Newcomen Steam Festival-Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle

About this event

: Built in 1924 Kingswear Castle ran up and down the Dart between Dartmouth and Totnes until withdrawn in 1965. After two decades laying idle she was returned to service in 1985 based at the Historic Dockyard at Chatham running trips on the Rivers Medway and Thames. During this time, she visited many piers along the way including Putney, Tower Pier London, Greenwich, Gravesend, Southend, Whitstable, Rochester, Chatham and Strood. In 2013 she returned to the Dart on long terms charter to the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company. She has just completed a major rebuild. John Megoran: No one knows more about the Kingswear Castle than John. A native of Weymouth, where paddle steamers still ran when he was a child, John returned Kingswear Castle to service in 1985. He combined the roles of general manager and principal captain for all the Medway operational years and oversaw her return to a new life in her old home waters in 2013. He remains chairman of the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle Trust.