Derek R.

Don't isolate it, spread it far and wide, and maybe ask what plans are now in store for the old carpenters workshop at the yard Marsworth? That's gone all too quiet. Likewise Bulbourne workshops and the former managers house behind. Sadly much damage has already been done including inappropriate hand rails at lock sides. Brave words need follow up action, but as ever - who pays calls the tune.

It's rather a classic image of not just the boats, but of how they worked. From that angle anyone with knowledge would be able to point out several aspects of what was happening and the order in which would happen. A picture for many reasons.

If you'd gone to Rotterdam in the late sixties you would have seen more than horses aboard barges. My Brother-in-Law was commissioned to collect, import and quarantine many species of wild animals from Africa and Asia destined for Zoo's elsewhere. Quite a lot of beasts saw life afloat while specialist buildings were erected. Antelope and Tapir maybe not quite haulage material though.

Wonderful postcards.

Not forgetting the one on the Thames at Lambeth, the road to which is still called Horseferry Road. About stabling aboard, I only know of the French Berrichons which had some sort of facility for the animal.

There is also the thought that locks were expensive to build and required engineering accuracy. They also presented a delay in the passage of goods and possible conflicts between boatmen though I doubt the latter was a real consideration in building. They also placed a greater demand on water supply - ideally a lockless contour canal would require less water to maintain its level than one with a lock in any part of its length. Not a practical proposition given the nature of the lands traversed, but surely a consideration. Embankments and cuttings had all to be dug and built with pick, shovel and wheelbarrow. This was after all, the eighteenth century. The horse and man were the main power sources. Build fast - build cheap - get dividends.

So it is! I didn't scroll back far enough Begs pardon all round.

I'll take a shot at thinking they are approaching Slapton lock. The lie of the land is about right, and there's that little hut on the right which in the eighties was leaning even further over.

Going back to Bazza's video of Dutch craft with the side slung prop, I have a few books on Dutch craft that show many vessels were fitted with these items. It seems to have been a transitionary stage between full sail and full motors.

I can imagine the experiment was short lived with the propensity for a coat or shirt getting caught in the transmission shaft immediately below and parallel with the tiller. It may have had a sleeve over the rotating shaft, and has the look of being Quickly Detachable. I wonder how 'quickly' some found a watery grave!

Nice shots Tam, and what a brilliant article in the link - Zin-Zins - got to be my favourite! 600kg unmanned locomotives hung on a cable taking power from a wire along the canal tunnel wall - and in the open too!

There's an image of the Riqueval tug here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CanalStQuentin1.jpg - and from the tunnel mouth top with two tugs moored here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46593689@N00/1601192247/in/photostream/ Another blog writes of a charge of €25 being made (bill in the post). An intrepid traveller by Dory through the tunnel with comment on the first tug here: http://www.manontheriver.com/the-journey/focus-by-michael-bogoger/the-riqueval-tunnel/ I think Jim Shead's website makes comment on the battery boat being an 'experiment' prior to overhead power supply for haulage at Harecastle. But as is often the case no definitive references. More Riqueval tunnel tales (there's a pop up that needs to be cancelled on this one): http://members.tele2.nl/Mouringh.Marga/St-Quentin_eng.htm It's interesting to not that due to the still ongoing transport by canal in France that such details are available, whereas in the UK - at least with regard to Harecastle - such have been lost from accurate memory. Straws that slip from the hands and minds.

London Trolleybuses were 600V DC, and of course due to them running on rubber tyres needed two wires. Trams are earthed trough the rails. I doubt there'd be a drum of cable on the boat, it picks up the cable/chain and feeds it through tensioned rollers to be lowered again. Anchored both ends. A chain does sound more likely - something to grip on. Electric current can travel through water, fish are stunned that way, and people can die from dropping electric appliances in their baths. Conjecture I know, but might there have been a negative cable running the length of the tunnel fixed to the wall below water level? Have to research boat trams! Ah! Rolt - yes, he would have known.

Was that after Brunel built his Broad Gauge?

Grab hold of an HT lead on a spark ignition engine with a wet hand. Water is a good conductor. I wonder if there were many fish around the tunnel area.

Sadly Old Goat is right. But what a place Gas St. basin could have been with a museum in the old warehouse recreating all that had taken place in the past with clubhouse and restaurant facilities within like Blists Hill, Beamish or the BCM. Dreaming again.

Well done Louise - you are in the driving seat! As many of the 'instructors' have departed this world it is up to other generations to pick up the stories and carry them forward.

What a fabulous collection! Especially the 'Bargemen' and 'Dockers' sections. Ships, boats and people from the 19thC right up to today. Edited to add, there is one narrow boat shown in the background of one shot (there are hundreds), looks like it's on maintenance, and the cabin side states 'Calder & Hebble Navigation'. A Butty/horseboat.

As there's disparity between the times also, best contact the horses mouth through their website.

Their website doesn't say: http://www.burscoughheritage.ukcanals.net/index.html ? No - Cap Col mentions it in another post! "Friday 22nd Nov from 7.30." - at The Ring 'O' Bells by bridge 34. Best make it 7pm.

More recent, and for all I know only someone's guess: Suspected as being HADFIELD, and taken along the Cosgrove embankment in the eighties.

Most of them need their heads removed to change their minds. Play the political office until ousted then become consultants and gain places on boards of directors. 'Fake it 'til you make it' springs to mind. This lack of accurate data is rife within government departments - not least amongst road accident statistics but that's another bucket of worms. A little bit of good news. Goes a long way but needs working on - Object!

That would probably be Mr Stokes. Their pair was about as spic n'span as any boat could be, immaculate at all times from what can be gathered. There was probably quite a bit of competition amongst a certain few, while the rest made good with what they had from pure pride in appearance. Only a few I believe didn't bother much, and that's not to say they may not have been good boatmen or women, just had a priorities elsewhere.

What's the betting on this thread becoming the most visited - and re-visited and re- . . . . Richard, you are awful . . .

Bet Sid's trousers stood up on their own for years after that!