PS Waverley 40 years of preservation

摘要

On 21 May 2014 the paddle steamer Waverley will make her way down-the-river Clyde from Glasgow, retracing the route she took 40 years earlier when, on 22 May 1975, her now legendary career as a preserved historic ship began. 40 years in operational preservation is a major success for any heritage ship, but nothing short of a miracle for a large, seagoing paddle steamer. But Waverley continues to sail in 2014 under the flag of Waverley Steam Navigation Company, her owners since those early days of 1975. Built in 1947 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Waverley was a replacement for the earlier Waverley of 1899, which was lost at Dunkirk. She was a ship out of time - a pre-war paddle steamer with a 2,100hp triple expansion engine built in the era of diesel-powered passenger and car ferries, principally because of the need to navigate shallow water in the confines of her terminal at Craigendoran on the north bank of the Firth of Clyde.