billh

President became the motor maintenance boat on the Macclesfield and Upper Peak Forest Canals* possibly replacing the wooden motor Scotia which was then abandoned in Whatcroft Flash on the T&M. The later history of President is well known, but what of the other two? I have two photos of Craftsman leaving the Gorton Depot, the cabin side is in very shiny new painted condition. " British Waterways, North Western Division" in an unusual mix of styles. So, what became of Craftsman, went on maintenance somewhere, but where and what happened to her in the end? I have seen absolutely nothing of Wanderer after arriving at Gorton, I suspect she was in poor condition and broken up without any work being done. Again I have a photo of the boat at Fairfield Junction in George & Matthews livery on the way to Gorton, also a reference in a log book to her National engine written by the steerer making that potentially last trip. Has anyone got any more information? Bill * this information from "Adventures of the Nippy" by James Hewitt

I've got my large scale plan of the "Tank" to refer to now, it's 5ftx3ft and labels the purpose and size of every room and workshop in the railway works. The plan dates from 1950's in BR ownership . There is fair detail of the canal depot as well. Next to the dry dock is shown a pump house, I don't think this was for the dry dock as I remember reading that the steam pump was available 24/7 to supply loco water for the engine sheds and works. It would be canal water pumped via the reservoir and filter beds, south of the canal depot. There was also a gas works next to the depot for lighting and specialist heating though this had disappeared by the time and is not shown on the plan. There was a 3ton travelling crane for the depot , to the right of your yard picture.The small building next to the filter beds is a "petrol store" this may have been for canal maintenance plant and NB Joel which had a Kelvin petrol engine in the 1950's. The building on the corner of Ogden Lane and Cornwall St was the "enginemans' barracks" where visiting drivers and firemen could stay when in Manchester between "turns".This was the last remaining building of the works and was demolished about 12years ago.Houses are now on the site of the canal depot, curiously not built over the dry dock area. The towpath bridge in the above picture still exists. The Canal Depot opened in 1862 at the same time as the railway works and replaced a much older depot at Stockport Branch junction in Clayton, though this latter continued as a lock gate builders and stone mason's yard well into the C20th. The Depot closed in 1962 and the railway works finally closed in 1965.The site is now the New Smithfield vegetable market and Greater Manchester Police garage. Bill

It is President. One of 3 boats acquired from George & Matthews of Wolverhampton by BW in the early fifties. The other two were Wanderer and Craftsman, discussed here a couple of years ago. All three came to Gorton for re-furbishing. The Gorton "Tank" actually refers to the railway works which was across Cornwall St not the canal depot though both were in the ownership of the MS & LR , GCR and LNER. The whole of the works was actually in Openshaw, not Gorton! The staff at the canal depot were skilled wooden boat repairers not familiar with iron or steel boats, boiler smiths from the railway works were usually called on for riveting and such for the iron icebreakers etc. I have a press cutting from a local paper that shows President being painted and sign written at Gorton, dated IIRC 1955. Here is a link to another Gorton dock picture: http://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw192.3.1.31.1.11

These old Rustons are great engines, very reliable, plenty of power. They just lack the bling of a Kelvin or Gardner. The 2VSH will be fine in a narrowboat. The four is ,in my opinion,over the top . I bet it smokes a bit as it won't get up to proper operating temperature? I have used (and abused in the past), 2VTH and 3VRH , both now over 70years old and they run fine. Re-used head gaskets a few times, just be careful not to damage when removing.

The two film stars were built 1972. A frigate and another destroyer were commissioned in 1974.

Correct. The destroyer has been stationed on the Ashton Canal for the last 35years helping to maintain peace in those far flung parts of the British Empire. There's a Pinder build number in the engine compartment. Interesting engine sound in the film clip, I think they had Thornycroft's marinised BMC 2.2 originally.

Hydraulic gear is still in the majority on our canal. Out of 72 paddle sets, only 6 gate paddles have reverted to "proper" type. Some new gates have had the old hydraulics re-fitted even though 40+ years old. About 75% of the gears are faulty in some way, i.e., they leak oil , drop on their own or just don't work. They are an abomination with no redeeming features. Very expensive to maintain as they have to be removed and sent to a specialist hydraulics repair shop, spares are difficult ( I think they were originally of Italian manufacture) . I have heard it said that they cannot be replaced by conventional because some locks are listed structures and the hydraulics were in place at the time of the listing. That might be just an excuse? The original paddle gear consisted of two ground paddles and two co-acting gate paddles at the head of the lock with no reduction gear and two gate paddles of large area with reduction gear on the tail gates . This on a narrow canal.

