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So yesterday I bought a steel Dutch cruiser, its a boaty boat rather than a corridor 🤣 I currently have a widebeam but I have lusted after this boat for a few years, it has a Sole 44 diesel engine with 146 hours on it. The previous to last owners can only be described as the artful Bodger! He didn't fix anything correctly ever!!!! The list of bodges he did are endless, as I sort them I will list them, i have fixed the water leak on the front hatch already. I only have until the end of may to do it as that's when the BSS runs out, pictures for perusal

These could be Fresh Water Shrimps (cant remember the technical name) but you would have to identify them to be certain. They used to be quite common in the water supply pipes if the disinfection regime was ineffective - or at least the larvae of the shrimp used to be commonly found. When water flows from the service reservoir into the service pipes it is injected with chlorine to kill any bugs on its journey to your taps. When chlorine mixes with water it turns into an acidic mixture that dissolves the bugs. (which is why Mustard gas containing a high proportion of chlorine, when mixed with body moisture, blinded and destroyed the lungs of soldiers in the first world war) - Water companies are increasingly moving away from injecting chlorine gas and injecting Sodium Hypochlorite instead which has the same effect but is less of a hazardous substance to handle and store. The further the distance is from the injection point, the less effective it becomes and often - but not always - booster stations are provided to inject more gas / hypo if sampling indicates it is necessary. If the tap you are using is at the end of the pipeline the solution may be depleted and the bugs will flourish Fresh water shrimps are not considered harmful and swallowing them or their larvae should not do you any harm but should not be in the water supply as this indicates that other more harmful bacteria could flourish. I suggest you get the water from the tap tested by the relevant water company.

Hi This is the narrowboat which I acquired at a decently cheap price, knowing that it was in need of a hell of a lot of work, I had it brought to our Farm only last Friday, and I have been doing a few hours on it after work, and whenever, it's difficult because I have some spinal stenosis, and can only stand up for short spells. However I am doing quite well, the boat is a 1979 build, we think a Teddesley, it has a Peugeot 504 diesel engine with skin tanks to cool it. I have discovered that the wooden interior had been refreshed at some point by adding a nice decorative pine ply, this was both glued and screwed using very small cross head screws, which were rotten and could not be removed, the ply on the sides is 1/2 inch stuff, held onto the steel with brass screws (flat head type 1979) it's been heavy work. I vomited when I opened the U bend in the sink! anyway that's all history, I have virtually cleared the starboard side back until the engine. I found the easiest way to remove the ply was to locate the securing screw, then using a 30mm hole saw, drill/saw just to one side, thus the panel is released and it leaves a circular piece held by the rotten old screw, which I can just grind off. I had the toilet pumped out by a waste /cess tank guy, it is virtually empty, but I up to now not seen a way of moving it? but some t&g flooring is still trapping it, I was more concerned to find a hell of a lot of rust nearby on the base plate, I removed 3 big sacks of rust and I was worried, however I have cleaned quite a few areas back to solid steel and using my ultra sound tester, it all comes up as being 9.7mm, 9.4mm and the worst one was 9.3mm amazing, but I did see a video on YouTube I think it's narrowboat Precious, and he had similar rust, I have found my rust to be caused by a water leak beneath the shower, which is all now on the bonfire, I hope this makes some interesting reading for someone on the forum, and as you can see from the photo's I have a long way to go. Sorry but 3 of my pics turned sideways, I presume they correct themselves?

Yes - a lot of work ahead of you but it should be worth it in the end. Don't worry about the sideways pictures, it should right itself when you put it back in the water. Whilst you have it in bits - check the engine. I think the Peugeot 2.3D (as used in the 504) has a cam belt. Cam belts are really a no-no on inland waterways boats due to the limited access they almost never get changed, or even checked. (At 70hp its a pretty big engine for a narrowboat - it is never going to be running efficiently) Replace the cam belt, irrespective of its condition, it could save you having to replace the whole engine in the future (loads of cost and hassle).

Just the original station building which is top centre of that image. I think that may have been the case for the past 150 years though. The case for building the railway north to south simply didn’t stack up as well as south to north. Not least because trains to all major northern cities benefited from the southern section; and most still do even with the curtailed scope. Once HS2 opens there won’t be a 1 hour 20 minute train service from New St to Euston via the old route. That relies on a tilting train and they are the railway’s equivalent of Concorde. While I’m very much of the opinion that the only realistic options should have been Central London - Birmingham - Manchester (- Leeds) or nothing at all I think your overall view of the project is way wide of the mark. There is plenty of evidence in the UK and Europe of how high speed rail and interconnected urban networks operate and are used. There’s a reason all major European economies - and some not so major ones - have been building high speed rail infrastructure for half a century and continue to do so. The concept is sound, the problem is the execution both in time and scope - it’s at least 30 years too late and too short.

