paddlesteamers.info : The Internet's leading website for
Side-Wheeled Paddle Steamers
Firth
of Clyde, UK
London
Midland & Scottish
Railway
The
amalgamation of Britain's various private railways into four main
groups took place in 1923 and included merging the oprations of the
two companies (Caledonian and Glasgow & South Western) which had
competed fiercely from piers on the Ayrshire and Renfrewshire coast.
The vessels of the G&SWR had been directly railway-owned and were
transferred directly to the new LMS. The parliamentary powers granted
to the G&SWR were less extensive than those to the Caledonian
Steam Packet Company which had operated as a subsidiary of it's
railway parent, yet after 1923, the LMS and CSP fleets remained
separately registered. This situation, which did not allow LMS boats
to visit certain parts of the Firth, especially the longer-haul
cruise destinations, remained unchanged until the LMS boats were
re-registered with CSP shortly before the Second World War. The LMS
was absorbed into the nationalised British Railways in
1948.
Mercury (1934)
was the last (and only) paddle steamer purchased by the London, Midland
& Scottish Railway on their direct account rather than through
their Caledonian Steam Packet subsidiary. The reason for this is
unclear because Mercury's near-sister Caledonia was registered with the
subsidiary and was therefore allowed a greater range of services
due to a legal technicality. She sported the enclosed paddle-box design
favoured by the company in the 1930s - part modern art-deco style and
part concealment of what was by then a decidedly old-fashioned form of
propulsion.
An Anderson family photograph of the paddle steamer
calling at Lochranza by kind courtesy of Bill Anderson
Vessels transferred from
the Glasgow & South Western Railway in
1923
PS
Glen Sannox
PS Mercury
PS Glen Rosa
PS Jupiter
PS Juno
Turbine Steamer : Atalanta
New Build 1923 -
1938
Turbine Steamer : Glen Sannox
PS Mercury
Vessels
transferred to the Caledonian Steam Packet Company : Glen Rosa, Mercury and turbine steamer Glen Sannox
Note : For details about turbine steamers,
please go to the Clyde
Turbine Steamers website
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Steamers of the 1930s
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