PS Lincoln Castle
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The PS Lincoln Castle provided a service across the Humber between Victoria Pier, Hull, East Yorkshire and New Holland, Lincolnshire from the Second World War to 1978. She was a coal-fired side-wheel paddle steamer, launched on September 24, 1934 by William Gray of Hartlepool and completed in 1940 by A&J Inglis of Pointhouse, Glasgow. She arrived on the Humber in 1941. She was named after the Norman castle at Lincoln and is currently serving as a restaurant under permanent dock in Grimsby.
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[edit] Steaming service
Initially, she was used on routes around the Humber, as needed by the war effort. Then she was run on the New Holland-Hull public service by the London & North Eastern Railway Company (LNER) until nationalization in 1948. The route was taken over by British Railways, later known as British Rail, and Lincoln Castle served on it until withdrawn in 1978 being unable to pass a boiler inspection. Lincoln Castle, at the time of her withdrawal, is understood to have been the last coal fired paddle steamer, providing regular services, in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Power unit
All her working life, her boiler was coal-fired and its steam used to power a triple expansion diagonal reciprocating engine. The cylinders were respectively 0.4575, 0.7245, and 1.1693 metres (18, 28.5 and 46 inches) in diameter with a 1.2964 metre (51 inch) stroke. She was different from the other vessels in the Humber ferry service in having her boiler forward of her engine, therefore her funnel was further forward than the others; just before midships, abaft the bridge and half way between her two equally-sized masts.
[edit] Hull design
The ship has been quoted to have a gross tonnage (GT) of anywhere from 550 to 598 tons. She had a straight stem and counter stern with the usual rather fine lines of such a vessel though the paddle boxes and bridge sponsons gave an impression of a greater beam. Her length was 63.7 metres (208.75 feet) and beam 10 m (33 ft), excluding sponsons. Vehicles were carried on her well quarter deck. She could carry up to twenty cars and 1,200 passengers.
[edit] Moored service
PS Lincoln Castle was converted into a pub and opened at Hessle close to the Humber Bridge which had, since 1981, rendered the ferries obsolete. In 1987, she was re-sold and moved to Immingham for refurbishment.
She opened as a bar and restaurant at the National Fishing Heritage Centre in Alexandra Dock, Grimsby in 1989. In 2006, she was taken out of public usage temporarily while renovations were conducted (ongoing as of 23 March 2007).
