In the spring of 1967 Caledonia was reserve steamer based at Gourock for the ferry services once again and as usual had a number of outings on scheduled services at a time of year not generally associated with paddle steamer trips by the mid 1960s except of course on the Humber.
These included taking over the ferry run to Millport on Sunday 5th March. She was out again doing the same thing on subsequent Sundays in March and on 12th even carried from Millport to Largs one car driven aboard over planks onto her promenade deck when the tide gave relatively level access. Loadings were quite good despite the time of year with numbers for the day sometimes approaching 1,000.
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 5th March 2021.
