
Built in 1912 by Escher Wyss of Zurich, Neuchatel sailed on the three connected Swiss Lakes Neuchatel, Biel and Murten until 1972 when she was withdrawn and started a new life as a restaurant berthed alongside at Neuchatel. In 2007 plans were hatched to return her to service and fit her with the steam engine taken from the Chiemsee paddle steamer Ludwig Fessler which had been removed when she was converted to Diesel hydraulic propulsion in 1973. Trials were run towards the end of 2013 and Neuchatel returned to service the following year with regular summer sailings linking Neuchatel with Cudrefin and Potalban, trips through the canal to Lake Murten and occasional sorties down Lake Neuchatel’s shore to Yverdon-Les-Bains. Neuchatel’s funnel collapses and she has no masts in order to be able to pass under the bridges in the Murten canal.
Here she is ready to set off from Neuchatel for Cudrefin at 09.50 on Saturday 28th July.















John Megoran