Maid of the Loch

[matchmaker]

Expressions of interest are now being sought from companies wishing to make her sea (loch?) worthy.

[Simpo Two]

Is that the paddle steamer that plied Loch Lomond in the 1980s?

[matchmaker]

Simpo Two said:

Is that the paddle steamer that plied Loch Lomond in the 1980s?

Yes - from the 1950's to the early 1980's.

[IforB]

matchmaker said:

Expressions of interest are now being sought from companies wishing to make her sea (loch?) worthy.

Money. Pit.

[Heartworm]

I thought it had been under renovation for a few years

[Neonblau]

Heartworm said:

I thought it had been under renovation for a few years

Since 1996 or thereabouts. I seem to recall a lot of effort had to go into renovating the old slipway (the loch equivalent of a dry dock facility) before restoration of the ship itself could start.

As the poster above states these things are just massive money pits. I do wonder with Waverley, Queen Mary and now the Maid how thinly resource will be spread. Three expensive and resource hungry projects in a very small area.

[Simpo Two]

Fascinating; I was on Loch Lomond in 1981 and Maid of the Loch was a tourist attraction, plying daily. Presumably it made money then. Why does it not make money now? People have money, tourism is big. What has changed?

[IanA2]

Nanook said:

Simpo Two said:

Fascinating; I was on Loch Lomond in 1981 and Maid of the Loch was a tourist attraction, plying daily. Presumably it made money then. Why does it not make money now? People have money, tourism is big. What has changed?

A few things.

It got old, needed money spent on it.

The places on the loch that it used to visit got silted up, and there are no dredgers there to clear it out, so it had to stop visiting some stops.

More, cheaper boats arrived on the loch.

It'd be nice to see it fixed up I suppose, but I'm not going to be offering my services

Interesting, do you know which locations were silted up?