ID Boat London 1958

[pete harrison]

On ‎14‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 20:02, pete harrison said:

I am 99% certain that the small Woolwich motor in this film is ARCAS, which period fleet lists show to be out of service in 1958 and other documents show it to be a 'spare boat' (not a 'change boat') from April 1958

 

15 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Hi Pete,

So if it were Arcas, what was the status and ownership of Arcas in 1958.

My assumption would be that it was on the South East carrying fleet, or was that not the case?

If so BW supplied a boat for the filming, (and presumably had to repaint it again afterwards!).

Sorry if I did not make myself clear in the post above. ARCAS was still in the 'British Waterways' south eastern carrying fleet in 1958, but period documentation for 1958 suggests it was not in use and listed as a spare boat. This would make it an ideal candidate for filming and 'slap' painting. It would appear that ARCAS remained out of use until it was docked in 1960, following which it was recorded passing through Braunston on 19 October 1960 with Grantham (Bob Grantham ?) as steerer and he had it for the remainder of 1960

[Derek R.]

9 hours ago, David Mack said:

I assume he was the actor playing the part of the boat owner.

Yes - that's quite probable.

[alan_fincher]

6 hours ago, pete harrison said:

 

Sorry if I did not make myself clear in the post above. ARCAS was still in the 'British Waterways' south eastern carrying fleet in 1958, but period documentation for 1958 suggests it was not in use and listed as a spare boat. This would make it an ideal candidate for filming and 'slap' painting. It would appear that ARCAS remained out of use until it was docked in 1960, following which it was recorded passing through Braunston on 19 October 1960 with Grantham (Bob Grantham ?) as steerer and he had it for the remainder of 1960

Apologies, Pete.

On re-reading what you said, (and which you re-quoted), you were fairly clear on the point, and I probably didn't need to ask for further clarification. I should have read more carefully.

 

Southern Cross (Brentford 518) is another with health registration ending in '8' but I'm guessing (always dangerous!) that the trip bat conversion probably rules it out.  What about Cepheus (Brentford 488) ?

From what you say Arcas does sound highly likely.  One of the very last still in CRT ownership, and still sees a fair amount of active use.  One wonders for how much longer.  From some recent pictures posted Hercules seems to be out of use on the bank, so the number till actually used dwindles further, it seems.
 

[pete harrison]

2 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Southern Cross (Brentford 518) is another with health registration ending in '8' but I'm guessing (always dangerous!) that the trip bat conversion probably rules it out.  What about Cepheus (Brentford 488) ?

Although not clearly visible, and only there for about 1 frame is part of the number that is before the 8. In my opinion this is neither a 1 (518 for SOUTHERN CROSS) or a 0 (508 for PHOBOS). This only leaves 488 for CEPHEUS and 558 for ARCAS.

 

Looking at other information regarding these Small Woolwich motors with the last number of their health registration being 8 then SOUTHERN CROSS started operating as a passenger trip boat in 1958, so would have been under conversion or already in service when this film was dated. PHOBOS was an active carrying boat during the three fleet lists I quoted earlier in this thread so it is highly unlikely to have been temporarily withdrawn and subjected to abuse, CEPHEUS was a maintenance boat in 1958, and had been since its sale to the Grand Union Canal Company in November 1945, so is extremely unlikely to have retained running gear and cloths with a decent cratch. So this leaves ARCAS, and as stated earlier I am 99% certain that this is the boat in the film, especially as it was out of service as a 'spare boat' - but doing things by elimination is not best practice and is my least preferred way of identifying boats

[alan_fincher]

2 hours ago, pete harrison said:

 So this leaves ARCAS, and as stated earlier I am 99% certain that this is the boat in the film, especially as it was out of service as a 'spare boat' - but doing things by elimination is not best practice and is my least preferred way of identifying boats

I think in this case your 99% certain seems a pretty fair bet.