If that's as you suggest straight out of the tap something is wrong and the best thing to do is contact the water supplier direct, not CRT. I'm struggling to see how this is possible considering how many processes the water goes through tbh but if that is from an actual drinking water supply the supply company needs to know

The whole surcharge idea is a dog's dinner and will cause more problems than it fixes. It's going to be a nightmare to administer so I just cannot see how it will be cost-effective. It would be so much easier to manage and better for the budget if we all paid the same (higher) license fees. I suspect surcharges will be ditched before 5 years are up. About time Parry & Co were ditched too.

And that proves you know beggar all about train driving.

The 'more mess' very effectively dividing the different categories of boaters. This is C&RT's scheme to maintain control and this forum shows how very well that scheme is working.

Of course it's quite legitimate, and so is spending twenty years dawdling between the bottom of Bosley and the bottom of the Macc, but what it isn't, by any definition, is a cruise, or what the original act imagined was one. Whatever CRT's supposed justification for the surcharge, usage of the system doesn't have much to do with it . I use the infrastructure ten times as much as one of the bunch you describe, and so does a hire boater in a week. The surcharge is being introduced because CRT needs money, and it needs it because the original calculation of the proportion of CCers to home moorers has been put right out of kilter by the sheer quantity of the former who are taking advantage of an interpretation of the law which was never intended. It's as much BW and CRT's fault as anything by simply not providing moorings where people want them, and then never having the bottle to define what they mean by a cruise. Prior to whenever, there was just a licence and we were all treated the same, though some of us paid for a mooring and some didn't. BW charged the mooring providers a fee, same as CRT usually does now, which the landlord factored into the rent, so all home moorers contributed that bit extra to the authority for the right to stay put. I still think the split into the two categories of boater was a mistake, complicating the whole business unnecessarily. The surcharge is just heaping more mess on to it.

I don't think it would work like that. If I moored in a marina, 40 foot boat, would the marina be passing on £800 of what they charged me to CRT? I suspect it would be a lot less. So the licence wouldn't need to go up by so much as that for it to balance out. I'd guess a 50% increase all round would do it and save a small fortune in paperwork.

But actually, you can't really compare absolute figures because you're not comparing like for like. Since the average house is much larger than your boat and can accommodate more people, the boat is actually much worse than the house per m3. Living on a boat is not a green lifestyle at all - whatever that vague term means.

Agreed. There should never have been a differentiation between moorers and CCers in the first place apart from giving the CCers the 14 day mooring right. Just leave the home moorers to pay whatever they get charged for the facilities they want. Much fairer all round.

How well do you know Birmingham? The fact is that Curzon Street is over a kilometre (by road, not as the crow flies) from New Street Station so let us say a 15 minute walk, and all that you've saved in time from London on the new line is supposedly 20 minutes, which you are going to pretty much lose walking to New Street to catch your connection to go further north. The 'gains' are entirely illusory.

I did a little work on this a couple of years ago My annual usage - continuous cruiser, full-time liveaboard (one plus partner about 50%). Electricity - 360 kwh (90% solar, rest by-product of engine whilst moving) Gas - 1,200 kwh (7ish 13kg propane bottles) Coal - 7,200 kwh (32ish bags of smokeless) Diesel - 3,600 kwh (360ish litres) Average UK house (from some govt website, can't remember which one) Electricty - 3,000 kwh Gas - 12,000 kwh So the boat's not too far off the house, especially for heating, presumably because of the crap insulation/stove inefficency/infinite heat sink underneath. But the diesel isn't directly comparable to anything really due to differing lifestyles and transport needs.... In the couple of years since I did that calculation, I've almost halved the gas usage by switching to lithium batteries and increasing my solar output/usage by 150kwh - which also shows how inefficient gas cookers are compared to induction hobs.

The early canals, 1760-1770, were promoted by people with a very definite need for transport to develop their local economy. The Canal Mania ones, early 1790s, were promoted by people who just looked at the benefits provided by early canals, and thought you just had to build a canal and trade would magically appear. Modern transport promoters seem to belong to the Canal Mania school.

Indeed. In the same way, why should I have to pay the fare when the bus is going to my destination anyway?

It’s worth remembering that the published maximum craft dimensions have their origins in the size of boats recorded using the waterway at a specific point in time and not in the actual size of the infrastructure.

The difference is that at the time of building the canals were going to be widely used, the rump of HS2 that we are going to be left with simply isn't. We have a line with a station at each end that has cost billions to serve what purpose (now). The completed system as originally proposed had some value, what we now have left if simply a vanity project that only marginally satisfies London and the South East once again. The area that needed the improved rail infrastructure (the North) has been crapped on once again.

I have obtained from C&RT, some yard drawings for Progress so that I can commence producing my own drawings for a 1:24 scale model but noted that the Overall Length ws defined as 75 feet although the maximum length on the GU South where she operated is 72 feet. Also the drawing give two different cabins i.e. one longer than the other, so I have opted for teh longer version as it will make (to me) a more pleasing model. I have decided to use the BW colour scheme of blue and yellow from when she operated out of Bulls Bridge. I have a couple of question which possibly Tam and Di murrell can answer: Did BW continue to use the wheel steering or did the convert her to tiller steering, also was the winch originally fitted to the bow still in place during her BW days? Finally, attached is my latest model as my previous image of Troy went down well. This one is a freelance gravel pit tug in 1:12 scale. Regards David Marks

Not just about faster trains, but to provide greater capacity to the transport network which is sorely needed, especially when personal transport options are being seriously curtailed and punitively charged.

