Medway Queen Paddle Steamer.

Th Medway Queen has emerged from dry dock, rivets and all... The Tug Captain certainly knows his trade.

With the gale coming up I bet they will wish it was back inside. They need a 48 hour weather window to tow it to Gillingham.

 

Yon tug driver should get more money, he is a VERY skilled man. He was near the wall but daylight was always showing.

 

A couple of pics

 

Wonderful to watch such fine seamanship! Thanks for sharing the video - the Medway Queen looks superb as well!

 

The ship is being towed by the same tug Christine and has rounded Lands End on its way to Gillingham Pier. ETA is 18:30 on Monday 18th.

 

It arrived today Tuesday afternoon, it did look nice, featured on meridian news this evening at 18.00 catch it on the i player.

 

What a fascinating project. The PS Medway is as much a new build as many of the locos that feature on this site. A complete new riveted hull no less, the first to be built in the UK for 50 years. Very impressive.

I have been on the Waverley a couple of times and that is such a graceful vessel and so much fun to visit the engine room while under way. This fantastic and somewhat low profile project looks to be producing a vessel of equaly worth. Well done to all

 

I crawled round this 30 years ago when it arrived back on the Medway on a barge because there were holes in the bottom causing her to nearly sink on the way back. I never thought I would see her looking like this and I've seen some great preservation work done in that time. Such an amazing achievement...well done to all and good luck in the next stages of restoration.

It gives us some compensation after the callous break up of Lincoln Castle. And the Medway area is compensated for many years caring for Kingswear Castle now (rightfully) back on the River Dart!

 

It was curious that on the day the Medway Queen arrived in Gillingham "The One Show" on BBC1 chose to run a feature about the use of paddle steamers to evacuate children from Dagenham, at the start of the war, to the East Anglian coastal towns. The report ended with the fact that there are none of the paddle steamers left on the water!

 

The piece referred to was primarily about vessels of General Steam Navigation, although a couple of images featuring MQ did appear and she was evidently involved in the evacuation. A shame that the BBC didn't join all the dots up though!

David

 

I have also seen 800s and 900s, I believe these were for through trains to/from another company or region. But the system as a whole does not always seem to have been strictly adhered to by the train planners.

 

Are you sure you're posting in the correct thread? This looks like it belongs in the WR reporting numbers thread.

 

It's a great pity that the Heritage Lottery Fund insisted on a rivetted hull although the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are no longer equipped to classify ships with rivetted hulls and therefore Medway Queen will most likely never be issued with a Passenger Certificate.

 

I've asked the MQPS and also on here about why they pressed ahead with the rivetted hull. No real answer from anywhere.

I suspect that they took the view that a ship we can't sell tickets on is better than no ship at all. I don't see how she's going to earn her keep if she's uncertificateable. Anybody out there know better?

On the other hand, the Natonal Lottery people are not entirely stupid and they will have insisted on a business plan for the money they allocate to be used wisely and for the benefit of the public. So maybe there's something we don't yet know?

That said, I'm really pleased they've done it and we haven't lost MQ. The new hull must be up there with Tornado and the other new builds as an achievement. I just really hope we haven't got a white elephant. If she does get MCA approval, put me down for a ticket!

 

Is that new build vessels or rebuilds?

 

New builds only - existing rivetted ships seem not to be a problem. Medway Queen is a newbuild. The fact that the new hull is being fitted with her original machinery wouldn't alter that.