On Wednesday 28th February 1968 work was in hand aboard Cardiff Queen to prepare her for the tow from Barry to Newport the following day.
Withdrawn in September 1966, P & A Campbell’s she had been advertised for sale by Weymouth shipbroker Tony McGinnity who handled many of the excursion paddle steamer sales in the 1960s and who worked tirelessly to try to find new work for them either operationally or in a static role.
One intriguing idea which was investigated was the possibility of finding her a new career operating on the Forth. Sadly nothing came of this and in the end she was bought by a Mr Critchley in 1968 for use as a static bar and nightclub with a tow arranged to move her from Barry to Newport during the morning of Thursday 29th February 1968.
In the end Mr Critchley decided not to proceed with his exciting plans so Cardiff Queen was sold on to Newport shipbreaker John Cashmore making the short voyage to his yard on Tuesday 9th April 1968.
Kingswear Castle returned to service in 2023 after the first part of a major rebuild which is designed to set her up for the next 25 years running on the River Dart. The Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust is now fund raising for the second phase of the rebuild. You can read more about the rebuilds and how you can help if you can here.
John Megoran
This article was first published on 28th February 2021.