I'd say it depends on where it is. If London: 3 If Braunston: 3 If K&A: 3 If Sowerby Bridge: 3 Anywhere else: 3 Hope that helps...

Looks like a proper boat- what beam is it ? (I'd guess at about 8'6" or 9') I never wanted a rear cabin, but since having one I wouldn't be without it. So much space.

This seems improbable with no food supply. How do they grow so big on nothing?! Hopefully one of our wildlife experts will identify the bugs shortly, then an examination of their life cycle might suggest how they are getting into the OP's drinking water.

Computers systems are not cheap to have in operation; staff are not cheap to have just “sitting there”. If these things are not actually doing stuff, they wouldn’t be there e.g. smaller servers would be running at higher capacity, fewer staff sitting there doing nothing.

Oh sorry if I didn’t make this clear. This water has come straight from the shore point and is going straight into a kilner jar with a tap, which I get glasses of drinking water from. The water tank on the boat isn’t involved, at least in this case. The reason I think they’re hatching from the water is that I’ve never seen these bugs crawling around in or near the boat, so even if they could some how crawl into the jar, I don’t think they have.

His work is as good as your Grammar & spelling

complete waste of money always was. for me the travel time to london by west coast mainline is 2hr 9mins. Its actually perfectly fine, cutting 30 or 40 mins off that would be a disadvantage as it wouldn't be worth me trying to get anything done on train. As for capacity there's plenty of capacity as most of the 1st class carriages are empty as no 'ordinary' folk can afford the nearly £500 return fare. the super rich who can afford it aren't going to travel by train anyway.... the billions would have been much better spent on improving the capacity of the existing, upgrading east-west links and making travel by train more attractive than car or flying (i.e reducing ticket prices)

Not true. I've unicycled over it. Worth every billion. See profile picture.

If it was about improving the rail infrastructure they would have built a new goods-only line from Harwich to the Midlands initially, with extensions to Liverpool, Southampton, and even that corruption centre of the NE, Teesport. The line would be similar to the one built between Rotterdam and the Ruhr, so high speed for freight, but nothing like HS standards, and thus much cheaper. The initial phase would cut across an area of low population, through fairly level ground, and relieve the congestion at Harwich, particularly noticeable during Covid. It would prove of benefit to the whole country, with the existing passenger network continuing to serve smaller towns which will be bypassed by HS2. HS2 is for the suits who want to rush around appearing to do something useful, while the general population will not be able to afford tickets if they are priced to pay for the infrastructure.

I’ve dumped my boat in a few marinas that work like this, usually works along the lines of “…oh, yes, you can have this mooring for the week, they’re out for the next few months”, it’s easier to find temp moorings in the summer than over the winter at places like that, Fazeley and Alvechurch for instance, some other big marinas seem to have pontoons for visitors, but I’d guess they’d let them full time if they were wanted, Gt Haywood for instance, With the smaller mariners they know their customers/moorers pretty well and I guess through chit chat and conversation they know when someone’s off for awhile, should they come back unexpected 🤷‍♀️maybe there’s a bit of shuffle about,

I don't think this has been sufficiently addressed. Yes is the answer. Lots in the news recently after a child died in social housing after repeated pleas to sort the recurring mould problem. Lots of info on line about the health effects of (any level) of mould in the home. Don't ignore it.

Does anyone know if Chris Collins managed to get any boatyard drawings for Progress from what would have been at the time British Waterways? I am a keen model boater and would like to model "Progress". I can remember her when she was a tug operated by BW back in the 50s and early 60s operated by Sam Griffiths and Bill Knibbs.

There is a great difference between Ian and the many "new poster - new boaters" we get. Ian is well versed in engineering (be it electronic) & development and actually does a lot of research. The newbs seem to fall for a load of social media fizz and marketing and convince themselves their ideas are sound. Ian's ideas stand a far greater chance of doing what he needs them to do than most of the newbs because he has taken prior practice into account.

I'd question what the canoeist was doing, and as a result what he thought was going to happen as a result of his actions. If I'd been steering the nb, I'd have slowed down sufficiently to let him clear. If he just sat there, I'd have slowly approached the bridge and stopped as he had in the bridge 'ole. I accept that would seem menacing to him, but it would allow me to explain although I'm not a mind reader, I could probably direct him to Specsavers. That is of course assuming it was a nice day with no wind. Should it have been blowy then I'd have leaned on my horn and been a lot more direct in my opinions to him. I'd best refrain from saying publicly my preferred options if he'd taken a swing at me with his paddle. But he'd have been able to attend a fancy dress party as a lollipop.

There are lots of things that I really don't like about this picture but it has been a part of my life for about 40+ years and I have seen worse.