetables - and direct to the paddle steamer roster
page : Dampfschiff Einsatze
for steamer operations
The
SGV Annual Report & Accounts are in the public domain on the SGV Website
LAKE LUCERNE SUMMER 2009 TIMETABLE : SUBSTANTIAL
CHANGES INTRODUCED
The pattern of services on lake Lucerne
has been established for many years, with paddlers leaving Luzern for a full
lake-length return trip to Fluelen, with PS Unterwalden making two return trips
to Alpnachstad under the low Ascheregg Bridge. With Unterwalden out of service
for her major re-fit, there will be no paddle steamer services into the Alpnachersee
this year, but there will be some interesting changes on the "main
line" service. The departures have been re-timed to a regular "clock-face"
system, leaving Luzern at xx:12 hrs and Fluelen at xx:00, with the hourly departures
(paddlers interspersed with motor ships) now having similar sailing durations.
By missing out several piers (paticularly Buochs/Ennetburgen and some piers
in the Urnersee) from the main service, the round-trip by paddle steamer is
now quicker than before, making the full round trip a little more attractive
to the general public. The re-timing is also thought to be likely to be more
attractive to general passengers, around half, it is found through recent surveys,
make the decision to take a cruise on the same day. The most interesting change
is to eliminate the "second" early departure from Lucerne whereby
a steamer was closely followed by a second in order to cope with peak traffic.
It was found that the "relief" vessel was only needed for the stretch
to Vitznau and was generally lighly loaded beyond the pier where excursionists
disembark to catch the Rigi mountain railway. Therefore it was decided
that a relief steamer (generally to be Gallia in 2009) would run as far as Beckenried
and take a slightly sinuous route in the process before heading directly back
to Luzern and repeating the cruise but in the reverse pattern (ie fast to Beckenried)
to provide a "relief" service at the peak period for returning traffic
in the afternoon. By doing this, the SGV are able to offer two daily mini-cruises
of shorter duration than the full lake cruise. Although it has always been possible
to cruise part of the lake only, it has required a change of ship. By introducing
these new cruises, it is hoped that more "impulse" passengers will
be attracted, due to the relatively modest time period required and the fact
that no change or special timetable-reading will be required. For the
attraction of the enthusiast in particular, these cruises have been timed to
allow a meeting of three paddlers and a short period of two running "in
convoy" between Vitznau and Weggis.
OPERATIONAL PADDLE
STEAMERS : Details and photographs
Uri
Unterwalden
Schiller
Gallia
Stadt Luzern
Steamer Photo
Comparisons
Steamer Engines - the
visible crankshaft
area
More Lake Lucerne Ships
History
of services and Historical paddle steamers
LAKE LUCERNE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
Go to the Photograph Collection
LAKE LUCERNE PIERS
More photos of lake Lucern are available in this website's "In Greater
Depth" section, where representative photos of most the many piers around
lake Lucerne, incluing all piers normally served by paddle steamer, are displayed.
Click
here to go to these photos
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Die
Geschichte der Schiffahrt auf dem Vierwaldstattersee
Josef Gwerder, Jurg Meister, Erich
Leichti
1999
Maihof Verlag AG, Luzern
ISBN 3-9520756-8-X
Reworking and updating of the 1987 celebration of 150 years of the
SGV - a comprehensive illustrated reference
Unsere Flotte
Vierwaldstattersee
Heinz Amstad, Othmar Egli, Kurt Hunziker, Anton Raber
1987
Verlag Dampferzeitung, Hirtenhofring 2, CH-6005 Luzern
Profile of the vessels in the fleet in 1987, short history of the SGV
old and new yards
Schiffe Aus Alter
Zeit
Peter A Meyer
1984
Buchverlag Keller & Co, CH-6002, Luzern, Switzerland
ISBN 3-85766-016-3
Detailed profiles of all the former vessels of the fleet up to PS
Wihelm Tell and PS Rhein (MV Waldstatter)
Detailed and copiously
illustrated profiles of the current paddle steamers are available in
the "Bordbuch" series
by Josef Gwerder
PS Stadt Luzern
-published in 1989 by Keller & Co AG, Luzern. ISBN
3-85766-030-9
PS Gallia - published
in 1991 by Keller & Co AG, Luzern. ISBN 3-0-7596-12-4
PS Uri - published in
1996 by Maihof Verlag, Luzern. ISBN 3-9520027-6-3
PS Schiller -
published 2000
Brief details of the vessels
can be found in the following more general Swiss steamer
guides:
Dampfschiffe
Schweiz
Anton Raber and Peter Horlacher
1982
Verlag Dampferzeitung, Luzern, Switzerland
Brief detals in four languages including
English
Paddle Steamers of the
Alps
Leslie Brown and Joe McKendrick
Ferry Publications
ISBN 1-871947-19-7
Illustrated profiles of the steamers and operating
areas
Schiffahrt auf den Schweizer
Seen
Anton Raber
1972
Orell Fussli Verlag, Zurich
ISBN 3-280-00285-0
Illustrated round up of Swiss lake vessels, with fleet lists and
sections on vessel design and engineering.
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