Steam slipway being rebuilt
A £200,000 renewal of the 119-yearold Balloch steam slipway is under way following irreparable damage to the wooden sections of the original when PS Maid of the Loch was being taken out of the water on the slipway cradle on January 12, 2019.
The ship splintered part of the cradle and ran away down the slipway before being brought under control. John Beveridge, Loch Lomond Steamship Company chairman, said: “We have removed all the wood from the carriage and our ideal solution was to replace it entirely with steel. However, as it is grade ‘A’ listed, we have had to design a new carriage with some wood. We have been able to use the rail and bogies of the original, along with some of the structural steelwork.
“The project is being managed by Industrial Heritage Consulting Limited and carried out by volunteers. We have applied to Historic Environment Scotland for a grant to offset some of the £200,000 cost. When completed, the renewed slipway carriage and its original working Bennie steam engine, which is also being overhauled, will be able to draw MOTL from the loch for repairs once again.”
The unique steam slipway was built in 1901 by the Dumbarton & Balloch Joint Railway Board to allow railway steamers on Loch Lomond to be drawn out of the water for winter maintenance.
It carried out that role using the original Bennie steam engine, housed in a Caledonian Railway-designed building – which is also in use today – until Maid of the Loch was withdrawn in 1981.
In 2006 the steam engine, winch and slipway was restored to working order by LLSC and used to bring the steamer out of the water for inspection and hull repairs, with regular steaming weekends also bring run. Passed fit for the 2019 lift of MOTL, the structure failed under the weight of the steamer, leaving complete renewal as the only option.