Neuchâtel (ship)

Neuchâtel

Steamship Neuchâtel in Murten

Ship data flag  Switzerland Ship type Paddle steamer Shipyard Escher Wyss AG , Zurich Launch 1912

Ship dimensions and crew length 46 m ( Lüa ) width 11 m displacement 153  t

Machine system machine 2-cylinder compound machine Machine performance 360 hp (265 kW) Top speed 12.5 kn (23 km / h)

Transport capacities Permitted number of passengers 300

The Neuchâtel is a paddle wheel steamer built in 1912 , which operated on Lake Biel , Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Murten in Switzerland until 1968 and will be back in service there from May 2014 after a renovation. It has a capacity of 300 people.

history

The ship was built in 1912 by Escher Wyss AG in Zurich to carry 550 people and operated on the Jura lakes. It is the only half saloon steamer in service in Switzerland. Because the saloon is built into the hull and the chimney can be retracted, the Neuchâtel can pass under the canal bridges and thus operate on all three lakes.

In 1968 the Neuchâtel was taken out of service due to a boiler defect. Until 2006 the ship was a floating restaurant in Neuchâtel . The restaurant was initially operated under the name Au vieux Vapeur and later renamed Au Bateau . In 1999 the journalist Denis Barrelet founded the Trivapor association , which set itself the goal of buying and restoring the ship. With contributions from the federal government, Loterie Romande , the cantons of Neuchâtel and Vaud , many riverside communities and private donors, including the Bern dentist and patron Marc Oesterle, the current Trivapor Foundation was able to buy Neuchâtel in 2007 and put it back into operation by 2013.

Since the original Escher-Wyss steam engine had been scrapped when the ship was converted into a restaurant, a suitable replacement had to be found. This was found in the form of the preserved machine of the paddle steamer Ludwig Fessler of the Chiemsee shipping company . With the number 576 this is the last ship steam engine that was built by Maffei . It was removed when the Ludwig Fessler was converted to diesel-electric drive in 1973 and, after various changes of ownership, it was acquired by Trivapor in 2004.

Web links

Commons : Neuchâtel (ship)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Trivapor Foundation

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Alois Feusi: The last half salon steamer in Switzerland: A ship like no other , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , published online on December 26, 2013
2. ↑ Trivapor: History of DS “Neuchâtel”
3. ^ Albert Gieseler: Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik JA Maffei: Ship steam engine . Retrieved December 28, 2015.
4. ^ The project to restart DS Neuchâtel . Trivapor. Retrieved December 28, 2015.