Derek R.

You can-not be serious! We need to see these . . .

Nice Alan - love the Ducks eye views!

Hope there's no catapults Catalina's about . . . .

Excellent shots Tim through your link. There's a short BBC report here. Can't be sure of how long that may be available.

Might be difficult as it appears to have been scuttled and sunk in Harefield in 1956. Relevant thread: HERE. It is possible the Wakeham's UPWOOD is KINGSDOWN. Complicated to a point. Search 'KINGSDOWN' in this forum.

Why not: S45/15? (Leave the question mark off though). Sorry - I'm not a DM owner.

I would imagine using a mouth blown horn was standard practice wherever an electric one was not available! It harks back to stage coach days and beyond, extending to such boats as did not have any other form of mechanised audible approach warning system. Sounds simplistic, but then the simplest solutions are often those missed. I've heard it said some even removed the reed and blew tunes from them. Sounds like jazz to me.

Brilliant stuff. The Vespa Rally in Leeds was fun too - talk about the way we were (well, some of us!). Things were simpler, but still fun. To add: Searching that website finds two very good films; A silent colour film around 15 minutes in length - 'Humber Highway', in which several river barges and Keels are seen, as well as making ribs for new boats. NAR is in there, ROMEO and others. 1956. The 'Port of Goole' is half hour long, in colour with sound and commentary. Mostly concentrating on the docks, its shipping, and goods handling, More Keels to be seen. 1964.

Is she worth a barrowload to keep quiet about that? (Thinks - is this 'brick-mail'?)

The procedure for posting images needs a host such as Photobucket. But there's a full blown 'how to' HERE.

Cabin shaft: has a hook. Long shaft: used for pushing off, also called a pole (small p, fewer around than those with a capital P). Short shaft: one that isn't long enough. Quant: Always thought it an East Anglian pushing pole with a forked end. Punt pole: what it says. To 'pole' a punt. Boat hook: fitted on the end of a shaft. Barge hook: bigger bugger with a hole in for padlocking on. None too common. Only my version though.

This might be another of those threads debating where boat names came from. One story I heard was that Petter's produced a batch of engines suitable for landing craft that subsequently were not needed, and were 'moved' and appropriated for use in Narrow boats to replace some Nationals etc. The PD2M that went onto YARMOUTH came from a ships lifeboat with little use, so the M is for 'Marine'. There were other variants made of the twin with different suffixes, some went into industrial uses for pumps and generators, some of the latter may well have been 'marinised' with cardan shafts, but not the M suffixed engine to my knowledge. Parson's 'F' box, with or without reduction, solid shaft with 'Metalastic' block was I believe the norm. Petter made 3, and 4 cylinder, 'V'6's and 'V'8's. Speedwheel has some shots of a V8 in generator mode. McLaren is an old firm established in 1876 by brothers John and Henry who produced steam traction engines. The McLaren connection was from involvement from that company from 1947 when working in conjunction with Fielding & Platt Ltd. and Petter's Ltd. producing a totally enclosed range of horizontal engines known as the Petter-Fielding (I believe such engines were used in the Fieldmaster [maybe thinking of Fieldmarshall] tractors, they certainly look the same.) In 1949 controlling interests in McLaren were acquired by the Brush group. In 1957 no less than 76% of sales went to export with hundreds of Petter-Fielding engines going to India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East. Also a large consignment of vertical M series engines were going to Scandinavia, Malaya, Brazil, South Africa and Australia. Furthermore, parts were being supplied still for engines which had been in service since 1928. In 1951 turnover was 12 times that of 1946. Over 1,900 men and women were employed in a vast complex covering 13 acres. The Planet type tractor was fitted with a Petter PD2 with Berger Handraulic starting equipment. One such vehicle was used to tow passengers and personal luggage around Butlin's Camp in Pwhllheli. Much of the above information is taken from 'The Stationary Engine' magazine, December 1991 in an article written by David Edgington. I was going to post an image, but Photobucket is not performing. Here we go (trouble with Firefox) One I pulled to bits earlier: Derek Not forgetting the little Petter PAZ1 (Pazi) which many will remember as powering the thousands of cement mixers on building sites. We had one powering a 24V generator on the bow of our Dutchman.

"It"?? Looks like Lady Capel's you've just come through, and the wier above going under the M25 spur.

Egg rationing finished in 1953? Hence your arrival soon after? Maybe that's what you meant. Bit slow off the mark this-morning.

Sounds almost too practical for a 'Ministry decision', but sound conclusion. I remember the entrance to 'rivets' and their long title sign. Harked back to Dickensian almost. Seem to recall a decent coal yard thereabouts too.

Looking at old ordnance survey maps online show nothing of any significance. 1930's HERE. You'll need to scroll down on the right hand side for map 1932 - 1935, then click on that and wait for the download. Edited to add: Older maps show just a field, and the 1960 one shows little more.

This bit? 'Ramp' central in the view.

Bradshaw 'wrote' 'Lengths and Levels', there's a copy available online HERE. It shows the lengths and levels of canals, rivers, and some railways associated with 'Bradshaw's Northern Maps'. It is not a guide in any form, but a detailed account of datum as surveyed. Dated 1832.

Well, who'd have thought it!

We had a weed hatch on YARMOUTH, fitted by 'someone', which when opened had just half an inch of dry side - inside the hatch. It got interesting when a bunch of young lads stepped on the back deck to see what was round the prop. There are minimum requirements now of course. I do remember slinging a scaffold plank at water level and laying on that to reach someone's prop once. Worked well enough, but got pretty wet in the process. Dropping it on a cill would be another practice not yet mentioned. Got to be careful doing that though.

Just in case someone did get the wrong impression - Tam's advice is with the engine stopped!! In gear and cranked by hand, never done that myself if only due to much single handed boating. If you have the shaft in the water and forget which way the hook is facing (easy done), a groove can be cut in the handle up where you are holding it, the same side as the hook, so by touch you can know where the hook is down below. Had a shunters pole once, blessed if I know where that went. Always thought of putting a 'tit' on the end to help closing/opening gates. Probably a daft idea. I do get them.

Try John and Sue Yates, they had the pair in the early eighties. Think they still have BUCKDEN.

This sounds like the ASH that I knew from the early eighties, and which was owned by Roger Wakeham. He and John Pattle built/rebuilt the steel top using fuel tank materials, though the details of that are not precisely known, nor exactly when. Digging through my odds and ends I find a few shots that include this ASH, as here at Stockton one Christmas - ASH is against the towpath, second lot of boats. Here in Little Venice for New Year (I think), nearest the camera broadside on. And in daylight, peeking in on the extreme right, the blunt fore end.