| SHIPBUILDER A. & J. Inglis of Pointhouse, Glasgow. Keel laid Thursday 27 December 1945 | |
| OFFICIAL NUMBER 69494 | |
| YARD NUMBER 1330P | |
| COST £107,725 in 1945 of which £15,125 was compensation from the Admiralty for the loss of the previous Waverley at Dunkirk – Adjusted for inflation this equates approximately £4.7m today. | |
| ENGINE BUILDER Rankin & Blackmore, Eagle Foundry, Greenock. Engine number 520 | |
| ENGINE TYPE Triple expansion steam engine. Maximum of 2,100 indicated horsepower (1,566kW) at 58rpm Cylinders, 24″, 39″ and 66″ (61cm, 99cm and 168cm); typically operate at 130, 35 and 0psi (9, 2 and 0 Bar); stroke 66″ (168cm) | |
| BOILER MAKERS 1946 – Coal fired, double-ended Scotch boiler (preserved at the Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine) 1956 – Converted to oil firing 1981 – Re-boilered with a Babcock “Steambloc” Type TC50 boiler weighing approximately 51 tonnes 2000 – Re-boilered with a pair of Cochran Thermax boilers during Heritage Rebuild. Each boiler cost £220,000. Each holds 20 tonnes of water and can generate 5.5 tonnes of steam per hour at 180psi 2020 – Re-boilered with a new pair of Cochran boilers burning marine gas oil | |
| MACHINERY Including the main engine there are 11 steam engines on the ship including the winch, capstan, various pumps, reversing engine and steam tiller 2020 – Pair of diesel powered generators replaced by three Caterpillar generators (2x 129kW, 1x 80kW) (plus emergency generator aft) | |
| PADDLE WHEELS Each paddle wheel has eight timber paddle floats 11ft. by 3ft. (3.4m x 0.9m) Floats diameter 13ft 10in (to float centres) At 42rpm floats move at 30ft/sec whilst ship moves at 24ft/sec through the water The main crankshaft is solidly attached to both paddle wheels so they cannot turn independently of each other | |
| FUNNELS Two of welded aluminium construction, 24 feet 8 inches (7.5m) in hight (including 3 foot / 0.9m high casing at base) | |
| FUEL CONSUMPTION 0.7 tonnes (approximately 154 gallons or 700 litres) per hour of low-sulphur medium fuel oil at service speed of 14 knots | |
| LAUNCHED Wednesday 2nd October 1946 by Lady Matthews, the wife of the Chairman of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) | |
| TRIALS Monday 2nd to Thursday 5th June 1947, maximum speed obtained 18.37 knots (21 mph / 34 kph) at 56.5rpm | |
| FIRST PASSENGER SAILING Monday 16th June 1947 | |
| LENGTH OVERALL 239 feet, 11 inches (73.1 metres) | |
| BEAM 57 feet, 3 inches (17.5 metres) | |
| DRAUGHT 6 feet, 3 inches (1.9 metres) | |
| GROSS TONNAGE 693 (328 net) | |
| SERVICE SPEED 14.5 knots (17 mph / 27 kph) at 46rpm | |
| PORT OF REGISTRY Glasgow | |
| MCA PASSENGER CERTIFICATES Class III 740 (originally 829) | |
| CALLSIGN GRPM | |
| IMO NUMBER 5386954 | |
| MMSI NUMBER 232001540 | |
| CREW Nominally 20 fully certified crew who live on board the ship. Unlike heritage railways the need for current certification generally precludes the use of volunteers | |
| OPERATIONAL OWNERS 1947 – London & North Eastern Railway 1948 – British Transport Commission 1951 – Caledonian Steam Packet Company Limited 1973 – Caledonian MacBrayne Limited 1974 to present day – Waverley Steam Navigation Company (since 1978 operated by Waverley Excursions Ltd.) |
