Trip to Suisse - PS "Neuchatel"

[Hankwilliams]

Hi,

last week we took a trip of the rebuild PS "Neuchatel", Escher-Wyss 1912.
The boat was in use until 1968 on Lake Neuchatel, Lake Bienne and Lake Murtensee. Canals connect the 3 lakes together, which makes a wide naval landscape.
After 1968 the "Neuchatel" for nearly 4 decades was used as a restaurant ship, engine and boiler became removed and scrapped. Plans to reactivate the boat rised in 2003 by Trivapor, a swiss association for restauration of steam trains and ships. In the following years the Trivapor got donations and some public support to rebild the boat to operating condition with steam.
Restauration to original condition startet in 2008, but there was the difficulty to get a suitable steam engine.
Fortunately the engine of the Lake Chiemsee paddler "Ludwig Fessler" of 1926 (this boat was dieselised in 1972) was preserved (nearly same power of the original Neuchatel engine, also compound diagonal) and after same discussions this engine was bought and overhauled. A new boiler for oil firing was constructed by an Italian workshop.
In late 2013 the boat was finished and after some boiler problems in 2014 the boat now is in excellent condition.
From may to september you can made a trip on her on the 3 lakes, it`s a very nice and picturesque experience.
I hope, you`ll like the pictures!

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's....& very nice images of an old paddler restored & she was very lucky to gain the 1926 engine from the Krupp Engine Works .....

This thing for people from OZ is seeing all of the travelling guests in shorts & short sleeve shirts........just like our climate.......Derek

[DamienG]

A great group of pictures. 

[Hankwilliams]

I forgot to mention, that it is a Maffei engine. Maffei - the famous locomotive workshops in Munich. The crankshaft was made by Krupp, Essen.
The far older paddler "Luitpold" from 1890 (see my pictures of motocycle trip to Lake Starnberg) has had a very similar engine.

Thomas

[Roderick Smith]

Truly wonderful news, and now I am seeing how to put this one into my coming Sept.-Nov. 40th anniversary Europe trip.
Roderick

[Hankwilliams]

Paddle vessels "Ludwig Fessler" and "Kaiser Franz Joseph"

Some pictures of the "Ludwig Fessler" on Lake Chiemsee, southeast of Munich.
The boat was one of the last constructed paddlesteamers in Germany, finished 1927 by the famous Munich loco works Maffei.
She was dieselised in 1972, but the compound diagonal steam engine was protected and is now working in PS "Neuchatel".
"Ludwig Fessler" is a nice boat of good proportions not very different from far older paddlers on Lake Starnberger See and Lake Ammersee.
She is now the last original Bavarian working paddler, the two paddlevessels on Lake Ammersee are replicas.

On Lake Wolfgangsee in Austria also one paddle vessel is in service - the far older "Kaiser Franz Joseph", built in 1873. The little ship was dieselised in
the 1950ties. In the last years she got a restauration and now she is external not far from the original condition.

Thomas