Happier news from Balloch… Maid of the Loch to set sail again

BR’s only new-build paddle steamer, Maid of the Loch, could sail again in 2018. With the promise of a £3.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the registered charity Loch Lomond Steamship Company is now looking to raise a further £1.7m to restore the vessel to passenger operation. During the last 20 years, the group has spent over £1.9m on refurbishing the ship as an events venue at Balloch pier on Loch Lomond, as well as restoring the 1902 steam-powered slipway. Ordered by the British Transport Commission from A. & J. Inglis of Glasgow to replace two earlier, smaller paddle steamers, Maid of the Loch was too big to be transported to Loch Lomond via the River Leven, and had to be delivered in component form by rail. Launched in March 1953, it was the last paddle steamer built for railway service, and the last major vessel of this type, to be built in Britain.