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11 hours ago, PeterScott said:

Wikipedia says "... in an unusual move Johnson Brothers built in 1960 three new, specialized barges, named Milton Princess, Milton Maid and Milton Queen, to convey pottery over a 2.5-mile (4 km) stretch of the canal from its factory in Milton to a new packaging plant near the Ivy House lift bridge in Hanley. The experiment was a huge success. Transport by water reduced costs by 50 per cent and diminished the number of breakages of wares. Operation continued until 1990, becoming one of the last commercial narrowboat runs." and this is a picture of a not-loaded boat from our Caldon trip in 1977. 

L01052.jpg

 

I recall seeing Milton Maid tied up against a factory on the Caldon when we went past in our first shareboat, probably in 93 or 94.

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12 hours ago, PeterScott said:

Wikipedia says "... in an unusual move Johnson Brothers built in 1960 three new, specialized barges, named Milton Princess, Milton Maid and Milton Queen,

What a load of twonk, proving Wikipedia is suspect at best and a load of rubbish at worst - one of the great problems of the Internet nowadays, but at least they got the boat names right.

 

MILTON MAID was built 1967, MILTON QUEEN was built 1973 and MILTON PRINCESS was built 1978. MILTON PRINCESS was not particularly specialised as it had a conventionally built counter sterned narrow boat hull by Malcolm E. Braine, and is now the London based trip boat MILTON :captain:  

 

edit = I was last on the Caldon Canal in 1979 and although a long time ago I do remember these boats operating.

Edited by pete harrison
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27 minutes ago, buccaneer66 said:

Found this on potteries.org it is dated May 1993

Yes, it's the text under that picture which Wikipedia is referencing for its version, and which loses some of the timeline in its abbreviation:

"In the 1960's Johnson Brothers, part of Wedgwood's Earthenware Division, acquired the former premises of British Aluminium on the banks of the Caldon at Milton, and converted them for use as a packing house. Soon afterwards its management took the unusual decision to experiment with waterborne transport, commissioning three specially designed narrow boats — the Milton Princess, Milton Maid and Milton Queen. Each is sixty feet long, seven feet wide and can carry up to twenty tons, three times more than a lorry trailer, with greatly reduced building and operating costs. 

The experiment was a huge success; transporting ware by water reduced costs by 50%, and diminished the number of breakages. The four mile trip took about one hour. In May 1986, the Milton site was closed, though the boats may still be seen delivering wares along the short stretch of canal to the Eagle Pottery at Ivy House.

Six of the Best - Richard Weir"

Edited by PeterScott
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12 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

"In the 1960's Johnson Brothers, part of Wedgwood's Earthenware Division, acquired the former premises of British Aluminium on the banks of the Caldon at Milton, and converted them for use as a packing house. Soon afterwards its management took the unusual decision to experiment with waterborne transport, commissioning three specially designed narrow boats — the Milton Princess, Milton Maid and Milton Queen. Each is sixty feet long, seven feet wide and can carry up to twenty tons, three times more than a lorry trailer, with greatly reduced building and operating costs. 

The experiment was a huge success; transporting ware by water reduced costs by 50%, and diminished the number of breakages. The four mile trip took about one hour. In May 1986, the Milton site was closed, though the boats may still be seen delivering wares along the short stretch of canal to the Eagle Pottery at Ivy House.

Six of the Best - Richard Weir"

That reads so much better than the abbreviated and altered version on Wikipedia, although I suspect most people are not that interested in the details nowadays :captain:

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2 hours ago, pete harrison said:

MILTON MAID was built 1967, MILTON QUEEN was built 1973 and MILTON PRINCESS was built 1978.

I can't find what was my faint memory of Waterways World briefly featuring the 1973 commission. And I don't suppose it really was an "unusual decision to experiment with waterborne transport" when it all started. Anyway here's some loading / unloading in 1993

L10076.jpg

Edited by PeterScott
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10 hours ago, PeterScott said:

Yes, it's the text under that picture which Wikipedia is referencing for its version, and which loses some of the timeline in its abbreviation:

"In the 1960's Johnson Brothers, part of Wedgwood's Earthenware Division, acquired the former premises of British Aluminium on the banks of the Caldon at Milton, and converted them for use as a packing house. Soon afterwards its management took the unusual decision to experiment with waterborne transport, commissioning three specially designed narrow boats — the Milton Princess, Milton Maid and Milton Queen. Each is sixty feet long, seven feet wide and can carry up to twenty tons, three times more than a lorry trailer, with greatly reduced building and operating costs. 

The experiment was a huge success; transporting ware by water reduced costs by 50%, and diminished the number of breakages. The four mile trip took about one hour. In May 1986, the Milton site was closed, though the boats may still be seen delivering wares along the short stretch of canal to the Eagle Pottery at Ivy House.

Six of the Best - Richard Weir"

Relying on my increasingly unreliable memory and recollection , I was under the impression that the barge transportation was between the biscuit firing kiln, and the the final glazing kiln located on another site. Not that it matters at all.

But as the barges we saw did not display a destination sign, I really would not have known where they were headed, and the limited view would not have enabled me to see where in the manufacturing/ distribution process the pots were.

I remember at the time being disappointed that the barges were so far removed from the romantic images I had of the vestigial remnants commercial narrow boat transport.

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