billh

That has created the amusing situation of 2 daily waste trains passing us within an hour of each other, one full and one empty but both going in the same direction! the full one starts at Knowsley ,(not very far from Runcorn) with Merseyside's rubbish and goes to Teeside , well over a hundred miles (why does that make sense?). The empty train is returning from Runcorn to a Manchester waste transfer station. Economics, mad-house etc!

Yes, way to go! My cousin retired from BRNC Sandquay last year. His father did the same job from 1950ish to 1990's. Both were/are experts on small marine engines, latterly mostly Perkins I think. The Enfield engines were phased out many years ago but I recall more recently a dealer near Manchester selling rebuilt ex RN Enfields, with gearbox etc for £250. Cousin is now into canal boating and is very handy to have on board when it comes to engine maintenance. He served many years in the army as well, so if you need your Centurion tank fixing, he's your man.?

For those interested in industrial archeology,still at Guide Bridge: There was a cotton spinning mill on the right of towpath here, Hamer's Union Cotton Mill. Originally powered by a 700HP vertical marine type steam engine, built a few hundred yards away at Scott and Hodgson's , Guide Bridge. The mill was badly damaged by fire in 1917, the engine was undamaged and sold to Waterloo Room & Power Ltd at Silsden on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Moved to that place by canal. Very surprising , over a century later, the engine still exists, entombed in its engine house: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1266636

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.

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.

I should add that the street the deceased house was at the end of was and is KELVIN street?

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.

Late to the party here, what about: TPW =Tow Path Walker (Towpath Walker)

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

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.?

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.

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?

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

Four Lockings and a Tunnel

A Man for Hoseasons

ABNB, The Movie

The Glenn Iffer Story

A Flight to Remember

Canal Knowledge

A Hard Day's Flight

Needs: The (Stop) Plank

Briefs Incounter (fouled prop)

So, fitted in the roof and set going in the right direction they could re-float the boat?

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.?