Joseph

Fascinating Many thanks for alerting us to these films. Anyone any idea who took the 1958 one? Joseph

Hi Patrick Yes, please keep posting on Somerset and please keep all this coming. I think that someone has got into Crimson Hill tunnel - interior photos which are alarming, given the distortion to the bore. On 28dayslater, perhaps? Mick, I never knew that there were any canals in Australia - just the canalised Murray River, I thought. Does the Australian Canals Society know? Keep it coming! Joseph

Many thanks Laurence. David, you asked when the canal officially closed. I think the technical answer to that is that the 6 locks closed when the Transport Act 1968 came into law - there was then no public right of navigation and no reason why it should not be closed. Was there any sort of campaign to keep this section open...as a dead end? Joseph

Great pictures Laurence - thank you I moored at the top lock with my father one or two times - we were tempted to go down but never did! Do you know the date of the press cutting? Was the trip made just out of curiosity? Thanks again Joseph

Sorry to hear about Mr Broadbridge's early demise - a sad loss. It's still not clear if he wrote a second volume in full or in part. Any thoughts, anyone? Joseph

Many thanks for the clarification. The materials and your blog are fascinating. Joseph

Happy New Year (a bit belated!) everyone Just curious as to what happened to Mollie Traill - why did she turn her back on canals? J

Hello everyone I am no stooge of CRT, but I don't feel that Ellesmere Port's problems are because it is not well run. As I see it, it is a model of co-operation between volunteer input (and great enthusiasm and initiative) and professional dedication (sorry about the clichés, but it's true). My concern is that it may not be possible to apply this model elsewhere on the system. What it does need is money - a lot more money, to pay staff better and employ more staff, and to tackle some of those veteran wooden boats. I don't think that they are rotting because no one is concerned - they are rioting because timber does rot (!!) and because of the immense costs involved. Hopefully Father Christmas can bring a huge sack of money down the chimney! Just my opinion - I'm not heavily involved. All the best, everyone. Joseph

I recall Maverick from the later 1960s. I saw a boat at Ellesmere Port last Easter (not at the Museum as such) that looked very like a Thomas boat, although the owner said he thought it had been built at Norbury in 1971. Incidentally, I think one clue to the brochure date, beyond BTC photographs (i.e. pre-1963) is the Gailey Lock. It looks as though the A5 bridge had been widened by then, with cranked balance beams. I've not got Ian Langford's book to hand, but he did record the date of rebuilding. Also, I read that ET was planning to launch the operation with 6 boats about 1957 (to be confirmed) and there are references to the fleet being enlarged. Jim, did your b-in-law hire an ET boat, and if so, does he recall what year? Regards Joseph

Great to see all this. I think the lack of any M6 at all indicates that the brochures were prepared pre-1962, when the Stafford by-pass opened. Ernest Thomas started operations in 1957 or 1958 at Gailey, so clearly some time after that. I wonder if there are any other clues? Thanks again Joseph

Gosh... Absolutely fascinating - my first canal holiday was on Kingfisher. But - these must be before 1965 rather than the late 1960s, as Ernest Thomas moved from Gailey to Calf Heath in 1965 - I think. Jim, many thanks for posting this. Where did you get the booklet? Joseph

Glad the event at Wigan went well. I think it was a mistake to hold so many events on the same day. Beaker, over publicity, I was asked to provide details for a press release ("well-known waterways historian"), including a title "From archive to publication"; an announcement was made on the website, using the same link as that at the top of this page; subsequently, that page was (seemingly) amended to remove any reference to my talk. On the day, there were no signs up to direct any visitors to the archive, and I only saw two people visit the archives in the three hours that I sat there. I spent a lot of time preparing for this event; I did not have a lecture prepared with the title titled "From archive to publication"; I do now! I am a great supporter of the National Waterways Museum, but I found this very disappointing. It is no use asking people to volunteer and then failing to provide for them. I don't see how this can be conducive to goodwill. Ah well, you can't win them all! Joseph

No problem Pluto! Noone attended at all - another day wasted, another great triumph for CRT! Oh dear. Joseph

I was sorry to learn this too. His writings were very thorough and informative. A pity the Towpath Guides did not continue; the late Neil Pitts told me that he had written a volume covering the Trent & Mersey, but this was never published. Oddly, I was walking up and down the Stourbridge Canal locks recently, and wondering about Dr Langford and his work. Joseph

