The SCHÖNBRUNN, a paddle wheel steamer was built in 1912, together with its sisters ship the BUDAPEST and WIEN at the DDSG shipyard in Obuda (Altofen) near Budapest. Together with the steamers ERZHERZOG FRANZ FERDINAND and HERZOGIN VON HOHENBERG, built one year later in Linz and renamed the JOHANN STRAUS and FRANZ SCHUBERT respectively after the First World War, they were intended above all to improve regular traffic between Vienna and Linz and Vienna and Budapest.
The SCHÖNBURN is 74.62m long, 15.78 m wide, draws a draught of maximum of 1.73m, and is equipped with inclined compound steam engines supplying 710 hp.
The ship survived the confusion of two world wars in good condition, and was converted from coal-fired to oil-fired in 1954; the superstructure also renewed being renewed at the same time. There followed a number of other transformations, the interior decoration in particular being given an appearance intended to recall the Austrian Jugendstil. However, steam operation was labour-intensive, which made the running of the ship increasingly uneconomical, and for a few years the SCHÖNBURNN was used as a floating casino in Budapest.
It was subsequently the centrepiece of an Upper Austrian Provincial Exhibition in Engelhartszell in 1994.
In the meantime, the DDSG had been split up and hence the fate of the paddle steamer was extremely uncertain. In order to save it from the-in these circumstances-inevitable scrap yard, the company management had the ship classified as a technical monument in 1995 and offered it for sale to the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte (ÖGEG) for the symbolic sum of one Schilling plus 20% VAT. This society then, at great expense, returned the ship to operating condition and now runs a number of memory-lane trips on the Danube each year, thus making the SCHÖNBRUNN the oldest running steam cruiser on the river.
The sending of mail along the Danube using the DDSG ships can look back on a long tradition. The company was founded in 1829, and began running services to Budapest only one year later, rapidly extending its routes down to the Danube estuary. In 1834 the company’s first ocean-going ship the MARIA DOROTHEA, was launched. The fleet of ships grew continuously, and included a total of seven ocean-going vessels, and was soon operating services not only along the Danube but also to Constantinople and the eastern Mediterranean.
In 1845, the ocean-going ships were sold to Österreichische Lloyd from which time on the transport of mail by the DDSG was limited to the lower Danube. However this activity gained in importance to such an extend that from 1866 to 1880 the company even issued its own 10 and 17 Kreuzer stamps.
The mail ships were included in the DDSG timetables until 1939, although mail was no longer regularly carried on these routes. The issue of a stamp showing the most famous of the DDSG’s surviving steamships 180 years after the company was founded commemorates a long-standing enterprises that was of major importance for the Austrian economy.
Additional info on the ship:
1912/13 Built as a paddle steamer on the DDSG own yard built for their own account, together with the WIEN and BUDAPEST.
Displacement 556 ton, and carried till 1985, 900 passengers thereafter 250. Speed 25 km downstream.
Till 1985 was she used with the STADT WIEN and STADT PASSAU in the daily service between Vienna and Passau with overnight stops at Linz in each direction.
1954 Extensively refurbished in Linz with the addition of extensive covered accommodation on the main deck.
1974 Again she got a refit.
1986 Twice weekly Budapest trips started, along with a Sunday excursion to Dürnstein, passengers returning by steam train.
1987 A full service on a weekly base from Vienna to Passau.
1988 Laid up at Korneuburg near Vienna.
From 1990 till 1994 used as restaurant and casino, alongside in Budapest.
1994 towed to Engelhartszell, after the exhibition was finished towed to Linz in November that year.
October 1995 sold to the Austrian Railway History Society.
11 November 1998 narrowly avoided sinking at Linz as water entered one of the steam vents.
17 October 2000 saw her trials from Linz to the Abwinden locks. 2001 Passenger certificate received.
08 July 2001 a return trip took place between Linz to Aschach with invited guests.
From 2002 used mostly for charter voyages.
2008 She is the last paddlewheel steamer on the Danube, still has her original steam engine, and when not in use berthed at Linz-Urfahr near the Jahrmarktgelände. SG?
Source: Steamships of Europe by Alistair Deayton. http://paddlesteamers.awardspace.com/Schonbrunn.htm http://www.oegeg.at
Auke Palmhof