Historic ferry to get eco-upgrade

GLASGOW, Scotland, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The Sir Walter Scott, a century-old coal-fired ferry that carries tourists on a Scottish loch, will be converted to run on biodiesel.

The conversion is scheduled to be done this winter at the end of the tourist season, The Scotsman reported.

The installation of two biodiesel engines will make the vessel cleaner -- no more soot on passengers’ clothes. It will also be more efficient, both in environmental and human terms, since the boilers now have to be lit two hours before departure and the engine has to be stoked throughout a trip.

The Sir Walter Scott has been sailing Loch Katrine near Glasgow since it was launched in 1899. The loch is famous as the setting of Scott’s long poem “The Lady of the Lake.”

The boiler installation and other major work on the vessel will be carried out at Stronachlachar on the lake. The Sir Walter Scott will not begin tourist runs next year until June, a three-month delay, because of the work.