Rose Narrowboats

We are well on the way to producing a trial batch of 2 gallon cans based closely on the Joseph Ash ones. They won't be cheap as they're hand made at our yard, but at least we can produce small runs to meet demand. We've built a prototype 1 gallon already, and have a set of templates for the 3 gallon when we get round to it. Anthony

I'd agree but they've bought a lot of their competitors though - which is another reason why they've run short of cylinders in the past. One problem for us is that we still have a lot of Alde boilers in the fleet. Out of season, with the doors wide open and the boiler on 7, three 13kg's will just last the week. Most of the competitors are only 11kg so not quite enough. We had, by agreement, both Calor and Flogas on site at one point, and I found Flogas awful to deal with, both in terms in of reliability and attitude. Their rep would come in trying to bully us and set us sales targets and the final straw was when they sent a legal letter to Calor ordering them to remove all Calor bottles from "their" premises without my knowledge or any form of consent.

Dor is correct - the higher cylinders are the older (1960's vintage I think) type with the screw on bar type handle. Calor are aware of their limitations and generally do their best not to supply them to us after we pointed out that they sometimes do not fit in our customer's gas lockers. Calor have been horribly short of cylinders this year - most weeks since the start of the season we have had less delivered than ordered. I got fairly uppity with them when they tried to deny us 13kg Propanes for three weeks in a row in July. Threatening to tear up our agreement with them seemed to work - but doubtless someone else went without instead. We've not had any 3.9kgs for weeks now - because they haven't got any to refill. Meanwhile I have seven empties sat taking up useful space so I suggested that they took them back, refilled them and brought them (or seven others, I don't really care) back the following week, but no, they couldn't do that. They used to pay us a few quid per cylinder for any we took in without paperwork, but they revised the way they worked their delivery vehicle fleet a few years ago (ie they reduced it and got rid of a lot of drivers) so now there often isn't spare space on the lorry to return excess cylinders. Remind why they are short again......

So how many joshers are in the BCN gauging tables which correspond to 1x6x/1x8x/1x9x? That narrows it down to a search for any other photos of specific boats taken in the 40's/50s that show the engine room bulkheads and the way those plates are fitted at such different angles is quite distinctive.

Yes, looking at the pic again it could well be that boat that is under the chute, rather than something ahead of it.

I'd suggest the subject of the 3rd photo is most likely Delphinus/Prince Charles.

We've been keeping an eye out for it since this thread started, but haven't seen it come through. Someone (the OP?) also rang and spoke to a colleague of mine to alert us in case we hadn't already seen this.

Having first hand experience of CRT and NR stoppages I would say that actually CRT are considerably more efficient with their resources. NR appears (though I am sure it is not actually the case) to have a "money no object, throw more men and plant at it" attitude and the laws of diminishing returns very soon start to apply. Not saying that their approach is wrong (they have severe time constraints), just that doing a job in half the time costs far more than twice as much. I could tell some stories - but I'd like to work for them again.

Newbold Arm was dredged because there is a large weir at the end of it and was done at the same time as the Rugby Arm (15 months ago-ish). Anthony

I'm curious now! My understanding was that the new cuts were all brought into use at the same time during a (remarkably short) stoppage in 1834 but if I've read your post correctly then that's not the case? The OCC length book which I have a copy of records the alterations (including costings) meticulously, and implies they were complete by 1834. So, apart from the fact I have never been able to find a a plausible reason/explanation for the construction of the wide, what have missed? According to the 1829 plans, there was no intent to duplicate Hillmorton locks, however it was intended to re-align the bottom Lock and the land was bought for this (which is why the towingpath hedge is set so far back opposite the wide) but this was never carried out. I'd always assumed that the duplication (in 1840) of the locks had not been considered prior to the completion of the straightening and the subsequent increase in traffic so believed that the new cut and wide below Hillmorton was completed along with the rest but was there a delay while the plans for Hillmorton were conceived? Anthony

Removing it is not straightforward. Apparently a request to bring a crane onto the adjacent land has rejected, and an attempt to raise it using floating plant on Friday was unsuccessful.

Dad sold Aster in 1972 as an unconverted but largely rebuilt boat minus the Bolinder to someone (Chris -------?) who finished the hull work and installed the RN. He sold her on a few years later and Dad has a memory she went on the Soar gravel traffic for a short while at that point before the conversion went on. I can only ever recall seeing her with the cabin (I was only four in 1977) so I'd guess she was converted shortly after the photo of her with Lucy was taken. By the time my pictures of the conversion was taken she was nothing to do with us - but the ever faithful Toucan is just visible in the background. I've added my Dad's version of events to my earlier post about the sinking.

