Derek R.
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Posts posted by Derek R.
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11 hours ago, MtB said:
Me too if only because the purchase of silver bullion is subject to VAT, which kicks holes in any uplift in value.
This is true if the silver in question is traded on the open market. However, if silver is purchased through a bullion dealer or holder, and retained in a bonded vault/warehouse, then VAT is not applicable on any trade. If it leaves the vault, it has VAT applied.
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I may be wrong, but I got the impression the Ford engine in Cressy was adapted to run on paraffin. It may have been some form of TVO which started on petrol until warm, then switched over much as some little grey Fergies were.
See Ogwr's comment also.
Checking in Rolt's 'Narrow Boat' book, the appendix states that the model T Ford engine was marinised, and a vapouriser used to start on petrol and run on paraffin, for which there were two fuel tanks. Six gallons for petrol and twenty five for paraffin. The latter fuel was also used for heating and cooking.
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Clearly he was not in the conversational mood.
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4 hours ago, TID Tug Tony said:
But, I'd suggest that wasn't the case when you saw, and subsequently bought, Tycho. More a case of want, want, want?
When we saw and subsequently bought TYCHO, we were in a position to be able to do so. We became custodians of a piece of waterways history - for a while - 13yrs as it happens. This write up might explain a little more. https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/tycho
That was 26 years ago, and much can happen during such a time span. What we saw back then, was a bit of excitement in getting back on the cut, and we met some old friends in the process. What we see from our current perspective, and at 78yrs of age with injured knees and arthritic hip, is a very different kettle of fish. Life moves on, priorities change.
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To see something considered beautiful, does not mean you have to own it. Accept that you have seen it, and that iy has existed in your lifetime.
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Great shame. Sounds like one would not get much change from £60K in repairs - and some.
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22 minutes ago, Admiral said:
Classic. In need of a makeover overall, but a lot of boat for £30K. Unless the bottoms need replacing.
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18 hours ago, magpie patrick said:
In my defence, I'm lying on a hospital bed having had a stent inserted near my heart about two hours ago!
Sorry to hear that, hope all is well. Brother-in-Law had three all told and soldiered on for several years.
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The greater the depth, the greater the head of water in weight has to be lifted. Therein lay the weakness of windpumps, they have physical limitations in terms of what they can lift.
Pumps can be built to give high pressure, but the greater the head, the more power is needed to drive them.
Apart from the Fens, most mills ground corn for flour. The teeth of gears would wear, and new ones made to replace them.
Wind can be useful, but it seldom blows constantly at an optimun speed - and often not at all. No wind or water - no flour or flow.
Back to some natives pounding corn with heavy sticks in a hollowed out tree trunk, bucket and windlass (or should that be windless), or turning an Archimedes screw.
Bottom line? There's no free lunch.
https://www.completepumpsupplies.co.uk/resources/why-cant-water-be-lifted-above-10-metres
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9 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:
It’s clearly a lovely piece of artwork. Definitely would bring a smile to any owner. The photos don’t do it credit. Then there is the faint hope that could link it to some painter as yet unknown. Value is among other things in appreciation of its delicate clever artwork wonderful look of age and a curious reference to a date.
It’s rather a nihilistic comment you provocatively make, you could say that about anything, a painting , piece of furniture, clock, food delicately prepared a garden beautifully curated, a flight of locks carefully built to blend with surroundings or even any partner or spouse. Valuing what we make or create I believe is an important part of civilisation?
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I agree to a point. But 'nihilistic'? No. The item exists, it was painted with care and skill and must have given pleasure to the user, especially as it was a useful in carrying water. What I find a little difficult to accept, is that such items are now revered. I guess that at some point the original painter and owner must have considered that it might get re-painted at some time, its original delicate and clever artwork may have either been done by the same person, or possibly someone else. Would that have changed the 'value'? It's a water can. As such the value would not have changed. But as an expression of what we now call 'folk art', well that's down to a value that someone places on it for purposes quite different to the intended. "Go fill the can boy, and mind the paint!" The priority was to get water. The painted surface brightening the day was secondary. Important, but secondary. The fact that so much nowadays has become sacrosanct, can often be put down to the cost of replacing such a craft. We have entered a world of Artificial Intelligence in that images seen on flat screens of all sizes, removes the skill of an artist, and fools the viewer into a sense of astonishment and ultimately numbness. Thank heaven for the human hand, brush and paint.
I do appreciate art in its many forms. But what is 'art', when something like an unmade bed gets a place in a prestigious National Gallery? 'Civilisation' makes strange choices at times.
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Books; Need only a shelf to rest upon, teach and convey history. No licence fees, mooring fees, insurance fees (not normally), no blacking or welding, caulking or painting. But no boating experiences either! Boating is a way of life. Live it or leave it. I have some memories more precious than gold (just about), but do not miss the downsides, and there are some.
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Beware the Golden Calf.
This is not to denigrate a gaining of ownership of an historic artefact, though it might set a cat amongst some pigeons.