Just to add my feelings on this. Jim, great idea to have a museum of Birmingham canals in principle. Practical concerns....money to set up and run....stressful even to think about it. But, as John W suggests, maybe an enlarged function at the BCLM? Especially if it was to focus on the BCN rather than on the waterways in general - Ellesmere Port covers this. I'm all for that. Joseph

Hello everyone I'll be there, doing a talk about archives on the Sunday. Great if anyone from here can make it, and if so, maybe they can identify themselves! Joseph

Great to see that this older thread has revived. JR, when you refer to RAVEN and ROBIN being rotten, do you mean that they were destroyed 3-4 years ago, or that they were sold with a need for major work? Fascinating that ET started pleasure boating before the general hire fleet in 1959 - I did not know this. Keep the memories coming, everyone! Thanks everyone joseph

Hello Richard I think that there were plans to publish this autobiography - very welcome if so. Regards Joseph

Many thanks Ravenspell Its never too late to add to the record. Regards Joseph

I'm slightly hijacking this thread, but does anyone know if there were canal books that were announced but not published - and for which manuscripts MIGHT still exist? I can think of two D&C ones. The late Peter Stevenson wrote the first chapter of a book on the Derby Canal. And a Mr H Robinson, who I think died in 1981, wrote a book on the Shropshire Union Canal. I met him at an event a long time back and he said that the MS was complete, but D&C were messing him round somewhat. It seems to have vanished. Any others, anyone? J

Thanks everyone Intriguing replies - and I wonder if I can ask a supplementary? I'm pleased that this section has survived and reasonably navigable - presumably used for water supply - but how often is it navigated? The Stourbridge Extension section is interesting, but it is worth taking a boat there? And - anyone know where on the main line - definitely not through the locks - the last traffics were unloaded! Thanks again J

Hello everyone On my way to the Waterways History Conference in Birmingham last Saturday, I walked up the 16 locks at Stourbridge and along the Fens Branch to the junction with the Stourbridge Extension. The offside is lined still with factories, and my failing memory recalled that there was a small traffic from one of these even when the 16 locks were unnavigable. I think it may have ended as late as 1971? Does anyone know which factory provided this final traffic? There are vague remains of wharves, but nothing obvious. As usual, I would be very grateful if someone with a better memory than I was willing to share their knowledge about this. Incidentally, at the bottom of the locks a gent, whose name I didn't get, kindly gave me a lift up to the basin on his boat TACET. If he's reading this, my grateful thanks! Thanks Joseph

Hi Points generally taken. But I do think that a distinction needs to be made between the TWT-managed historic collections and the present management. Some materials do seem to have disappeared (or been displaced), but some of the stories that I have been told about this, over the years, seem to relate to the 1970s and 1980s, when the archives and collections were much more informal than they are now. My main point, I think, echoes Ray's - policies about the acquisition of precious items like this are one thing, but the use of the information which these items feature is another. I suspect that it is the information that matters to many researchers, and if this has been transcribed from the original document, the document can be safely left in private hands. That's one view, anyway. What concerns me personally is that there are documents that provide evidence for history, whose contents are unknown or inaccessible. Hence my suggestion that some sort of list be compiled - if people know about the existence of material that is not publicly available. If the only way to make that material available is by outright purchase of the document, I'm all for it. Just some thoughts - I have no particular axe to grind. J

Thank you Laurence - very interesting I note the ebay blurb which says "all of its information is transcribed elsewhere". Thank heaven for that. I don't feel that TWT/BW/CRT should necessarily be paying out for this artefact, frankly, but the information is what would interest researchers. Does anyone know who are the people who have this information? Joseph

Interesting point Ray It might be useful for someone (preferably not me, but I'd help) to produce lists of 1. Records known to be in private ownership and inaccessible. 2. Records known to be in private ownership but accessible in some way (e.g. by permission, estates papers etc) 3. Records known to have been destroyed (e.g.one Calder & Hebble volume, T&M) 4. Records that either don't seem to exist now or have gone missing. 5. Records that might be expected to exist but which probably never did (e.g. Shropshire Union details of carrying on various lengths). Well, I was never a civil servant, but maybe I should have been. If anyone takes this suggestion seriously, maybe some sort of register could be started, and hosted on the RCHS site, perhaps? Just a thought. Joseph