Many of the HNC locks were re-located and/or rebuilt by the L&NW Railway in the later years of C19th this in connection with their construction of the Micklehurst loop and 4 tracking of their line from Stalybridge to Huddersfield. Most recognisable by being built with blue engineering brick. I can't think of any of these where width is a problem. Going back to Wade Lock, Uppermill: at restoration around 199x(?) , the walls were completely rebuilt to a width that has since caused a lot of the problems for GU boats and others. Somebody , possibly at British Waterways, at the time approved the construction of those walls. It cannot have been a matter of cost, the savings by making it 6" narrower than it should be would be minute. I can only think that BW at the time thought the HNC would never get re-opened throughout and so did not take too much notice of how locks were being rebuilt and to what dimensions?

I understand ,from someone who should know, that Wade lock in Uppermill was "fixed" within the last year or so. The narrow bits of the lock walls were altered so that the whole length of the lock is now a uniform width. Unfortunately that new width is still not quite adequate for some of our so-called dimensionally challenged narrowboats. It is, after all, the Huddersfield NARROW Canal. As opposed to, say, the Ashton Canal which is a narrow canal with perfectly adequate width of locks.

Horseboat Maria has been to Huddersfield several times since the HNC was re-opened. Usually legged through Standedge. Motor Joel has also been the full distance, though towed through the tunnel in a convoy. Both boats are narrow narrowboats at 6' 10+" . Not sure how far the WCBS have got with Forget Me Not & Hazel, might be worth asking? Most historics stick at 19 or21W and I know it can be a long reverse to wind as the turning place at Roaches Lock is too silted up for 70'. Bill

Our moorings are a few hundred yards from the fire incident, boats have been passing since Friday tea time and all weekend so, the canal is open.There was a floating boom near the building to collect any pollution in the canal, that must have been removed. The mill complex has been destroyed and is still smouldering, a sad end to an iconic symbol of Ashton's industrial past.

We wish, if only it was that easy. See the stoppages page. An engineering possession (well, a fire) has meant no services to Stalybridge,Marple,New Mills etc. Don't get me going about the claim for delay repay Littleborough to Manchester Piccadilly in June, that service was a week late due to a "cill on the line" and then a collapsing gate in Failsworth which delayed following boats by a month.

So , the canal isn't closed today, but will be tomorrow?Going by the date in the header.The fire started yesterday and is still burning well. Not sure if the Fire Brigade are using canal water originating from Toddbrook reservoir to fight the fire.

Piccadilly Village, secure moorings just east of Store St aqueduct, non towpath side. No need to go in to the basin. No public access, 24 hour stay allowed. If you have to leave the boat, I am sure a passing resident (there are many) will let you back in if you explain.

There's an expensive looking elsan station at Hebden Bridge. The kit is built into a lockable GRP cabinet about 5yards away from the very slow water point. You open the cabinet and there's the emptying bowl and on the left of that is a flush out tap with a label above : "DRINKING WATER". No,the label has not been defaced.I wonder who signed this off as correctly installed and fit for service?

Can you get to Guide Bridge, a mile from Portland Basin? At our yard, Steve K. has an HR2 with Blackstone box in his boat, he might know the fix? Maybe, just walk down without the boat for a chat, pretty sure he will be there today. Postcode M34 5HW. Bill

Examples: Malvern, Clee,Bernard, Jimmy....?

On this topic of engine ID: A mate has an SR3 in his narrowboat, it came from a small fishing vessel in Scotland. The embossed engine number plate is missing and he can't find (or perhaps see) a number stamped on the flywheel within the casing. Is there anywhere else on the engine to look for the serial number etc? The reason he wants to know is he bought a nice brass Lister works plate and wants to stamp the correct engine number on it to display in the engine compartment. Thanks in advance.

I have recently been using various Sherwin-Williams 2 part epoxy paints. They all had a date code on and all pretty much past their use by date as recommended by the manufacturer. The oldest paint definitely takes longer to cure and in an extreme case was several weeks. They did however all set ok in the end. Most of the slow curing was noticed with the primer paints, top coats seem to be much better.These two part paints do not skin over in the tin.

The bridge in the lower pic is known locally as "th'Iron Donger" If you would pardon the expression!

Moored here overnight a couple of weeks ago .View out the back cabin in the morning with the mist and rain it was easy to imagine we were on a Scottish Loch, just missing the lone piper and a few stag *. Over the towpath wall is the railway's eastern approach to Summit tunnel, requiring all train horns to be sounded, so the illusion is somewhat spoiled. The Rochdale Canal is a sleeping beauty, sadly neglected by the authority charged with its maintenance. * There were some highland cattle somewhere near Mytholmroyd!

Polycarbonate, not perspex, is excellent and almost unbreakable, I have used it for all sorts of things,might be possible to use a hole-saw without the pilot in a drill press? Failing that, Manchester Glass in Denton have made double glazed laminated porthole units for us a while ago, not expensive either. It might be a bit of a faff for such a small size.