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billh

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Everything posted by billh

  1. The working party at Guide Bridge was part of the Ashtac event in March 1972. This part of the canal is a few yards from my parents' house and was my playground from the early 60's (until the present day!). The canal here was in a dreadful state and had last been used I think in 1965 when the horseboat Medic carrying puddling clay for leak repairs was punted from Lumb Lane to Portland Basin. As a result of the Ashtac work we managed , a month later,to get motor maintenance boat Joel from Portland Basin to Fairfield Locks and back, last possible in 1962, so a belated thank you to all those volunteers on that week-end. I had not realized that the "Monorail" system was in use here,( the rail on the towpath can be seen) I was up at Margaret Street loading the monorail skips using a Smalley digger.
  2. About twenty of the EE type 4s got named after ocean liners. They were used on the West Coast line between Euston and Liverpool, to connect with transatlantic shipping from the port. This was at the time that the liners were fading away, so it wasn't a brilliant publicity move. The main west coast traffic to Scotland was still in the hands of Coronation pacifics, the type 4s could only just keep up with them and perhaps BR didn't trust them for such a long journey. Later double headed EE class50s came in north of Crewe and stole the show until full electrification.
  3. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  4. I should add that the street the deceased house was at the end of was and is KELVIN street?
  5. There was a similar serious landslip near there, years ago. It was on the Anderton side of Barnton road bridge. At the time there was a danger of a number of buses falling into the canal from the parking area above. You can still see where a new narrowed channel was constructed at great expense. There was a long legal argument about who was responsible and the repair works took months (years?) to do. Clearly the cost of repair lies with the land owner, but C&RT will have to sort it out. A lot of years ago, a house fell into the Ashton Canal, shortly after the canal had been dredged next to the property, in that case the canal authority (London & North Eastern Railway) were held responsible.
  6. Late to the party here, what about: TPW =Tow Path Walker (Towpath Walker)
  7. A 40ft box is often cheaper than 20ft, lots more of them and less demand by builders for secure storage, site huts etc but more of a problem to transport. Personal experience shows that you can get a lot of "stuff" in a 40ft container or use as a large office space, canteen and so on. An empty steel 40ft weighs about 2500kg. Some insulated GRP or aluminium boxes , used for fruit transport can be got, complete with heating/cooling plant and are cheap as they are not so secure as steel
  8. Some years ago we acquired a part dismantled J2 . One cylinder head was cracked and the engine had been seriously overheated. The owner had given up with it, especially as it was only hand start.I completely dismantled the engine and found that the water pump inlet flange had been siliconed, much as in this case. There was about 60% blockage of the water intake with white silicon- I took it that this was the cause of the overheating and damage to the engine.?
  9. When you say you used to have an SR1, did it blow up?? I was under the impression that SR1's absolute max rpm was rather lower than 3000. We have here an SR1 emergency fire pump designed to get as much water as possible through a fire hose at high pressure, I consider the engine is at its limit when governed at 2500 and not happy at that speed. Other SR1s run at 1000 or 1500 and are much more comfortable at that speed. Yes Lister air cooled are noisy but also very reliable- I hand started a 52 year old SR1 excavator engine the other night- air temperature was 0deg C, first time and it was away.
  10. There's an excess fuel catch on the injection pump control rod , engage that for cold starting, it drops out once the engine speeds up. There may be a swivelling pot on the inlet manifold that you can light a fire in for really cold starts- possibly replaced with an electric heater element?
  11. Another 3VRH owner here, not in a boat , it's in a 70 year old Ruston Navvy/crane. The engine last had a major overhaul in 1959. Utterly reliable, smokes a lot when it's cold , but always starts, hand or electric. *My opinion only*: though it sounds and looks great, it is far too big for a narrowboat it will only ever be at idling or just above, the torque available is huge , so biggest prop you can get under the counter is way to go. But , you have it already so live with it. I doubt you will need any spare parts and they will be hard to source anyway- 3VRH hasn't been made since about 1955, when the Ruston Bucyrus 10RB machines went to mostly 3YC engines. You could try asking the Vintage Excavator Trust at Threlkeld if you really feel the need for spares. Bill
  12. Four Lockings and a Tunnel
  13. A Man for Hoseasons
  14. The Glenn Iffer Story
  15. A Hard Day's Flight
  16. Needs: The (Stop) Plank
  17. Briefs Incounter (fouled prop)
  18. So, fitted in the roof and set going in the right direction they could re-float the boat?
  19. A bank of six 12v fans in the pigeon box above the engine, ventilates any fumes there. I think they came from a Sun Microsystems server. The fan frames are aluminium and sometimes get rained on, but don't seem to mind. We had two more under the cabin mushroom vents but they were not very effective so removed. Fans are about the only computer parts that are any use on a boat. More interesting are the aircraft electrical parts such as ex WW2 bomber switches and indicator lamps and ex railway locomotive parts incorporated into the vessel.?
  20. I've got one of those, 48 years old now and still floating (well it was yesterday)?
  21. I understand that final set up of timing etc on the engine was done by measuring exhaust gas temperature at each cylinder. Large engines have thermometers at each cylinder port permanently fitted to facilitate this. A bit of a task on a 16cylinder engine with individual pumps!
  22. If and when I have to have an electric car,my sounder chip ,if I had a choice, would be programmed with the sound of an English Electric 16SVT diesel running max 750 rpm . 4 turbos spooling up as I pull away from the lights, awesome?
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