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Historic Canal Film


Tim Lewis

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2 hours ago, agg221 said:

I've been watching these films over the evenings and there is a lot to see - tantalisingly almost identifiable boats in most cases!

 

There is one in particular which I am intrigued by. In this film at 14.05 is a narrow beam tug operating near Southall in London. Anyone able to shed any light on what it might be? Its cabin roof profile and general external appearance are surprisingly similar to Oates!


Alec

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUIhtcNr4vQ

 

14.05 on that link shows a pair entering Blisworth Tunnel.

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59 minutes ago, David Mack said:

14.05 on that link shows a pair entering Blisworth Tunnel.

Odd. There are two versions of the same film and it's at 14.05 on this one:

 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-grand-union-canal-1937-online?fbclid=IwAR012hsoIbKVaNvtXE0TkZgfkkZ8kumZ_Aa_exo8CpzEHZZ0NkOt2g4Ooi4

 

Alec

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58 minutes ago, Paul H said:

The tug is shown at 9.09 and is I think a Sabey’s tug, probably the Accretion.  The tug in reality was much longer than the angle of the camera suggests.

Paul

 

 

21F382C5-E660-4645-B528-5EFB605604B4.jpeg

Thanks Paul,

 

A Sabey's tug would make sense but I'm not sure it is Accretion. Accretion appears to have a flue very near the fore end of the cabin and nothing near the pigeon box, whereas the tug on hte film does not have a flue at the front end of the cabin and has what I presume to be the exhaust offset to the side of the pigeon box. The side hatch layout is wrong for Fastnet and the stern is wrong for Pioneer. Any others?

 

Alec

 

 

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The pic I posted is dated 1929 and the Beulah film despite being dated 1934 is certainly 1935/6 or later as it shows large Grand Union boats - 7 years is plenty of time to put a cabin stove in and I can clearly see an exhaust by the pigeon box.

 

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Spring 2010

Regarding the article on Sabey’s wide boats (Autumn 2011 NB), I often spent school holidays during 1941–43 with my grandfather and uncle, Sylvester and Arthur Wood, aboard one of their tugs. The tugs in use at that time were Accretion, Fastnet and Antelope. The wide boats were Sabey’s fleet plus two iron boats of William Boyer and a single boat of Kings of Hayes. The only other regular towed string of boats at that time were Clayton’s ‘rubbish’ boats towed by either Tyburn or White Heather bound for Yeading. My own favourite was the elegant Ruislip of the Grand Union Canal Company. Incidentally, getting a train of loaded wide boats around Bulls Bridge turn required much skill. T.J.S. Clark, Holyport, Berks…

 

Yes there could have been other tugs in service earlier - Powerful, Panama, Buffalo spring to mind but they are poorly documented.  A bit like ice boats… 😀

 

Paul

 

 

Edited by Paul H
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4 minutes ago, Paul H said:

The pic I posted is dated 1929 and the Beulah film despite being dated 1934 is certainly 1935/6 or later as it shows large Grand Union boats - 7 years is plenty of time to put a cabin stove in and I can clearly see an exhaust by the pigeon box.

 

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Spring 2010

Regarding the article on Sabey’s wide boats (Autumn 2011 NB), I often spent school holidays during 1941–43 with my grandfather and uncle, Sylvester and Arthur Wood, aboard one of their tugs. The tugs in use at that time were Accretion, Fastnet and Antelope. The wide boats were Sabey’s fleet plus two iron boats of William Boyer and a single boat of Kings of Hayes. The only other regular towed string of boats at that time were Clayton’s ‘rubbish’ boats towed by either Tyburn or White Heather bound for Yeading. My own favourite was the elegant Ruislip of the Grand Union Canal Company. Incidentally, getting a train of loaded wide boats around Bulls Bridge turn required much skill. T.J.S. Clark, Holyport, Berks…

 

Yes there could have been other tugs in service earlier - Powerful, Panama, Buffalo spring to mind but they are poorly documented.  A bit like ice boats… 😀

 

Paul

 

 

The film is actually later still - further on it shows several Town class boats, notably Chesham and Whitby exiting a lock, which puts it as May 1937 at the earliest.

