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PS Uri
operated a special New Year's Eve Gala Cruise from Luzern at 1930 | ||
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The 101 year old
festive period between Wednesday 25th December 2002 and Sunday 5th January 2003 ...... | ||
| ...... as well as the regular Friday evening Fondue Cruises on 27th December and 3rd January 2003 | |||
| see feature for full details | |||
| Last sailing of the season 2002 - 1100 Christmas Market Brunch cruise from Lausanne to Montreux on Sunday 22nd December | |||
Sunday Christmas Brunch Cruises from Lausanne at 1100 to the Montreux Christmas Market on Sunday 8th December This was the first public sailing with the engines controlled directly from the bridge | |||
| PS
Blümlisalp operated an evening Fondue Cruise on Saturday 19th October departing Thun at 1910 | |||
| The privately owned
MPV Genève was towed by
mv Général-Guisan from her regular Geneva base to the CGN Ouchy floating dock at Lausanne on Tuesday 15th October for routine maintenance It returned to Geneva on the afternoon of Monday 4th November towed by mv Léman Do you have any further information or photos suitable for display on this site ? | |||
instead of mv Chablais The 1230 sailing from Lausanne to St-Gingolph was combined with the first of four "Autumn Sunday Brunch Cruises" starting on Sunday 6th October - these were instead of the independant non-landing cruises originally planned to be operated by | |||
| PS
Blümlisalp operated an evening Fondue Cruise on Saturday 5th October departing Thun at 1910 | PS Stadt
Rapperswil made a rare Autumn Saturday appearance and operated sailings 107-108 on Saturday 5th October departing Zurich at 1130 |
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instead of the normal motor vessel on Monday 30th September | |||
on sailings 30-91a-80b-191 - 1000 and 1400 round trips from Lausanne to St-Gingolph - on Sunday 29th September On the same evening (sailings 172b-219 are to be withdawn in 2003) | |||
| Sunday 22nd September marked the official end of Summer Schedules for all Swiss Railways and Lake Steamers (including calls at most of the "Summer Only" piers) For full details see the individual Timetable Index for each lake:- Brienz Geneva - exception (finished Mon 16th Sept) Luzern Thun Zurich Limited sailings by paddle steamers continued into the Autumn, although in some cases on a 'non-advertised' basis instead of the regular motor vessel | |||
| A special Nidwaldner Transport
Exhibition took place at Stanstad SGV Pier and LSE Railway Station
on Saturday 21st September and 1621 and was 'open for guided tours' at 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 and 1500 | |||
| The paddle
steamer also operated two sailings to Alpnachstad under the Acheregg road and railway bridge departing 1010 and 1621 instead of the normal motor vessel See also feature item | |||
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evening Steam Boat Party from Zurich on Friday 6th September departing at 2000 | |||
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This was the last public sailing by | |||
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Whilst operating
sailing 13 with approx 300 passengers on board,
PS Stadt Luzern failed to slow
down at Flüelen pier at 1455 on
Monday 26th August The paddle steamer was approaching the end of sailing 13 (1120 'Wilhelm Tell Express' Luzern to Flüelen) when her hull became embedded in the mud just short of the retaining wall The passengers were able to leave the steamer with some delay and continue their journey The paddle steamer's booked return sailing 26 started from Bauen with the Brunnen based Pasengers returning from Flüelen travelled on a later sailing ( PS Schiller operated the next sailing 28 at 1620) PS Stadt Luzern was subsequently pulled from the mud by the Arnold company's 600 ton, 50 metre cargo vessel "Rudenz" built in 1991 Following repairs to the valve, the flagship was able to leave Flüelen at 2040 under its own steam and arrived back at Luzern Docks at 2230 for a thorough overnight examination Fortunately there was no serious damage and the paddle steamer was able to operate her regular sailings 13-26 on Tuesday 27th August See also photo feature | ||
| The
Tell Me sailing 111 was unusually operated by the two 100
year old steamers PS
Uri and | |||
| PS