Some people think a 'Banksey' is art. More like graffiti to me. Each to their own.
At the end of the day, it's a tin can with some paint on. Its greatest value was to the person who carried water in it (or maybe on occasion something stronger). That person or persons are now seemingly unknown to us, nor has the painter as yet been identified. Value is a perception, which when an item is desired between two bidders, can reach some strange figures. Desire is a fickle emotion.
It is often said: "You can't take it with you when you 'go'", though the memories linger on in close aquaintences, as do the desires of those left behind. What satisfies one person, will be treated with indifference to another. I have far too many 'items' that stem from family and one or two friends, they are gathering dust now, but casting an eye on them reminds me of the friendships and relationships. What are those of a 100+yr old water can of which no-one known has direct knowledge or connection to? What might it tell if it could talk? Only imagination and fancy remain and that in the eye of the beholder. Those who are left behind are apt to fall into viewing objects as 'Golden', but there needs to be some direct connection. Otherwise, it's a tin can with some paint on.
And we are back to 'value' again.
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The 'arc' was mostly gained by eye using a chalk line. If it looked right, it was right.
But that doesn't answer the question.
Have you tried model railway decal suppliers?
https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/
https://www.railtec-models.com/scale-model-transfers.php
I searched for "Model Railway Lettering" using Duck Duck Go.
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11 hours ago, Graham Davis said:
Sorry, but I've checked with their own publicity, and it's also quoted in the link in the opening post, but English Heritage did not own the Blists Hill Victorian Village.
""It will replace Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, which has been operating the locations in Shropshire since 1967. The area was named a Unesco World heritage site in 1986""
As stated it was owned by the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust.(snipped)
Perhaps it is I who should apologise for using the word "owned". 'Managed by', would have been more correct.
Blists Hill has been managed by English Heritage on behalf of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust. But who 'owns' it? The Nation?
The National Trust are taking on the management and much is being 'looked forward to' according to their website. Meanwhile, staff at Blists Hill are contemplating levels of redundancy, just as the NT are making 550 redundancies across their other properties they 'own'.
Despite the rosy sounding future from NT, staff have been advised their future is not assured at Blists Hill, and that the recent successful 'Hallowe'en event' was the last. This contradicts NT public claims. Time will tell.
https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/news/transfer-of-igmt-to-the-national-trust/
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Yes, the Hay inclined plane simply resembles what it once was. Few stop and visit.
The Hallowe'en event just passed was pretty good this year, but the NT have said they will not be holding it next year. Makes one wonder what else will 'not' be happening in the future. It's all about the money.
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There are a whole host of books that give details on canals and boats (historic as we now see them), but you could do worse than get hold of some of the Alan Faulkner and Robert Wilson small paperbacks. 'The George and the Mary' by Alan Faulkner is a good starting point. It's not always correct in some details, but will give you the basic understanding of the 'sizes' of the Grand Union boats. The 'Big', 'Middle', and 'Small' refer not to the length or width, but in the depth of the hull from gunnel to baseplate. Also, the Big boats were usually named after towns, the Middle and Small after constellations, often referred to as 'Stars'.
In the back of The George & Mary you will find details of where registered, fleet numbers, where built and whether of wood, metal or composite. Another in a similar format is 'A Short History of the Narrow Boat' by Tom Chaplin, published by Shepperton Swan.
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The thing is, that drawing was of a Royalty class boat, and every 'class' of boat will be worked up to the dimensions of individual 'classes'; Small, Middle and Large Northwiches, and small and large Woolwiches. It's all to do with scale, and studying the sizes and angles of existing cabins. Simply taking measurements from a plan that might not even match the hull details just won't work. It has to be built with an 'eye' to what works in individual cases.
This is made from cardboard, and is about four feet long, made for a window display.
A smaller effort based loosely on a Josher motor. Getting on for 32yrs old now. Just knocked up from cardboard scap mostly for my eldest daughter's 'show and tell' at her primary school.
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1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:
What's an ellum? Tried Google, but it wasn't my friend...
Think: Helm, then imagine an old boat person pronouncing it. Birmingham - Brumagem. Marsworth - Maffas or Maffers.
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From what we have learned of the family in France, they were quite tuned in to modern technology, and many photographs were taken by themselves. Some were almost comedic in nature. M. Jehovah Gouté (Anna's husband) was a land and vinyard owner of a sporting disposition engaging in racing bicycles as well as boar hunting. He was even photographed driving a motor car, one of the earliest and locally unusual means of transport of the day.
Their former family home was run down after his death in 1932, and a combination of death duties and family squabbling over property saw the remaining members disperse into smaller properties in the locale. Anna passed away in 1934 from cancer, her unmarried daughter lived on in a converted (derelict) mill-house in Les-Montils until her passing in the early 1980's. Her only child emigrated to England, ending up working in the NHS.
