IanM

Seems that no one really knows the origin of 4' 8 1/2" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard-gauge_railway

I've not seen any image of any loco that I can recall and I'm trying to think of anywhere else it could have been used. The other pictures taken at the same location as yours just show one or two small trucks the same as in your photo. The location in your picture is marked quarry in this map. The GWR Cirencester Branch is in the top left. And the location today. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.692671,-1.9762233,355m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

Thames & Severn Canal at Bluehouse.

Enlarged picture of Raven from the other end to my previous picture showing the plates being discussed. Actually it looks to be more of a single plate as it wraps around the stern but whatever

It’s not. As I mentioned earlier, Achilles was a butty owned by Birmingham & Midland in Gas Street. It went from them to Roger at Braunston who then cut it in two. Raven (the name given to it by Willow Wren) was another butty and had a full length cabin fitted but I forget its original name and was moored outside Roger’s yard at one point but I’m pretty sure it never got cut in two by him as I saw it still intact somewhere else afterwards. Edited to add: Raven was originally the GUCCC butty Hydrus.

Achilles used to belong to Birmingham and Midland and was moored in Gas Street basin.

Is that the one in question or the one in Foxton village itself? Edited to add: According to the stoppage notice it is bridge 4 so not the footbridge at the junction as per the OP, rather the larger vehicle bridge in the village.

Knowle locks are the ones with the larger culverts so I imagine that has something to do with it.

We added that beam to support the centre post for the stop planks. The centre post was added to add a bit of support to the centre of the planks as they are 16 feet long and we were using them over an extended period of time. The lock had a fall of 6 feet or so before the ship canal was built when the level change became a few inches meaning that quite often the top and bottom gates were left wide open. At some point concrete copings were added to raise the level of the walls a bit so that the lock had to be used and this is can be seen today. The bottom of the lock is still at the original pre-ship canal level so there is essentially a full lock of water there. In the 1990s we sheet piled a dam at the lower end to excavate the chamber (it had been infilled) all the way down to the original bottom which is constructed out of stone blocks. A concrete plinth was then constructed up to 6 foot below water level which we could then sit stop planks on that along with a socket for the centre post. At other locks we had used cables to anchor the post but we had a beam lying around which did the job instead. The gas pipe as you refer to it is actually part of the countrywide Exolum aviation fuel pipeline. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exolum_Pipeline_System

I can't think of any emergency where the ones at the lower end of the lock would be of any use and they really would only get used to de-water the lock. The ones at the head of the lock would be more useful and easier to put in too.

They would have been put in the slots by a maintenance team with the necessary access to boats, ropes, etc and not just one lonely lock keeper. Plus they do float a bit too.

A good list and pictures of the hulks at Purton https://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk/purton/

*checks date*

A friend of mine from primary school owned the ex-submarine one a few years back.

Tony Jones told me that he once rigged up a sail on Betelgeuse and untied from the motor when on the River Severn just for fun.