Rhône broke down for the third time during 2002 with further serious problems with the hydraulic control system of the engine whilst operating the 1220 lunch cruise sailing 92 from Geneva on Sunday 18th August and was withdrawn from service for the remainder of 2002 Apparantly the equipment had failed twice to react and on one occasion the crew managed to moor PS Rhône to the former static PS Valais (permanently moored at Jardin-Anglais) to prevent a repeat of the accident to MPV Vevey on Friday 12th April this year
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| PS
Simplon operated the last of a short series of evening Disco Cruises from Geneva at 2300 on Saturday 17th August | |||
| Italian National Holiday Week 10-47 from Como at 0920 from Wednesday 14th August to Saturday 17th August vice mv Milano | |||
| PS Stadt
Rapperswil had just left Uetikon whilst operating sailing 136 on Wednesday 14th August with a full load of passengers on board heading for Meilen After about 500 metres at 1607 a sailing boat collided with the starbord paddle wheel housing and the sailor fell overboard and sustained injuries, resulting in him being taken to hospital No damage was caused to either vessel and the paddle steamer continued to Zurich about 15 minutes later | |||
| PS
Simplon operated the (five-day) "
week of the Simplon" timetabled sailings along the full
length of the lake instead of the smaller
Sunday 11th August Monday 12th August Tuesday 13th August Wednesday 14th August and Thursday 15th August see also photo feature | |||
| PS
Simplon operated the annual sailing from Yvoire (France) at 2005 to the
Fêtes de Genève
Fireworks at Geneva on Saturday 10th
August - this sailing was traditionally operated by Spring 2002) | |||
| In additional to the normal
timetabled sailings, cruising round Luzern Bay for the annual fireworks display | |||
| PS
Blümlisalp operated an evening
Jazz Cruise from Thun at 2000 on Friday 9th August | |||
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| Swiss National Day - Thursday 1st August | |||
| In additional to the regular timetabled
sailings
| |||
| In additional to the regular
timetabled sailings PS Simplon operated an evening dance cruise from Geneva at 2030 | |||
| The four operational
paddle steamers operated a normal Sunday timetable on Thursday 1st August leaving all the Alpnachstad sailings to be operated by motor vessels PS Unterwalden and PS Schiller exchanged their normal rosters and the latter operate non-stop from Beckenried to Luzern on sailing 28a | |||
| Fireworks at Brunnen All four operational paddle steamers sailed in convoy along with some of the motor vessels from Luzern at 2000 to Brunnen for the annual fireworks display | |||
| In additional to the regular afternoon
timetabled sailings
| |||
| In additional to the revised
(neither paddle steamer being able to sail into the Obersee due to major engineering works at the railway bridge) an | |||
| Last visit of 2002 to Switzerland
(advised to me) | |||
| PS
Simplon operated the first of a short series of evening Disco Cruises from Geneva commencing on Friday 26th July | |||
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| PS
Blümlisalp operated an evening
Jazz Cruise from Thun at 2000 on Friday 19th July | |||
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Flüelen at 1930 on Tuesday 16th July | |||
| In consequence
the regular 1915 'Sunset Cruise' from Luzern to Vitznau | |||
| PS
Montreux broke down with generator trouble off Rolle on the return evening cruise sailing 218 on Thursday 11th July 2002 MPV Vevey (which was on a Private Charter) was diverted and passengers off PS Montreux were transferred and conveyed to Rolle pier to complete their journey by bus This was the first time PS Montreux had failed to complete any public sailing since returning to steam propulsion in 2001 | |||
| MPV
Italia made a rare timetabled sailing and unusually operated the
'full-length'
sailing 10 from Desenzano
to Riva vice the regular car-ferry on Thursday 11th
July (the day of the Italian National 'Strike') Do you have any further information ? | |||
| MPV Vevey operated an afternoon Dance Cruise from Geneva at 1430 on Tuesday 9th July | |||
| The 'bow-rudder' of the
