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Nb Butty Cygnus, pictures needed please.


Duchess

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Hi all

for those of you that haven’t seen a post on Facebook or heard through the towpath telegraph, ive now got Cygnus.

looking for pictures please of her in the very early days when she was carrying for GUCCCo.

that doesn’t mean that any detailed BW or Willow Wren pics won’t be welcome but I have seen some. Ive seen none of GU carrying days. 
thanking you in advance

 

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36 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Strange isn’t it we found no pictures of our old guccc butty in all the years, we owned her and then realised why. They were like transit vans in those days and the general public did not own camera’s so other than publicity shots boats were not photographed!

Hi Roland

thank you Thats an interesting thought.

we are talking just before the second war so those boats worked their socks off and probably with Idle Women?!

hopefull something will come up somewhere.

which Butty was yours?

 

 

15 minutes ago, stagedamager said:

Congratulations on your purchase! 

Forum member GSer owned her about ten years ago, he hasn't been on here since 2018 but might be worth a PM?

 

Kind regards

 

Dan 

Thanks Dan

i saw a post by GSer on one of Alan’s threads and I’ve noted it but yes it may be worth an inbox. 

9 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

I have a postcard with Cygnus in Willow Wren liverey, at Stratford on Avon. I can scan it for you.

 

 

Hi David

thank you that would be great. I haven’t worked out how to upload pics to here from my phone yet. 

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1 hour ago, roland elsdon said:

Strange isn’t it we found no pictures of our old guccc butty in all the years, we owned her and then realised why. They were like transit vans in those days and the general public did not own camera’s so other than publicity shots boats were not photographed!


We have the same with Fulbourne, whilst some boats turn up in print everywhere ours was decidedly camera shy :-(

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The colours in the two photos certainly look very different, but they were almost certainly taken at the same IWA Festival in 1964.  The colours in the postcard certainly appear to have been enhanced, whilst Max's Son's photo appears to have faded, and neither is a true  reflection of how I remember Willow Wren Colours, particularly the cream, which was a rich colour, but not yellow. Anyway, I have found more photos of Cygnus, all in Willow Wren livery. Three appear in the Spring 2013 edition of the magazine "Narrowboat" and two in the Waterways World Booklet "Willow Wren" by Alan Faulkner. published in 1986. If you want to see them, please PM me.

 

 

 

Edited by David Schweizer
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I can recall seeing the postcard view of Cygnus at Stratford on sale in canalside shops. The yellow was pretty yellow, so I guess that's the colour they were printed.

Only knowing Cygnus from that 1964 image I can remember being very shocked when I came across her about a decade later moored up on the offside below Camp Hill locks, being used as one of Caggy Stevens' rubbish hulks, still bearing the faded remains of the Willow Wren livery.

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Cygnus was paired with Buxton in September 1944 and to the best of my knowledge was never crewed by Trainees. She has had a variety of occupiers since leaving Polesworth where she lived after leaving Caggy. She was used on both the Wire and the Brewery rubbish trips but I will have to look if I took any pix.

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3 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

The colours in the two photos certainly look very different, but they were almost certainly taken at the same IWA Festival in 1964.  The colours in the postcard certainly appear to have been enhanced, whilst Max's Son's photo appears to have faded, and neither is a true  reflection of how I remember Willow Wren Colours, particularly the cream, which was a rich colour, but not yellow. Anyway, I have found more photos of Cygnus, all in Willow Wren livery. Three appear in the Spring 2013 edition of the magazine "Narrowboat" and two in the Waterways World Booklet "Willow Wren" by Alan Faulkner. published in 1986. If you want to see them, please PM me.

 

 

 

Dad's picture is a scan of a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 kodak extrochrome slide taken on his roliflex camera, differnet companies film gave different colour effect

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2 minutes ago, max's son said:

Dad's picture is a scan of a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 kodak extrochrome slide taken on his roliflex camera, differnet companies film gave different colour effect

I'd forgotten that but, now you mention it, I remember that Dad never used Agfa film because he said "It comes out red".

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On 03/05/2021 at 12:05, BuckbyLocks said:

Cygnus was paired with Buxton in September 1944 and to the best of my knowledge was never crewed by Trainees. She has had a variety of occupiers since leaving Polesworth where she lived after leaving Caggy. She was used on both the Wire and the Brewery rubbish trips but I will have to look if I took any pix.

Thank you,

I don’t get alerts from CW so I have to remember to keep logging in.

polesworth is near where she is right now. Pics would be great. Would she have been BW then? 

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2 hours ago, Duchess said:

. Would she have been BW then? 

No, that was after she left Alan Stevens ownership. I wasn't directly involved, but I did do some 'holding and struggling' work on Cygnus for the guy who was doing the welding to make it easier for towing it away from Brum. Not sure who did the conversion work but I recall it being lived on at Pooley Hall Colliery basin for quite some time, then it disappeared but I saw it all over the system after that under several different owners. Was it one of the anonymous blue butties that lived around Little Venice in recent years?

 

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7 hours ago, BuckbyLocks said:

No, that was after she left Alan Stevens ownership. I wasn't directly involved, but I did do some 'holding and struggling' work on Cygnus for the guy who was doing the welding to make it easier for towing it away from Brum. Not sure who did the conversion work but I recall it being lived on at Pooley Hall Colliery basin for quite some time, then it disappeared but I saw it all over the system after that under several different owners. Was it one of the anonymous blue butties that lived around Little Venice in recent years?

 

 

 

cyg.jpeg

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  • 10 months later...

I have some pictures of Cygnus in (I think) the winter of 1963/64.  She was paired with Towcester.  Both boats were in BW colours but were working for Willow Wren and crewed by myself and my brother.  We were carrying coal from Newdigate to Coln Valley and then down to Brentford for grain to Wellingborough.

I will dig out the pictures that I took and digitise them if you are interested.  I could use e mail to get better resolution photos if you wish, send me an e mail.  My e mail address is delphnine@btinternet.com

  • Happy 2
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On 02/05/2021 at 18:27, roland elsdon said:

Strange isn’t it we found no pictures of our old guccc butty in all the years, we owned her and then realised why. They were like transit vans in those days and the general public did not own camera’s so other than publicity shots boats were not photographed!

I also have searched in vain for pictures of our butty Hampton in its working days.   I think I'm right in saying that our boat was never paired permanently with a motor, but was a general relief butty.

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16 hours ago, delphnine said:

I have some pictures of Cygnus in (I think) the winter of 1963/64.  She was paired with Towcester.  Both boats were in BW colours but were working for Willow Wren and crewed by myself and my brother.  We were carrying coal from Newdigate to Coln Valley and then down to Brentford for grain to Wellingborough.

I will dig out the pictures that I took and digitise them if you are interested.  I could use e mail to get better resolution photos if you wish, send me an e mail.  My e mail address is delphnine@btinternet.com

Wow, that would be great thank you

yes please.

I will email you. Thank you. 
it never ceases to amaze me how info just pops up out of the blue. 

16 hours ago, koukouvagia said:

I also have searched in vain for pictures of our butty Hampton in its working days.   I think I'm right in saying that our boat was never paired permanently with a motor, but was a general relief butty.

Hi, have you put any posts directly on here with Hampton in the title? I would have thought something would come up. 

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6 hours ago, Duchess said:

Hi, have you put any posts directly on here with Hampton in the title? I would have thought something would come up. 

There are 31 pages relating to "Hampton" on the forum.  Unfortunately they are either my postings, a few on "Hampton" Joey boats and the rest on Hampton Court. :(.  

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