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archie57

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Posts posted by archie57

  1. Impressive those Bowker and King tankers - you had to be well tied up when they went past - especially loaded!

    2 hours ago, Heartland said:

    Is it recorded where the coal came from when it was delivered to Gopsall Wharf on the Ashby Canal. Local collieries included 

     

    NCB South Midlands Area

    Desford, Donisthorpe, Ellistown, Measham, Rawdon, Snibston and Whitwick.

     

    The bulk of traffic went out by rail, but the concrete loading wharf at Gopsall still provided the option for canal transport as is seen on this Ashby Canal website, image-

      

    Gopsal Wharf (1) 1971.jpg

    The "Ash" again with the "Comet"

    2 hours ago, Dav and Pen said:

    I have taken the information from Tom Henshaws photograph. I have looked at another photo from that day which shows the Butty’s cabin but without any writing on it and none on the fore end. The date is actual 1973.

    Close inspection of the photo will reveal it's not the "Betelgeuse".....

  2. At Armitage on the T and M the canal was affected by subsidence from the nearby pit, hence the raised concrete banks. The powers-that-be decided the canal was too deep so tipped in material - trouble is they rather overdid it.....

  3. 10 hours ago, jam said:

    The old entrance to the Hollins branch can still be seen be seen bricked up, just before the  entrance to  lock 13 and the Lime Kilns branch entrance can be seen to the left of lock 13 entrance..

     

    Map showing the original branches

    marple-top-lock.jpg

    I well remember the Hollins Mill arm, and the demolition of the mill chimney, for which spectacle many locals turned out, on 1st October 1957 ( - having just looked it up!)

  4. 4 hours ago, pete harrison said:

    Oak and elm were used back in the day as they were in plentiful supply in the UK, but that does not mean that they were the best that nature provides. The world is a much smaller place now and foreign wood has been proven to be both suitable and accessible (sustainable is another question), both of which allows the overall fabric and design philosophy of these boats to be maintained, whilst our native source of suitable timber has reduced considerably.

     

    21st century intrusion is fine by me if it allows a wooden cabin not to leak, and I lived in a leaky wooden back cabin for several years (Company owned boat). Again these adhesives and sealants allow the overall fabric and design philosophy of these boats to be maintained whilst also providing the opportunity for the cabin e.t.c. to be robust. 

     

    Replacing wood for steel has become such common practice that the few remaining boats that are as true to their design as reasonably practical should be cherished and not seen as second rate :captain:

    Of course we mustn't forget that BTW started the trend of replacing wooden bottoms with steel...….(eg Asterope, Achilles)

  5. 56 minutes ago, dave moore said:

    Derek Turner had Fox in those days, I think he’s still with us, his sons run the garage at Wheaton Aston, source of reasonable diesel. Denis Cooper built his next boat, Vulpes, now owned by Captain Pegg of this forum.

    Wasn't that the wooden Fox, ex - Seddons, with Lister SR3?

  6. 3 hours ago, zenataomm said:

    How? If he was breasted in the lock he's just ascended, he'll have had to undo the ropes first.  Then after he's exited, slow down to pick up a cross strap (there's no one to steer the butty, so a line would be useless). Then detach the butty again to prepare to enter the next one.  So, how's that quicker?

    The two outside the lock waiting to enter, are using the sensible approach.  Where ever they end up is their problem not his. Being breasted up needs only a touch of reverse to straighten them up as he exits.   Actually his faffing with two separate boats is causing a nuisance to them not the other way round.

     

    In fact the only sensible reason I can surmise is that the butty isn't going any further than the pound it's entering, and the guy leaning on the gate is going to bow haul it out while the motor continues on up solo.  

    The pair going uphill wouldn't have needed to breast up, the butty steerer would have stopped it with an uphill strap (seen on the anser pin) before looping the strap round the next stump forward to stop the boat running back into the bottom gates when the paddles were drawn. The butty steerer is no doubt in the cabin attending to something!

    Working the boats abreast loaded would be a lot slower, especially going into the locks going uphill when the water has got to get out  past the boats.

  7. 4 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

    They are ground paddles - unusually for historic items I remember them being is use - the ones at lock 7 survived into my cross country running days so I'd be 14/15? (about 1980). No doubt, you opened one of these and the lock emptied, you might need to straighten your windlass afterwards as they were swines to operate. 

    funnily enough, my cross country running days took me past there - always at the rear of the pack needless to say  - from Marple Hall?

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