PS Lotschberg jammed at right-angles after leaving Brienz at 1604 whilst operating sailing 70 on Sunday 7th July The captain managed to steer the ship, with about 600 passengers on board, using just the 'stern-rudder' to counter the 'bow-rudder' problems as far as Bönigen where it was decided not to attempt to sail the usual 'stern-first' along the River Aare Passengers were conveyed forward to Interlaken by bus and the following motor vessel Repairs to the damaged 'bow-rudder' were undertaken over the next three days (with timetabled services opareated by a motor vessel) and the paddle steamer was back in service on Thursday 11th July Initially the paddle steamer acted as a "temporary" extension to Bönigen pier with passengers joining and alighting the motor vessels by walking through PS Lötschberg | |||
| MPV Italie operated the first of a series of new Friday evening Dance Cruises from the Upper Lake piers on Friday 5th July | |||
| In conection with the Annual
General Meeting of the SGV the previous day, The return sailing was unusually shown to return non-stop and was scheduled to take a leisurely 105 minutes ! Can YOU confirm how long it actually took ? | |||
| PS Lötschberg operated an evening Jazz Cruise from Interlaken at 1930 on Saturday 22nd June | |||
| Festival and Fireworks at Bouchs To complete the weekend celebrations for 100 years of | |||
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| Festival at Bouchs Whilst at Bouchs, the paddle steamer also operated two short free non-landing cruises | |||
| Sunday 16th June (again later than in recent years)
marked the official start of Summer Schedules for
all Swiss Railways and Lake Steamers (including calls at most
of the "Summer Only" piers) There were minor timing alterations to many services - for full details see the individual Timetable Index for each lake:- Brienz Geneva - exception (started Sunday 19th May) Luzern - exception (started Sunday 19th May) Thun Zurich | |||
service on Wednesday 5th June instead of the regular mv Léman Relief is normally provided by another motor vessel or occasionally by one of the two smaller motor paddle vessels during the winter period | |||
| MPV Vevey took part in an "Exercise - Fire on the Vevey" between 0800 and 1015 in the bay of Geneva before normal timetabled sailings | |||
 1992-2002 |
Ten years since the re-introduction of paddle
steamers on Lake Thun | ||
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(1131 and 1431 Interlaken to Brienz and return) on Whit Monday 20th May instead of one of the motor vessels | |||
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from Thun to Interlaken and 1555 return) on Whit Monday 20th May instead of one of the motor vessels | |||
and 1610 return) on Whit Monday 20th May instead of one of the motor vessels | |||
 1902-2002 |
Wednesday 15th May The | ||
| ....... before a special Evening Cruise from Luzern at 1800 to Alpnachstad | |||
| Swiss Mothers Day usually results in additional or special sailings on most of the Swiss Lakes, some of which are by paddle steamers | |||
| This year PS
Lötschberg was in service again (last year she was in the middle of a re-build) and operated the usual two round trips from Interlaken to Brienz and return at 1131 and 1431 | |||
| Six paddle
steamers met at Rolle at 1445 for a 90 minute Naval Parade which included sailing round the island of La Harpe on Sunday 12th May | |||
| In addition, the remaining motor paddle vessel operated timetabled sailings 80a-91b | |||
| As well as the usual sailings by
PS Uri and | |||
| PS Blümlisalp operated just the regular sailings 15-16 from Thun on Sunday 12th May | |||
| No paddle steamers were advertised to be in service
on Swiss Mothers Day - Sunday 12th May and in view of the inclement weather it is understood neither paddle steamer left dock Can you confirm ? | |||
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return) on Ascension Thursday 9th May instead of one of the motor vessels | |||
| Three
paddle steamers were on timetabled service including
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and 1555 return) instead of one of the motor vessels on Ascension Thursday 9th May | |||
| The large
PS La Suisse operated three short
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| First visit of 2002 to Switzerland | |||
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and dream cruise from Luzern at 1800 on Thursday 2nd May | |||
| Swiss Navigation Day traditionally marks the start of excursion sailings (as opposed to ferry runs) on most of the main Swiss Lakes | |||
