tarboat

Only on the section between Castlefield and Dale Street, the rest was officially abandoned in (I think) 1952.

Never let a generalisation get in the way of the truth. That might apply to the former British Waterways canals, but what about the ones that weren't nationalised at the time? See this for information: http://tinyurl.com/nujywlx

Bolinders do have a silencer/expansion box. I have no idea why you raised the issue of road vehicles not having a silencer. As for "knowing rights so xxxx off" that wasn't what I meant. However, I do not see why this individual got so wound up about one boat passing at night - to him I say, so what mate, get a life!

No need to apologise Jay, just because some Nimby got his knickers in a twist when a bolinder boat went past at night. I am sure he managed to get back to sleep quite quickly, if he was indeed awoken in the first place. The canal is a highway that is open day and night and I don't hear him complaining about people driving cars and lorries at night.

One thing to note about these locks is that they were built for tub boats and are 81ft 5" long and only 6ft 4" wide. Narrowboats that traded to the Trench ironworks were therefore built even narrower than normal and were indeed referred to as "Trench boats"! I am sure that I Charlie Atkins told me that he was born on a Trench boat down on this section of canal.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am glad that this operation continues.

This is not on the Trent, it is on the gravel pits adjacent to the river.

Does anyone know if the aggregate traffic at Attenborough Quarry, adjacent to the Trent in Nottinghamshire, is still operating? It is an operation about which I have not seen anything written. These images are from 2009.

According to the Archaeology book about the Bridgewater the front row of wide boats in the photo are, from the left: Kite - (NCB 22) registered to Manchester Collieries in 1935 Ribble - owned by Manchester Collieries in 1936 Tom - originally Psi / Scion. Built for Ben Walls of Liverpool in 1928 Next comes Box Boat 364 still with bottle stove in the remains of the cabin Finally there is Box Boat 363

There is a photo of Autherley on page 54 of the November 2014 Waterways World which shows the house by the lock.

Although if you read that page Maria seems to have been replaced by a new boat in 1915.

Photo No.1 is Essex Bridge at Shugborough. It has clearly seen some changes since that photo was taken, including the removal of the bases that show on the photo. These bases are also visible on this old postcard. I suspect deepening of the river to prevent flooding.

Photo No.3 may have a slightly bemusing caption as it is looking the wrong way for the junction, but it is definitely Bridge 100 carrying Stokehall Lane over the canal at Barbridge. A modern view here: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.105484,-2.574634,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m5!1e2!3m3!1s39644422!2e1!3e10?hl=en

Image 2 is definitely Autherley Junction stop lock. This is another 1935 view cropped from the Britain from above site. You can see that the house matches and the building to the left of the house is also there. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epr000570

These are not brick kilns they are coke ovens. Now all you have to do is find the right ironworks as these will be nearby. This design seems to have been reasonably common in the Black Country in the nineteenth century. Here is another example:

Another image showing that broad beam boats did reach Middlewich. This is a view of the milk factory below the Big Lock at Middlewich - note the boat on the left. The card was postally used in 1904.

I was looking for a date for the replacement aqueduct at Croxton, but so far have only managed to get it to the 1930s after flooding damaged the original. I do, however, have a photo of the work in progress.

The correct name for the wharf on which Braidbar Boats operate is the Nelson Arm as this was the name of the adjacent colliery. On the opposite side of the Macclesfield Canal at this point is the Nelson Basin where the colliery boats were maintained and tied whilst waiting to load. Coal was shipped from the Nelson Arm until the closure of the collieries in August 1935, although the quantities were fairly small in later years.

I found some more views on Flickr. Wednesfield, Wolverhampton scenes no more - 8A by Oxendale-mac, on Flickr Wednesfield, Wolverhampton scenes no more - 10A by Oxendale-mac, on Flickr Wednesfield, Wolverhampton scenes no more - 12A by Oxendale-mac, on Flickr Bentley Canal 1989 by BattyTheBat, on Flickr

Definitely boats. The canal was still officially navigable at this time!

A few flat remains in this 1958 view of the Simpson Davies yard at the Sprinch.

A view of the top lock cottage in April 1984.

Stan Broadbridge died in the late 1970s. I occasionally boated with him around 1975 and from what I remember he told me that the sales of the original volume were not good and the publishers were unenthusiastic about publishing volume 2.

At last I see why Laurence is getting so worked up about this. At no point did I state that the sideponds at Knowle retained one third or less collectively. My original post was in response to another poster stating that sideponds saved 50% and I argued that this was not possible using a single sidepond. In a subsequent post, and also in a post by Magpie Patrick we both stated that to achieve greater efficiencies required the use of multiple sideponds. If there are two sideponds at different levels serving the same lock then it could well be possible to achieve 50% water saving. This does not negate my statement that many people believe that a single sidepond can save 50% of the water and that this is a fallacy.

Yes, I have used a sidepond, thank you. GU or not It is not physically possible to empty a lock into a sidepond and then use that sidepond to refill said lock by 50%. You would have to have a sidepond of infinite size and no depth to achieve this. The reason the sideponds at Knowle are so large is to ensure that the maximum amount of water is saved, but when they empty completely into the chamber they do not fill it to half way. You have to allow for the depth of the pond in order to provide a head for the water to move down into the chamber. If you don't believe me, go and look at the levels of the sideponds at Knowle relative to the lock.