Marinas/Boatyards/Hire bases with easy rail access

[TheBiscuits]

10 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

This is great stuff guys.  

 

Just to be clear, it's not limited to hire boat locations, or even marinas.   I'm thinking of a situation that I've personally experienced where you suddenly have to leave the boat for a few days, or a couple of weeks, and get home somehow.  So you could broaden it out to long stay moorings or safe locations. 

 

In that case Leeds Basin / Granary Wharf takes some beating.  You can see the entrance to the major station from the boat if you moor near the old graving dock.

[agg221]

I have friends who live in Cambridge and don't drive. They keep their boat at Overwater on the Shropshire Union and travel by train with no issues.

I have in the past hired from Wootton Wawen near Stratford on Avon (it was then Anglo Welsh) which has a station right in the village.

Penkridge has an accessible station, good for either leaving the boat for a week or two, or mooring at Otherton Boat Haven.

Stone has moorings, boatyards etc. and is very accessible.

 

Alec

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by agg221

[northern]

5 hours ago, agg221 said:

I have friends who live in Cambridge and don't drive. They keep their boat at Overwater on the Shropshire Union and travel by train with no issues.

 

 

 

They must taxi it?  Otherwise it's a 6 mile walk to Nantwich (nearest station), much of it on roads without a pavement.

 

 

5 hours ago, Neil2 said:

This is great stuff guys.  

 

Just to be clear, it's not limited to hire boat locations, or even marinas.   I'm thinking of a situation that I've personally experienced where you suddenly have to leave the boat for a few days, or a couple of weeks, and get home somehow.  So you could broaden it out to long stay moorings or safe locations. 

 

  

 

 

 

In that case, Rugeley station is an easy walk from the canal.

[Captain Pegg]

Below is a list of stations that I have used in association with boating, together with the location of the boat at the time:

 

Alvechurch – short walk to Alvechurch Marina (adjacent)

Atherstone – short walk to town moorings below lock no. 5

Aylesbury – ¼ mile walk to basin

Berkhamsted - 1 mile walk along towpath to/from Northchurch (although canal also runs adjacent to station)

Birmingham New Street – ¾ mile walk to Sheepcote Street Visitor Moorings

Bletchley – 1 mile walk from Fenny Stratford Long Term Moorings

Ealing Broadway – E8 bus to Brentford

Fenny Stratford – short walk to Fenny Long Term Moorings

Hatton – 1 mile walk down towpath to Hatton Top Long Term Moorings

Langley Green – ¼ mile walk to/from Titford Pumphouse

Langley Mill – ¼ mile walk to Langley Mill Boatyard

Lapworth – ½ mile walk to Kingswood basin

Leamington – short walk from town moorings

Long Buckby – 1 ½ mile walk to Buckby locks (without luggage)/bus to Buckby locks (with luggage)

Long Buckby – taxi to Stowe Hill

Loughborough – 1 mile walk from basin (although canal does go much closer)

Northampton – lift from Stowe Hill

Northampton – taxi to Stoke Bruerne

Old Hill – 1 mile walk to Hawne Basin

Rowley Regis – via a lift from Hawne Basin

Rugby – bus to/from Braunston

Rugby – 2 mile walk from Newbold (without luggage)/taxi to Newbold (with luggage)

Rugeley Trent Valley – ½ mile walk from Bridge 67

Stourbridge Town – ¼ mile walk to/from Bonded Warehouse

Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway – ¼ mile walk from Chaleybeate moorings

Tipton – ½ mile walk to/from BCLM

Trowbridge – taxi to/from Hilperton Marina

Warwick – 1 mile walk from Saltisford Canal Trust

Warwick Parkway – ½ mile walk from Saltisford Canal Trust

Wilmcote – adjacent to Bridge 59

Worcester Foregate Street – ¼ mile walk to Lowesmoor Basin

[agg221]

2 hours ago, northern said:

They must taxi it?  Otherwise it's a 6 mile walk to Nantwich (nearest station), much of it on roads without a pavement.

Yes, I believe they do. On other canals you could probably get a closer combination of marina and station but the Shropshire Union is particularly poorly served - Nantwich and Chester are the only two stations anywhere near it, other than up near Ellesmere Port. Penkridge is actually relatively close to the southern Shropshire Union (3miles or so as the crow flies), despite being right alongside the Staffs. & Worcs.

 

Alec

[junior]

Northwich on the River Weaver has both a marina, boatyard with dry Dock facilities and public moorings/facilities.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Railways and canals both have similar limitations on climbing hills and both tend to go between the same populated and industrial areas, even if the industry has now disappeared. As a consequence, they often follow a similar, if not identical route. At the Watford gap, you have the Roman Watling Street (A5), the GU Leicester line canal, the railway and the M1 all within yards of each other to use a gap in a line of hills, before the canal and railway are forced to tunnel. Civil engineers over nearly two thousand years have come to the same conclusion. If the railway is still there and if there is enough population to keep the station open, particularly for a commute to a city, then there is a good chance that a station isn't too far from the canal. From experience, much of the S&SYN, L&L, HNC, Rochdale, W&B are like this. Many others too. In a lot of cases, the canal was also used to help in the construction of the railway, as at Standedge tunnel.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Shire Cruisers, Sowerby Bridge, is 5 minutes walk from the station.   But I have left my boat at about a hundred locations over most of the system.  What I did was use Traveline to see how to get home to Scotland from wherever I was.