| This year PS
Lötschberg was back in service again (last year she was in the middle of
a trips from Interlaken to Brienz and return at 1131 and 1431 | |||
| Three paddle steamers were in service
this year on Sunday 28th April Unfortunately the large MPV Helvétie was no longer available to make another rare public appearance on the Geneva based sailings 80 -110 -134-91 to Yvoire so her place was taken by PS Simplon also operated sailings 33-50-64-155 from Lausanne to Evian-les-Bains then to St-Gingolph whilst MPV Italie operated her usual sailings 43-172-179-206 from Lausanne to Geneva then to Evian-les-Bains | |||
| Although the official timetable only advertised two paddle steamers to be in service on Sunday 28th April PS Unterwalden was also be in service and operated sailings 59-66-17-28 vice a motor vessel | |||
2002 season on Sunday 28th April with the usual sailings | |||
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| In addition
- 0930 and 1430 Zurich to Rapperswil and return | |||
| Italian National Holiday Como at 1000 on Thursday 25th April vice a motor vessel followed by a short late-afternoon relief sailing to Torno | |||
| The large
PS Simplon made a third appearance on timetabled services and operated sailings 33-50-64-155 on Sunday 21st April as a consequence of the damage to | |||
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PS Concordia was partially re-furbished over the winter and
operated sailings 12-31 on Sunday 21st April vice the advertised motor vessel followed by a short relief sailing to Torno | |||
| The large
PS Simplon made a second appearance on timetabled services and operated sailings 30-91-80-191 on Sunday 14th April vice second time the previous Sunday | |||
| The large
PS Simplon made a rare appearance on timetabled services and operated sailings 80-191 on Saturday 13th April as a consequence of the damage to previous evening | |||
 |
Whilst returning from Yvoire on
Friday 12th April operating
sailing 99 with approx 25
passengers on board, MPV Vevey
collided with Mont Blanc bridge at approx 1810 whilst swinging round to Mont Blanc pier It appears that there were problems with the rudder, which failed to respond and the flow of the water entering the River Rhône swept the motor paddle vessel violently onto the bridge before the anchor could be dropped - all passengers were safely landed direct onto the bridge using one of its parapets which was the same height as the upper deck One of the motor paddle vessel's windows was broken by the base of a flag pole on the bridge - however a full examination was required to ascertain if any serious damage has occured to the motor paddle vessel below the water line The lock gate on the river was subsequently closed to stem the flow of the water and the motor paddle vessel was able to move away from the bridge with assistance from the local police launches MPV Vevey returned to Ouchy works for repairs and remained out of service until Thursday 9th May (see also library picture of Mont Blanc bridge with the former PS Valais moored in the background) | ||
| PS
Rhône broke down for the second week running at approx 1400 on
Sunday 7th April on
arrival at Lausanne after operating
sailing 91 The afternoon sailings 80-191 were operated instead by mv Chablais following its Sunday lunch cruise to Evian-les-Bains PS Rhône returned to Ouchy works for repairs | |||
| The large 'flagship'
mv Lausanne made a rare appearance on
longer distance timetabled services by operating
sailings 30-91-80-191 on
Easter Monday vice | |||
| PS
Rhône broke down at Villeneuve at approx 1545 on
Easter Sunday Passengers were transferred to PS Rhône limped back under her own steam to Ouchy works (arrive approx 1800) for repairs | |||
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vice a motor vessel | |||
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This would have been the first time a paddle steamer had operated a Winter Timetabled service from Geneva for many years | |||
Public sailings included the special Naval Parade on Sunday 12th May and timetabled sailings between Sunday 30th June and Sunday 1st September | |||
the 1230 Lausanne to | |||
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at 1015 before timetabled sailings 17-26 on Wednesday 2nd January | |||
9th March 2004
e-mail:john@rhos.screaming.net
(c)1999-2004
John B Bird
