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Historical
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Loch
Lomond, UK
The Loch
Lomond Steamboat Company became the dominant force on Britain's
largest and probably most famous lake. In 1888 the company was taken
over by the Noth British Railway and in 1896 by the Dumbarton &
Balloch Joint Line Committee, in which the railway company and two of
its competitors took joint interest in the branch railway from the
main line at Dumbarton to the south end of the lake at Balloch. The
steamers and pier came under joint control and continued as such by
the successor railway companies until nationalisation in 1948. In
1957, the steamer service was transferred to the control of the
Caledonian Steam Packet Company, the Clyde steamer subsidiary of
British Railways, and at the time of the first joint committee, the
deadly rival of the North British.
After 1953, steamer service on the lake became a one-ship operation
with the new PS Maid of the Loch, surprisingly built as a paddle
steamer, and the last such passenger vessel built for British waters.
A large vessel, around double the size of the two paddlers she
replaced, the Maid was to struggle financially against declining
traffic until withdrawn after the 1981 season.
The last lake cruiser other than smaller vessels providing shorter
localised cruises was the Countess Fiona, brought overland from the
Clyde to replace the Maid of the Loch. She ran until the end of the
1989 season and lay at Balloch until scrapped ten years later. The
Maid, meanwhile, was subject to several abortive restoration plans,
but volunteer maintenance over many years halted her deterioration
and restoration to steam is now a realistic target.
Early Steamers
Marion (1816-1827)
Lady of the Lake (1825-1834)
Euphrosyne (1827-1837)
Balloch (1835-1837)
Lochlomond (1836-1846)
Queen of Scots (1838)
Waterwich (1844-1853)
Pilot (1850)
Vessels of the Loch Lomond Steamboat Co (1845-1888)
Price Albert (1850-1862)
Queen Victoria (1852-1868)
Prince of Wales (1858-1901)
Prince Consort (1862-1899)
Princess of Wales (1866-1881)
The Queen (1883-1911)
Empress (1888-1933)
Vessels of the Joint Railway Committee
Prince George (1898-1942)
Princess May (1898-1953)
Prince Edward (1911-1955)
Princess Patricia
(1914-1938)
Queen Mary (1914 - but never
used in service - scrapped 1929)
Vessels of the Railway Executive - Scottish Region (British
Railways)
Caledonian Steam Packet Co from May 1957
Maid of the
Loch (1953-1981)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Loch Lomond Passenger Steamers
1918-1989
By Alan Brown
Published by Allan T Condie Publications
ISBN 1 85638 028 0
Highly detailed and copiously illustrated history of steamer
services
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