Derek R.

Mount Pleasant, Trafalgar Square, or the headquarters in St Martins Le Grand? I would plump for St Martins Le Grand. It fits the time span being built in 1829 until demolition in 1912.

https://tinyurl.com/ymjrhvtc Next door.

Another gem I watch now and then is 'The Maggie'. Tales of a disreputable 'Puffer' and crew working a load from Glasgow to the Western Isles. 'Events' and characters abound. Black and white as you would expect.

The West Watford link for Lady Capel's https://www.westwatfordhistorygroup.org/2019/07/the-canal-at-watford.html And a bit on Lady Capel https://reedprepub.org/capel-of-hadham-and-cassiobury/

I doubt the BCN boats had much in the way of colouring. It was after all a Navigation Company first and foremost, and most of their boats were open day boats - with a few having very short cabins amounting to little more than shelters, with at best a bottle stove. Fore ends might have got some red along the top bend, a yellow crescent at each end of the red, and a number in white on the red. Tony Lewery's 'Narrow Boat Painting' depicts some examples on 123. Even the BCN Blue Book makes no references to colours, and the few line drawings are in B & W, and of long distance boats. Hardly a good example of a livery, but rather typical of very basic elements.

BW (as was) recognised YARMOUTH (1914) as qualifying for historic discount, though it was originally a horse boat and ten feet longer. I can't remember how much of the boat (any boat?) claiming historic discount had to BE part of the original, I thought it might have been about two thirds, but I might be wrong. Certainly all the hull sides and fore end were original, the cabin and engine were not.

Ex-hire boats - 'historic'? Any motor vehicle over 40yrs old can be officially classified as 'historic', whether it carried commodities or people. A hire boat could be called a working boat, as it earned income for its owner. Same can be said for a hire car - "It's an ex-Hertz!" But I doubt it would make it any more desirable to own or drive. Lot of fuss over not very much.

The Army/NATO launch - took the image years ago, can't remember where from. It may have been parked up in the gravel pit marina below Widewater. I feel certain it's an image I took, maybe 12 - 15yrs ago. I seem to recall mooching around the bits and pieces while TYCHO was being sign written.

Must have been a life-saver for some down'd crews. Not so sure about this one though . . .

Seriously unimpressed. Think of the condensation! Impractical in so many ways. Where it once lived (and briefly most like): https://tinyurl.com/mpz8e8zs

Unless for display purposes, most maintenance boats were kept plain and simple. Not even a yellow tunnel band. You will of course be familiar with this one: Notice the chain around the pile driver is painted.

That was Carbodies Ltd. in Coventry, later called LTI.

Industrial grade flip-flops.

For some species, possibly. I like it. Can't be more that 3' 6" in width. Can't see much point in having a brass tiller when the wooden one seems more practical. What's the engine? Any one know? Think I would prefer a motorised skiff with overnight canopy. Must be fun though.

Getting the job done.

Lest we forget

Bottles are good. Of all the home brews that get made, how many are stored in tins? And who would want to?

I've heard it can be put in tins . . .

The Mill at Atherstone. The Maid of the Mill at the far end. Looks a bit sorry for itself nowadays: https://tinyurl.com/5e9xnuzu

Went down the Rufford arm (branch?) in 1983, no such warning sign back then. Lots of floating reed islands though. Ring any bells?

Good grief! Rubber stinks to high heaven. Can't imagine that would improve visitor ratings! We sometimes burn a tyre or two on the farm to get some heat into incinerating brash, plenty of wire left behind. But the tyres may be 20yrs old or more.

I could present evidence, but can you present evidence that it does? The reason I won't, is because it would start a rather pointless argument which meteorological and Earth scientists have already debunked through scientific records and measurements, and there are a great many websites on which this can be found. This particular one is centred around canals and the history thereof, and that's the way it really should remain. If my comment above, that you have quoted, has caused any offence, or triggered a blood pressure 'moment' - then I apologise to one and all profusely.

Yes, we can all make mistakes, but 'Friends' seem to excel. This is amplified when on public display, there are lots of videos of privately owned boats - and hire boats getting into more serious trouble. But the behaviour of the PRESIDENT crew on that occasion is incompetent bordering on dangerous. Coal. Welsh steam coal is great stuff. But I know from past experience, and despite its excellence, it involves a lot of cleaning of soot. . Commonly available 'house' coal is being phased out. It's a mistake. This carbon zero target will cause untold problems with all sorts of power issues - for little or no benefit. Ovoids are fine on multi-fuel stoves, the flue is cleaner, the ash fine with no clinker (nothing left to fill in the drive pot holes!) Kerosene as an alternative has gone from 52p per litre to £1.23 almost overnight. 'Red' diesel will be for farm use only, road going tractors already need to use white (DERV). Electric 'fans' will have charging issues, and the solar 'farms' are prone to fire hazards few have consider. An example of this on a small scale, is the catching fire and exploding of one bus standing alongside four or five others in the far East. White smoke begins to emit, then an explosion. The whole bus is engulfed in flame setting fire to three others beside it. Four vehicles written off. Several fire extinguishers were used, it was like pouring petrol on a fire. Another; two chaps riding and electric scooter bursts into flame as they rode along. They crash to the tarmac, the passenger receiving severe burns. The fire was not extinguished with extinguishers, it kept re-igniting. Another video of the inside of someones living room where a small electric stand-on scooter was being recharged from a mains socket. A Father, small boy and pet dog were present. Suddenly the scooter bursts into flame, the dog yelps and runs off, the Father unplugs to charger but to no avail. He grabs the child and evacuates, the fire consumes the room. Another similar even happened in a motorcycle showroom/workshop. A bike on charge flares up whilst machines were being manoeuvred around. The manager manages to get the on-fire bike out before a bigger disaster occurs. The bike is a total loss in the courtyard. Look up lithium iron battery fires. Solar panels. Can they catch fire? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/solar-panel-blazes-ignite-safety-fears-60mvb3265 The bottom line about energy, is that we will all be made to suffer through the wallet. Zero carbon (a complete nonsense, as all plant life and mammalian life is made up from carbon) will involve zero life. This drive to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere on the premise that it 'warms' the planet to unacceptable levels - is bunkum.

You are correct! Should have gone to S . . . . . . I took the side elevation as a flat single gate. It is not.

Love technical drawings. Two types of top gates if I'm not mistaken. The lower set shows the arrangment that can be seen at Stoke Bruerne with the curved iron gates and bent pole balance beams. The ground paddle slide is easily understood, but that arrangement below the top cill looks like a buffer of sorts, supported by a the 'bar' G, from E to D in the bottom plan. If so, this looks to be quite complex and would be expensive in terms of maintenance. I wonder too, if there isn't some sort of hydraulic system of buffer damping associated with the sections showing D. Is there a description of how the system operates? The ground paddle slide when opened would have caused quite a force of water beneath a boat, drawing it hard against the 'buffer'.