[CIEL]

The East Coast Mainline stops at St Neots and Huntingdon are not too far from the River Great Ouse marinas and moorings.  Then there is Peterborough similarly within easy reach of the River Nene.  Someone has already mentioned Bridge Boats at Ely but there are other marinas and moorings as well.  Littleport.is a bit further along.

We have moored on the the Relief Channel pontoons at Downham Market for trains into Kings Lynn (then coast bus to Hunstanton & Wells-Next-The-Sea.  The cruisers went down the estuary and round but we had a smoother ride!)  Have also been to Sandringham from KL.

Bedford Station is another possibility for the River Great Ouse.

Then there are all the stations along the length of the Lee and Stort.

Yiewsley and West Drayton station on GWR is right alongside the Grand Union as is Hayes.  Uxbridge Met line is not too far from Denham Yacht Station and other Grand Union moorings.

The list goes on and on.

Chris

  

[Mike Todd]

On 25/09/2021 at 23:05, agg221 said:

Yes, I believe they do. On other canals you could probably get a closer combination of marina and station but the Shropshire Union is particularly poorly served - Nantwich and Chester are the only two stations anywhere near it, other than up near Ellesmere Port. Penkridge is actually relatively close to the southern Shropshire Union (3miles or so as the crow flies), despite being right alongside the Staffs. & Worcs.

 

Alec

The one time we took a short term mooring at Overwater, I did the car shuffle to Maghull, near Liverpool. The journey took 4 trains, one bus and one boat (the Audlem Lass water taxi that the RNLI ran as a fundraiser). Also note that Nantwich station is uncomfortably distant from the canal although we have used it several times.

Willington for Mercia

[Mike Todd]

On southern Stratford, Hill Farm Marina is about 1k as the crow files from Wootton Wawen but a tad more if walking out of the marina itself as you have to go along the farm access to the main road but eminently doable (as I have)

[Momac]

On 25/09/2021 at 01:47, PD1964 said:

But unfortunately not the easiest place to get to by canal or Narrowboat.

This forum may be called canalworld but it is not just about narrowboats  nor just about canals

[Scholar Gypsy]

Ely, an easy walk to Cathedral Marina and Bridge Boats (who have a large hire fleet too).

 

Littleport, also an easy walk to the marina there.

 

Oundle, train to Corby and then a regular bus service from there.

[nbfiresprite]

3 hours ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Ely, an easy walk to Cathedral Marina and Bridge Boats (who have a large hire fleet too).

 

Littleport, also an easy walk to the marina there.

 

Oundle, train to Corby and then a regular bus service from there.

Better connections trainwise if you catch the bus to and from Peterborough (Stagecoach X4)

[Scholar Gypsy]

4 hours ago, nbfiresprite said:

Better connections trainwise if you catch the bus to and from Peterborough (Stagecoach X4)

Yes, it's the same bus,  goes Peterborough to Northampton. I guess it depends where you want to get to eventually,   also I had never been to Corby before....

[Mike Todd]

15 hours ago, MartynG said:

This forum may be called canalworld but it is not just about narrowboats  nor just about canals

or just hire bases

[carole tandey]

Hi everyone might be a long shot but does Anyone know of any reasonable canal weed cutters near driffield either to hire or buy?

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

10 minutes ago, carole tandey said:

Hi everyone might be a long shot but does Anyone know of any reasonable canal weed cutters near driffield either to hire or buy?

 You can give Land and Water a try, link below:

https://www.land-water.co.uk/plant-hire/our_fleet/weed-cutters/

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, carole tandey said:

Hi everyone might be a long shot but does Anyone know of any reasonable canal weed cutters near driffield either to hire or buy?

Hi there, welcome to the forum, a best of luck with your query.

If you have a boat on the waterway, maybe the CRT would send a weed cutting boat?

If its weed wrapped round your prop, then you need to scale down, 

If its weed on the bank, coarse weed, then if the CRT don't cut it you might buy a heavy duty strimmer?

 

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

3 hours ago, carole tandey said:

Hi everyone might be a long shot but does Anyone know of any reasonable canal weed cutters near driffield either to hire or buy?

Hi, please can you confirm what you mean by weed cutters, or maybe what your using them for. As you mentioned hire which indicates maybe larger stuff than a pair of hand trimmers and putting it in this Thread I thought you may be after a larger commercial water weed cutting machine??

Edited April 2 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[BEngo]

Rothens have a weed cutting boat.

 

Google Rothen Group. Based at Mancetter.

 

N

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

49 minutes ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

putting it in this Thread I thought you may be after a larger commercial water weed cutting machine??

 

 

I wondered why someone looking for a weedcutter would put their request into a 3 year old thread asking about marinas near to railway stations.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

14 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I wondered why someone looking for a weedcutter would put their request into a 3 year old thread asking about marinas near to railway stations.

 That’s why I asked for them verify what they were after. A floating commercial weed cutter? A heavy duty weed strimmer?

[carole tandey]

Hi we have a small boat on a canal and there's a big problem with weeds all along the canal. The canal is owned by a trust so I was asking if anyone knew of a local weed cutter company which hired out weed cutting boats or sold them. Thsnkyou. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

So are you a member of this trust, or otherwise asking on their behalf?