LOTSCHBERG (not LOETSCHBERG)
Paddle steamer, operator BLS Interlaken, Built 1914 Escher Wyss, Zurich, 260 tons (displacement), 55.6m x 6.8/12.8m, 900 passengers.
Machinery, compound diagona1; 450hp, 25,8km/hr. Route Interlaken-Brienz
The LoTSCHBERG is the only paddlesteamer on the scenic Lake Brienz.She sails twice a day from Interlaken to Brienz the lower terminus of the steampowered Briener Rothorn railway. She had a green hull prior to 1967 and then until 1979 a pink hull, but now sports the white hull of the other Swiss paddlers. Converted to oil firing about 1967,and the midships section was glassed-in during the sevenies.
Because she sails astern down the River Aare from the lake to Interlaken East station, she is fitted with a bow rudder and a second wheel aft.
Article by IDUHAUT and published in Log Book August 1992.
Detail from the book "Steamships of Europe" by Alistair Deayton.
Switzerland SG952ms