I've just dug out some old photo's and you are right, it definitely is Aster. The photo's also show the cabin and were taken at Oxford sometime in the mid 80s

I don't think that's Aster - after Dad sold her on in the early 70's she was converted.

Aster was Salvo's motor when the Fieldings had them so you weren't far out. Aster's other claim to fame is that according to Noel James (an ex Barlow's boatman) she was the start of the whole red chimney band "thing" when the Brigadier painted them to match his cap. A lot of the work was done on the slang at Crick where some wag chalked "Dis" in front of the name. I've got the cratch board, and Dad's still got the cast iron Bolinder prop and the box mast despite having sold the boat over 40 years ago. Mum's still got the physical and mental scars! Regards, Anthony

That's Aster, not Salvo. One of the less intelligent things my father has done, going boating through ice on a wooden boat with no ice plating. His defence is that there was no ice when when they set off from either Hawkesbury or Coventry (can't remember which), and at the time they stopped at Ansty there was only thin ice (that pic is a day or two later) and he left her floating, not realising she was taking on water. She was refloated by the fire brigade and the affair was deemed newsworthy enough tobe featured in the local paper. He subsequently almost completely rebuilt her and she is still around, though in a sad state now I understand. The Bolinder was in Rudd last time I saw it. Thank you for posting that pic - I'm off to go and wind someone up Anthony PS As for the bridge, two of my boats were the last ones ever to be under it - it was demolished into two of my hoppers. From the damage on them when they came back they took it down in pretty big chunks. EDIT to add an account of the event by my Father: When Aster got holed it was on the way back from Coventry Basin after collecting the remains of another Bolinder engine which Bert Dunkley had acquired for me. Having come up the arm Aster had been moored at Hawkesbury when the canal froze over. At that time Coventry Power Station was still operating and putting warm water back into the canal so we duly set off for Hillmorton not realising there was a serious ice problem beyond the power station. At that time Aster had only one new plank on the waterline on the starboard bow. The new oak being soft the ice was cutting into it. This did not initially concern me too much as the plank was far too thick and needed a lot of timber planing off it. However, it became apparent that significant damage would be done had we continued beyond Ansty so we moored by the main road bridge in the village. The following morning the BW ice breaker, possibly Tycho, went through to break the ice and the breaking ice holed Aster on the starboard side just in front of the engine room with the result that she subsequently sank on that mooring but without blocking the canal. Not knowing what had happened I was able to get the fire brigade to float her there being of course good access to the fire engine at the main road bridge. Having got her floating the decision was made to beach her on the mud on the offside just round the corner as in the photograph. We failed to get the damage clear of the water and she again filled with water and when conditions improved we were able to refloat her with a small portable pump and get her underway back to Hillmorton where a more permanent repair was made.

Two things our insurer prohibits our hirers doing are towing and cruising between sunset and sunrise though we can move our boats ourselves at night. Interestingly our CRT work boat licences do not allow anyone to be on board the boat at night - potentially a problem when quite a bit of the work they do involves working at night. Having done my fair share of night boating (including seven nights so far this year) I wouldn't recommend it for novices, or for people who may later hold my company liable for any incident that may befall them. That said I used to enjoy it before the novelty wore off (and the cold seeped in) and I'd defend the right of those who want to try it with their own boat so long as they are capable and considerate. Like all these things, it will take one silly accident involving someone who was operating way outside of their ability and it will ruin it for everyone else. We've got risk assessments for when we need to boat in the dark with all sorts of bizarre added risks that you might struggle to think of without the experience. For example boating past the Coventry Light late at night one Easter a friend, who had been stood on the gunwales by the answerpin, headed forward to look for his windlass. I glanced away, and when I looked back round I was initially amazed at the speed at which he'd got to the foredeck - then in the light from the power station I saw his fingers clinging to the handrail. The gunwales further up the boat had iced and in he'd gone, though we'd noticed no frost on the bank or cabin top. In my opinion there is also a distinction between boating in the dark (ie a winter's evening) or at night proper: I've seen people do really silly things in the wee small hours, including someone step straight in off a piled bank at 4am because their brain analysed the dark bit as just a shadow, not water. No alcohol involved, just fatigue. You'd think the noise of an HR3 would be enough to keep you awake but I nearly killed myself by literally falling asleep at the tiller, and waking myself up by headbutting the gearbox as I fell off into the engine room. I had to read the riot act to one of my boats at about 10pm one night last year after they'd hopelessly overestimated how far they could get in a weekend. In their panic about being in the dark and far from where they had intended to be they then abandoned slowing down past moored boats which was an excellent way to win friends and draw attention to themselves. We also had the fore end of one of our boats stoved in one night last autumn by a private boat cruising at about 11pm whilst all very, very drunk. Those kinds of night boating I can't say I think much of! Edit to add missing word.

