Built as an iron, wood sheated paddle steamer by Ditchborn & Mare, Greenwich, U.K. for the Schifffarthgesellschaft des Vierwaldstätersees, Swiss.
Tonnage 90 ton, dim. 40.2 x 8.6m.
One steam engine around 30hp. manufactured by Penn & Son. Engine was delivered on 15 September 1847.
Accommodation for 200 passengers.
16 July 1847 delivered.
The hull sections were transported from London to Strasbourg by ship, then by train to Basel, from where it was transported by horse wagons to Lucerne (Luzerne).
12 December 1847 the sections arrived at Lucerne, where she was assembled by British yard workers.
27 December 1847 the engine and boiler arrived in Antwerp, and were transported via Cologne and Mannheim.
The Badischen railways refused to transport the boiler, only the engine was transported by rail to Schliengen, while the boiler was transported over the road.
27 January 1848 the boiler and engine arrived at Lucerne
16 March 1848 launched as the RIGI.
01 April 1848 was her maiden voyage from Luzern to Flüelen, the passage took her 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Building cost 69.000 Franken.
After many technical alternations, the company decided to sell the RIGI for 60.000 Franken but the deal fell through.
1872 New engines fitted in.
1894 She received oscillating steam engines, manufactured by Escher Wyss, Zürich.
1860 and 1894 was she lengthened
1925 Refitted and modernized.
1952 Withdrawn from service.
1959 After many years laid up she was bought by the Swiss Transport Museum at Lucerne for 1.000 SF and transported over dry land from the lake to the museum, where she became an outdoor exhibit and cafeteria.
Her engines can be turned electric when you put some money in-the-slot machine.
During a flood in 2005 it suffered heavy damage
She is still there on dry land, a survey undertaken in 2006 found that she was unsuitable for restoring to operational status, but sufficient repairs have been undertaken to keep her in a preserved static state in the Swiss Transport Museum.
She is the world’s sole remaining flush-deck-side-wheel paddle steamer.
Swiss 2009 85c sg?, scott?
Source: Internet. Steamships of Europe by Alistair Deayton.