 

The change of stove would have to be the other way round - it's there in the 1929 photograph but not the film. The roof of the cabin is very clear in the film and there is no sign of a patch or cap, so the whole cabin roof would have to have been replaced to achieve this.

 

It's clearly not White Heather, Tyburn or Ruislip as they are completely different in form (and still exist in their original form so were not rebuilt with entirely different cabins). Antelope is possible would have needed a complete new cabin to look like that, so on balance I think you are right - of those known and documented it is most likely to be Accretion.


Alec

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8 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

It's been on my page of historic canal film for a long time, more by the same person:

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Tim, don't know how I missed these.

 

@dave moore - interesting can at 4:46 in the video I have left in the quote above. I haven't seen that style before - any ideas whose work it is?

 

Alec

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16 hours ago, dave moore said:

Hi, Alec

No, I’m sorry but I can’t identify the painter. I recall Arcturus from the 64 Rally at Stratford but I suspect that it was one of the enthusiasts of the time, not one of those from working days.....but I’ve been wrong before!😉

Hello Dave.

The image of the can that you have shown does not look the same as the one on Arcturus, I am trying to identify the can that you have shown, I noticed that the spout in your image is red and yellow but on Arcturus it is all red with a symbol in yellow on it. 

The one on Arcturus I believe was painted by Frank Jones from a boat yard at Leighton buzzard, though I will get confirmation on this.

Frank Jones painted all the roses and castles on Arcturus prior to beginning as a trip boat on the River Way at Guildford. 

 

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12 minutes ago, Mike Nicoll said:

Hello Dave.

The image of the can that you have shown does not look the same as the one on Arcturus, I am trying to identify the can that you have shown, I noticed that the spout in your image is red and yellow but on Arcturus it is all red with a symbol in yellow on it. 

The one on Arcturus I believe was painted by Frank Jones from a boat yard at Leighton buzzard, though I will get confirmation on this.

Frank Jones painted all the roses and castles on Arcturus prior to beginning as a trip boat on the River Way at Guildford. 

 

Hello Mike,

 

Bryan's son I presume?

 

If you work through the film, there are two cans on the roof of Arcturus at one point, both appearing to have a black ground. You can see them side by side at 3:09. There are images of single cans at 4.46, 5.11, 6:24 and 6:40 but I think all except the first are of the other can.

 

Alec

Edited by agg221
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12 minutes ago, agg221 said:

Hello Mike,

 

Bryan's son I presume?

 

If you work through the film, there are two cans on the roof of Arcturus at one point, both appearing to have a black ground. You can see them side by side at 3:09. There are images of single cans at 4.46, 5.11, 6:24 and 6:40 but I think all except the first are of the other can.

 

Alec

Hello Alec

Yes, I am Bryan's Son.

You are right Arcturus did have two water cans both painted by the same artist and in a different style to the one in Dave Moore's image.

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1 minute ago, dave moore said:

What image? I didn’t put anything up.

That had me slightly confused too, but I think Mike may be referring to your avatar (which I presume is your own work?)

 

Alec

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18 minutes ago, dave moore said:

Ah....the image in my avatar is indeed by Frank Jones, an old can I acquired many years ago. I knew he did the decorative work on Arcturus but the can in the film didn’t ring a bell with me. Here’s one of mine....

 

8DF69FD9-F999-44E9-802F-89FA2BECD968.jpeg

5D672826-1D5E-49E8-80A7-072F07649CC1.jpeg

Very impressive, You are an Artist.

The same cans on Arcturus Taken about 2009 with the Butty Sirius.

The cans had since been repainted by my Mother who also did the roses on Sirius

1120793128_Picture141(3).jpg.67f286d17520ff2045828bc9e00f3ef8.jpg

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Thanks for the kind words, Mike. The can in the photographs is a recent completion, set to sit aboard Sculptor soon. It’s a little different to my usual stuff in that it will sit alongside an old can painted by Brian Collings. I wanted to complement Brian’s work while holding to what I do, the two landscapes at the front are there to go with the two on the older can. 

Thanks again.

Dave

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