The Lake Brienz paddle steamer Lotschberg was built in 1914 by Escher Wyss for service from Interlaken on Lake Brienz. She is 182ft long, has a breadth of 42ft and during the summer usually makes two round trips from Interlaken to Brienz at the eastern end of the lake every day.
After the 2000 season she was taken out of service for a major restoration and is pictured here in the covered drydock at Interlaken in January 2001.
Looking forward a new small deck saloon (stubli) has been completed in aluminium on the promenade deck. The yellow planking on the main deck is to protect the ship’s wooden decks from damage during the work and the end of the starboard bridge wing stands minus the rest of the ship’s bridge.
A new boiler has been installed, the top of the aft end of which is visible sticking out from under the fiddley. The boiler has traditional dished ends like the new one for Kingswear Castle and the top access boiler manhole door has a temporary protective ring around it.
Just aft of the the starboard paddle wheel looking along the hull under the continuous sponson towards the stern.
The starboard paddle wheels minus its floats.
A proposed new colour scheme for the ship. The pea soup shade of green also featured on the inside of the bulwarks of the British paddle steamers Consul and Princess Elizabeth during brief periods of the 1960s.
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
