Preserved Marine Steam Engines

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

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
	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....
	Krippen 2 cylinder oscillating Photo courtesy of Nigel Clark
	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

	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
	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

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.

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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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