Search Results

E C B Thornton recounts in his excellent book South Coast Pleasure Steamers (which has been my constant companion since it was given to me by my parents as a

In the aftermath of the Second World War, paddle steamers in Britain initially did rather well, with four new ones built between 1946 and 1953, including Bristol Queen, and about

As the 1950s wore on and cars for wide spread personal use were on the up, it became clear that the winds of change would blow the Clyde paddle steamers

Sixty years ago, 1958 was an absolutely terrible season for P & A Campbell’s Bristol Channel paddle steamer services. The company was already in deep financial trouble trying to continue

In the spring of 1967 a small group of PSPS Wessex Branch members visited the paddle steamer Embassy in the Backwater at Weymouth shortly before she was towed away to

Between 1922 and 1930 four coal-fired paddle steamers Squires, Gordon, Will Crooks and John Benn were built by J Samuel White of Cowes for the short Woolwich free ferry crossing

On the 18th June 1936 Bournemouth Corporation introduced a new set of byelaws, sanctioned by the Minister of Transport, to regulate the use of Bournemouth Pier to replace an earlier

The steaming time from Hastings to Shanklin was scheduled as five and a quarter hours each way, although adverse tides could extend this, so if you add that on to

Enthusiast and business man Don Rose tried hard to save and operate the former Clyde paddle steamer Jeanie Deans. Here she is alongside Tower Pier on 28th May 1966 with

On Saturday 6th August Devonia ran between Brighton and Eastbourne with an afternoon cruise round the Sovereign Lightship. She took the cross channel sailings to Boulogne, giving about 3 hours

Consul’s 1960 season based at Weymouth started on Saturday 4th June with a shuttle service for Portland Dockyard Navy Days leaving Weymouth Pleasure Pier on the hour every hour from

By 1957 the finances of P & A Campbell, paddle steamer operators, were becoming seriously troubled and economies had to be made to stay in business. One time flagship of

Despite the weather in 1955 being described in the accounts of Cosens & Co as ‘the best experienced for several years’ the financial results for the season were not great

From 1897 onwards for over thirty years the Joint Railway service run by the London and South Western Railway and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway and their successor

After the development of the docks at Ipswich in 1842 the Eastern Counties Railway and its successor, the Great Eastern Railway, built several paddle steamers to sail up and down

Try travelling on international journeys without a passport today in the modern world and just see how far you get. In 1955 the winds of change were blowing in the

The three sisters Tattershall Castle (pictured), Wingfield Castle and Lincoln Castle spent their operational careers from the 1930s through to the 1970s primarily paddling backwards and forwards with passengers and

Chris Wood (pictured above left at the helm of the Fairmile B Poole Belle (2) with Neil “Smiler” Purdy, right) has not only enjoyed two highly successful professional careers simultaneously

1966 was the year that a new livery was adopted for the British Railways fleet with greenish-blue hulls and funnels in orangey-red with a black top adorned with the new

After the Second World War around sixty ferry and excursion paddle steamers were operational on the rivers, estuaries and coast of the UK. Although five were built for service after