Indian Paddlesteamer

[Hankwilliams]

Hallo friends and neighbors,

here you will find an interesting article with photo of one of the last remaining indian paddlesteamers, PS "Bhopal":

www.irfca.org/articles/steamboat-bhopal.html

[greateastern]

Thanks for that. The Bhopal looks like the Denny paddlers of the 19th c . There are many drawings (some I which I scanned and put of PD a year or so ago, in the Denny List (4 vols).
here are some additional readings and a website dealing with the British India shipping Co which lists all the ships.
Chubb, H. J.
Irrawaddy Flotilla Company Limited, 1865-1950 / by H. J. Chubb and C. L. D. Duckworth.

McCrae, Alister.
Irrawaddy Flotilla / by Alister McCrae and Alan Prentice ; with a foreword by Bernard Fergusson.

Irrawaddy Flotilla Company.
Hand book of sailings and general information [microform].
1940

http://biship.com/ships.htm
british india steamship company

[Roderick Smith]

What a great find.  I am an IRFCA member, but hadn't seen this article before.

See also the thread http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2675.msg10896#msg10896
It has my photos of survivors in 1977.
PS Gomati and PS Yamuna.  I guess that there was a third, as the timetable needed two full time.
SWPV (SWPS?) Wyuna, SWPV Bhadra and SWPV (Rorseus?).

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[greateastern]

here are the drawings of the Bhopal denny yard No1390-3 205 1/2 including rudder (200ft oa without rudder, 60 ft 6 3/8 /31 x 8 3/4 ft + 5 1/4 ft 9 floats per paddle

[Hankwilliams]

Thank you for the drawings of PS "Bhopal".

I presume, itīs not too difficult to get the very interesting book from captain Chubb from amazon, so I did it a few years ago.
Anyone, who is interested about Irrawaddy paddle- and screwsteamers will find a fulness of informations with additional historic photos.

From National Maritime Museum some plans of Irrawaddy steamers are availiable. I got the plans of PS "China" from 1888 and one of the last build paddlesteamers of 1946. I still have  the plan for building a steamdriven model in 1 : 48, in Glasgow Transport Museum must bei a accurate model of the similar "Nepaul".

Roderick: Are the Rocket dieselised paddlers in Bangladesh still in use? If I remember in the right way, you once took a trip on a rocket steamer some years ago?

[Roderick Smith]

The news is scrappy.  AFAIK the big one (Ostrich) is out of use, but Lepcha and Tern survive.  The fourth at the time was screw, not paddle.  The corporation was trying to obtain modern replacements, but I don't if it succeeded.  Again, scrappy memory, but either new build as foreign aid, or second hand.   In Malawi, Ilala (screw) has just been replaced with a modern vessel, I guess as foreign aid.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Hankwilliams]

Hi friends and neighbors,

a further interesting article with pictures about a Mesopotamian quarter wheeler I found in:
www.irfca.org/articles/steamboat-jhelum.html

Thomas

[AlistairD]

The British India website menroned feeres to the ships of the Briotish India Line, which went from the UK to India.
 There were two companies in India pre-partition , the  Rivers Steam Navigation Company and the India General Navigations and Raiwlasy Company. which owned the Bhopal

[Hankwilliams]

I found an article from Indian newspaper about PS "Bhopal", build 1945 by Denny. The boat will be restored and make journeys again - but with diesel engines. It is planned, that the steam engine will be in situ for "educational reasons". If this intentions came true, this would be an interesting further point of paddlesteamer restauration in the world.

Thomas