David - in answer to your original question, it's not just you. My (T&M) windlass goes about half way on to the square. I suspect that a modern (standard?) windlass will fit far enough up the taper to be safe though which is probably why they have not been altered. Anthony

Thanks for posting that Ray and lovely to see & hear Mr Hadlow. I some correspondence between him and my Grandfather - he was a mine of information about the GU and had a great sense of humour. Anthony

The Ashby was historically lower than the Coventry. According to my grandfather once the house became unoccupied there were repeated problems with vandals forcing both gates open which would cause flooding at certain points down the Ashby. BWB took the decision then to raise the banks where necessary and remove the gates. Anthony

I'm not convinced about the history of Unicorn. I'm sure it was a Rugby Boatbuilders/Boughton Products hull (but Colecraft did build some to the same shape and I don't know how to tell the difference), originally built with a wooden top which had rotted, hence it's removal. John Forth bought it as one his winter projects and the "de-conversion" was his idea. Stockton Dry Dock Co rather than WFBCo did the steelwork and then John fitted out the back cabin and put the engine in, which I think was the Lister S range that had previously been under the back deck. I was working at MC's Junction Wharf premises at the time which makes it late 90s rather than 1993. The bow of Elsinore looks like a Hancock & Lane Norseman to me. Anthony

By all means - but we've both missed a bit out there Ian. There were two steam engines - the first one a beam engine housed in what is now 13, The Locks, the second one drove the centrifugal in the new engine house - and I missed out the oil engine before the 1st of the three electric back pumping systems. I didn't know the old centrifugal pump by the dock had been removed. I have some pics of it somewhere I think, but it wasn't a particularly impressive set up to be honest. The much bigger 1940's installation at the end of Canal House garden was a far more impressive set up, and I probably should have made an effort to save that! There were originally two lock lobbies - there was an identical one on the offside at the top lock, and the toll office was/is built on to the end of Canal House. The last lock keeper was a Mr Payne, and I have his OCC pattern windlass. It was doubtless the property of several lock keepers before him as it is worn so thin it has cracked and been repaired! ETA missing words.

The thing that always strikes me about that map is how much straighter Whitworth's proposed route is than the one Brindley laid out.

There was another, later proposal for an arm for the Earl of Craven which would have left the main line south of Bridge 26 and headed across where the Ansty Rolls Royce factory is now to a terminus near Coombe Abbey. The Wyken Arm was not built until after the straightening. The opening date for the Alexnedria Colliery was 1862 I believe, so the arm would have been built at about the same time (which explains the lack of a cast iron towingpath bridge. The was a loading basin on the Wyken loop just south of Shilton Lane Bridge (No 7 in the 1840s renumbering) for the original Wyken Colliery which closed in 1881. Brownie points for anyone who knows where Bridge 8, the cast iron tp bridge originally at the south end of the Wyken loop now is..... I think the first back pumping at Hillmorton was a beam engine installed in 1831 which could raise over four locks of water per hour. This was later replaced by a large open crank engine in a new engine house (still extant next to the sump lydfordcastle mentions) which is connected to the same culvert which drains the dock. The second engine was replaced by an electric motor and pump (still there in the 90s) which was then superseded in the 1940s by a new electric motor and pump in a utilitarian concrete building on the offside below the bottom lock. That served until the late 80s when the current system was put in on the towingpath side and the feeder through the hill field abandoned. What is now the dry dock was originally a branch to supply the boilers with coal. One of the boilers served for years as a diesel tank next to the second engine house (which became a carpenter's shop after nationalisation) for years and is still there unless it's gone very recently. The other branch off the arm has got what's left of the OCC's inspection launch buried in it. Part of the original engine house survives as a dwelling.

Deleted, as the truth clearly doesn't work.