P. S. ‘Maid of the Loch’, was built by A.J. Inglis of Pointhouse, Glasgow, in 1953, and is now the sole surviving Loch Lomond paddle steamer and also the last traditional paddle steamer to have been built in the UK.

Of 555 gross tonnage, she has a raked stem, cruiser stern and traditional slatted paddle boxes with Celtic decoration.

Unlike her predecessors she was too large to be towed from the Clyde shipbuilders up the River Leven to the Loch. She was, therefore, transported in sections by road and rebuilt on the Loch-side.

From the mid-1960s onwards, like many others of her kind, she struggled for survival and in 1981 was finally laid up by her owners, Caledonian MacBrayne, with boiler problems. She was sold to Alloa Breweries and used as a pontoon for passengers to reach the Countess Fiona, which had also been brought to Loch Lomond from the Clyde estuary.

The idea was that the Countess would make enough money to help return the Maid to full operation. This was not to be and eventually both ships were out of service and the creditors were removing anything of value. After several summers when the decks were allowed to dry out, water started to enter the ship and by 1993, the Maid was in a terrible condition and being kept afloat by a small band of enthusiasts armed with a submersible pump.

Finally Dunbartonshire Council became the owners and the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society was allowed to start a modest rescue operation. The ship was gifted to the Loch Lomond Steamship Company and since then there have been great strides forward.

Firstly, and most urgently, the promenade deck was replaced with steel and the ship is now weather proofed. Then the old boiler was removed in sections. The after lounge was renovated to the point where functions could be held on-board. There then followed a long stint replacing the decking and the starboard engine room alleyway, before we turned our attention to the dining saloon and the galley. The engineers too have been busy overhauling the machinery. One huge advantage compared to other projects such as the Medway Queen is that the Maid lies in fresh water and both the hull and the machinery are in excellent condition.

Round the corner - New holding tanks for sewage (she wont be allowed to dump anymore as Loch Lomond is now a water supply), two new toilets in the paddle wings and a visitors' centre in the forward observation lounge.

The Maid's environment is also being improved with car parks, toilets and the Loch Lomond Park Rangers HQ all on the doorstep.

The Maid should open as a Function Suite / Conference Centre / Tea-room and general Visitor Attraction in the summer of 2000 BUT that is NOT the end because a little further round the corner will be two new boilers and the Maid WILL steam again.

The directions to the Maid are clouded over at the moment because of near-by construction work but we are allowed to park in our very own turning-loop beside the old pier-house. Soon, though, there will be a "Maid of the Loch" car park.

Visitors should slow down when they see the Balloch Railway Station sign (about 20 miles from Glasgow at the south end of Loch Lomond) and drive half a mile down Pier Road which is almost directly opposite the station.

Gross Tonnage: 555

Cylinders: hp 24in lp 48in x 51in stroke

Passenger capacity: 1000

Draft 4 ft 6 in

Frank Bates,                                                                                                                                                                         3 Conic Way  Stirlingshire 
Drymen G63 0DT                                                                                                                                                       013606 660 408