Name Victoria

VICTORIA is a replica steam packet boat that can carry 12 passengers. She was built in 1972 by Braunston Boats of Daventry, Northamptonshire. Her first owner, D Hughes, ran her as a restaurant boat at the Knowle Bottom Lock on the Grand Union Canal.

In 1974, she was purchased by High Line Yachting of Iver, Buckinghamshire, who operated her on the Slough Arm of the Grand Union Canal. In 1976, she was purchased by D White, who refitted her at Thurmaston, Leicestershire, and operated her on the Welford Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

In 1978, she was purchased by the Linlithgow Union Canal Society (LUCS), who still own her today. She was first craned out at Welford, Northamptonshire, and moved to Armadale, West Lothian, where her hull was repainted. The following day, 12th March 1978, she arrived at the Linlithgow Canal Basin, West Lothian, where her new owners were based.

Since then, as LUCS's flagship, she has operated regular 25-minute town trips from the Linlithgow Canal Basin and is available for charter, for example to the Avon Aqueduct which is two miles from Linlithgow. She has had two major refits under LUCS ownership. The first, in 1992, saw the renewal of all woodwork and the conversion to hydraulic steering. The second, in 2001, saw the replacement of her original single-cylinder 10hp diesel engine with a three-cylinder Kubota diesel engine. As of 2025, there are plans to convert VICTORIA to electric propulsion.

With her distinctive looks, Victoria is known throughout the Scottish Lowland canal network. She has represented LUCS at various key events between Glasgow and Edinburgh and was at the following openings: the M8 canal bridge in 2000; the Falkirk Wheel in 2002, when she was in the wheel’s first rotation; the extension of Port Dundas in Glasgow in 2006; carried the Olympic torch in 2012 and led the flotilla at the opening of Winchburgh Marina in 2024.