PS Lausanne - Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman (CGN)

The first Lausanne was built in 1900 by Sulzer Frères of Winterthour. She was the second steamer built by them, following the Genève of 1896, and followed the general appearance of all their products for CGN. She had a Sulzer 2-cylinder compound steam engine of 750hp and originally carried 850 passengers (later increased to 900). With a length of 54m between perpendiculars, she was the smallest of the Sulzer paddle steamers. In 1901-02 a small smoking saloon was installed on the upper deck, the wheelhouse being raised above it. Most of her small saloon windows were replaced with larger ones in 1910, following the style of later Sulzer deliveries. From 1927, Lausanne (1) was used as a winter boat and received an aluminium canopy and the forward end was glazed. Similar protection was subsequently added to the other vessels in the fleet.

In 1948 Lausanne (1) was chosen for the third diesel conversion in the fleet, preceded by Genève in 1933-34 which received twin diesel-electric machinery and Léman in 1940-42 which was converted into a twin screw vessel. Lausanne received a single Sulzer diesel of 600hp and BBC electrical generator/motors to drive her paddles. This proved to be very successful and was repeated for the later conversions of Montreux, Italie and Vevey. The final conversion of Helvétie reverted to using twin engines (from a Danube tug) and was not particularly successful. The change to diesel power increased deck space and allowed her passenger capacity to be increased by 50.

In 1974 Lausanne (1) appeared in the Hollywood film Daisy Miller, based on the Henry James novel of the same name, which was partially set at a hotel in Vevey and which was then used in the film. The stars in the film take a trip on Lausanne (1) from Vevey to Chillon, with some very good images of her leaving Vevey and travelling on the upper deck. She appears to have been given an extended funnel with a smoke generator for the film.

Lausanne (1) was used for the famous Vevey wine festival in 1977, after which she was withdrawn on 19th October 1977, followed by demolition at Ouchy in 1978.