Where to find paddlers in the United Kingdom

[wsnowdon]

for UK residents or visitors, here is a list of locations of paddle
steamers and accessibility.


1. WINGFIELD CASTLE. Hartlepool Marina and maritime museum. Restored
to pre war condition.Static. Open to the public (free). Engines
turned over electricaly. Good tea room on board.
2. LINCOLN CASTLE. Grimsby harbour near the fisheries museum.
Beautifully restored.Static. Open to the public as a bar and
restaurant.
3. TATTERSHALL CASTLE. Thames embankment near Tower bridge, London.
Static but well looked after. Engines in excellent condition. Open to
the public as a bar/restaurant.
4. MAID OF THE LOCH. Balloch, Loch Lomand, Scotland. A good
restoration going on. Static at present, but is being restored for
sevice on the Loch. Open to the public. a Good exhibition on board,
plus a shop and cafe/bar. Plenty of volunteers to talk to. This is a
big paddler.
5 .MEDWAY QUEEN. Damhead creek, near Rochester. Under (slow-no
money) restoration. usualy open to the public if volunteers there.
Check Medway Queen website for information and contacts. A good shop
on site - plenty of photos videos pictures etc to buy. I have always
found a great welcome whilst visiting.
6. PADDLE TUG JOHN H AMOS. Privately owned but at Royal Dockyard
Museum, Chatham, Kent. In fairly poor condition though restorable.
Not open to the public, though you can get within spitting distance
for photos.
7. PS RTDE. River Island Marina ,River Medina, Isle of Wight. Poor
condition, though intact. Could be restored. Not open to the public
though you can get within touching distance all round her! Good
friendly bar/cafe in the Marina.
8. PS WAVERLEY.In service. ALWAYS worth a visit and trip, Constantly
changing
location for excursions. Chech PS Waverley website for timetables
and history.

9. PS KINGSWEAR CASTLE. A beautifuly restored steamer in daily use.
Located in the Royal Dockyard Museum, Kent. Take a trip on her- you
will remember it forever! Passes close to the JOHN H AMOS so you can
photograph her from the water. Good shop and tea bar on board.
All of the above can be found on web sites.

I have visited all of these ships at least once recently, so the
details are correct.

[wsnowdon]

Good morning David, sorry but the John H Amos has no dedicated
website. A pity as she is the very last steam paddletug left in the
British Isles from many hundreds built. Try typing in john+h+amos as
a search, you will come op with several sites containing
pictures/history
These are very good sites for paddler pictures/articles/links:
http.//www.pskc.freeserve.co.uk/indexhtm Kingswear Castle site-
prabably the most proffessional paddler site in existance. Hours of
pictures, articles and links.
http.//freespace.virgin.net/tom lee/index.htm Tom Lee has
built up a site on paddler history and memorabilia second to none.
Hundreds of ship photos each with a potted history and some lovely
articles on paddler memories and memorabilia, plus a good letters
forum. My favourite site. (Next to paddleducks of course!!) Cheerio,
Walter Snowdon.

[Alistair Deayton]

There are nice colour photos of her and other UK paddle tugs in a new book
entitled "Steam Tugs" by David L Williams, published by Ian Allan. Available
from Mainmast Books at Portsmouth and other good booksellers

Alistair Deayton