The 'big house' was occupied by the German army during the second world war, who took numerous valuable pieces of artwork and musical instruments upon departing. The house remains, and is an upmarket hotel today standing in its own grounds.
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17 hours ago, b00ke23 said:
How interesting. Do you know what year that photo was taken?
(snipped)
Apologies all for the digression of the OP's original thread subject!
There is no date on the back of that particular image, though I would hazard a guess at the late 1880's or '90's judging by the fact that both she and her husband (not in the photo) were born around 1868.
The oldest image is from Dallas, Texas.
Whether 1848 relates their departure from the Loir et Cher to Dallas; the date of birth of one of the subjects, or the date of the image as taken is not definitively known.
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2 hours ago, David Mack said:
When my mother died we found two suitcase full of family photographs. The oldest were stiff victorian studio portraits, most were sepia prints from the 1920s to 1950s, then black and white and colour prints from the 60s to the early 2000s. Many of them were annotated on the back in my mother's handwriting with the names dates and places, and I recognised many of the people in the more recent photos, but some were a complete mystery. If Mum hadn't annotated them, I would be able to identify far fewer of them.
I suspect Mum had inherited the suitcases when her mother died nearly 40 years ago, and apart from adding a few more recent snaps they had probably spent most of the time unviewed in the bottom of her wardrobe.
After Mum died I circulated a few around the younger members of the family for interest. But what to do with them now? And what will my offspring do with them when my wife and I pass on?
My wife's ancestors on her Mother's side were French, and being land owners got into photography early. Many images in cardboard boxes and very old albums with metal clasps.
One of many. We have glass plates as well, some from the 1850's when one branch emigrated to Dallas, Texas.
Mme. Anna Gouté, Louise's Great Grandmother and family members. Don't know who the gent is with the hat cocked. May have been a photographic 'style' back then. This one has been enhanced from its sepia original.
9 minutes ago, DHutch said:Better still, and easier, set you phone up to automatically back them up to the cloud in real time (or atleast next time its on wifi) and make whatever manual local copies you want from there.
Its is very much the most common thing to do, Google, Microsoft, Apple and a host of others all offer the service for little or no money.
Sharing any personal information into 'the cloud' opens up their availability to hackers.
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1 hour ago, b00ke23 said:
Indeed. I do this, but how many people actually do.
Even if you do back them up, you have obsolescence to contend with. Back in the 1990's we used to back up onto iomega zip drives. 100mb per disc and the drive connected to the computer via the parallel port.....I can't even remember the last time I seen a computer with a parallel port. Then CD-R became popular, but again CD drives are now obsolete. All this is in a comparatively short amount of time historically speaking, so you also have to have a long term backing up of the back ups onto more modern media to combat this.
In the absence of the above, it's worth people getting the bests photos printed and putting them in a shoe box at the bottom of the wardrobe!
I have suitcases stuffed with family images taken as far back as the early part of the last century. Then came colour photography and slides, boxes of them.
Digital photography has taken us into the age of no films to process and instant abilities to discard or 're-take'. In some ways progress is better, but brings with it certain anomalies for storage. I have over 14,000 images stored in a desktop, but my favourites are printed out and on display within sight. Two specifically are of TYCHO in black and white. During power cuts, they remain.
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14 hours ago, b00ke23 said:
This whole subject of archiving digital data is interesting and worth all of us giving some thought to. In 20 years time where will all the photos on our phones be?....what about 100 years?
The advent of digital photography has been amazing when it comes to capturing memories, however for a lot of people I fear these memories will be quickly lost in the midst of time.
Don't keep photos on a phone. Load them onto a disc, back-up hard drive or memory stick. Keep them safe.
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A few years ago one of my other 'clubs' had issues with their server. basically they could no longer handle the volume. Much was heralded that the 'forum' section of the club was to transfer to another server. It took forever, and had a layout change in the process. Meanwhile, the former active forum didn't just twiddle their thumbs in anticipation - they went over to Facebook, never to return.
Today the forum is a ghost town with claims of attempting to get more people to join in. The webmaster who oversaw the forum change, with a lot of hard work done voluntarily, has since left his post.
A second club I am subscribed to, has recently (March 2025) had its lively forum shut down by 'the committee', in fear of being 'possibly' held to account over feared actions of the online safety act and Ofcom. The clubs forum summarily was shut down reducing the website to a 'Notice Board' - silencing useful debate and the usual ribald banter. In doing so, that particular club has lost members, and several committee members have resigned. Meanwhile, a separate 'forum' has been started (with discalimers from the original club that 'it's nothing to do with us') and is thriving. The 'gang' have risen from the ashes so to speak.
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A new to me old waterways magazine
in History & Heritage
Posted · Edited by Derek R.
Volume 1, Nos 4 & 5, April - May 1963 (or '5, I favour '65) Price 9d.
Rallies promoted by London & Home Counties branch of the IWA in conjunction with British Waterways and Harlow Corporation; Staffs & Worcs Canal Society; and the Newbury branch of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.
But know nothing of the history.