Launch of Walton

[Chertsey]

I mentioned this in the Dane thread but thought it deserved a post of its own. Yesterday I was at the launch of Walton, a 1939 wooden Mersey, Weaver boat built by FMC at Uxbridge which has been undergoing painstaking restoration for many years, which has been recognised with HNBOC's Keay award. It was a bit nervewracking as I had undertaken to take photos for circulation to the press etc before realising it was going to be side slipped - an opportunity for brilliant photos, or for missing it completely. Anyway, I fiddled with my new camera a bit and this is my favourite.

 

 

The whole sequence (low res) is on the blog here.

 

Mykaskin will be along with a video shortly.

[Timleech]

I mentioned this in the Dane thread but thought it deserved a post of its own. Yesterday I was at the launch of Walton, a 1939 wooden Mersey, Weaver boat built by FMC at Uxbridge which has been undergoing painstaking restoration for many years, which has been recognised with HNBOC's Keay award. It was a bit nervewracking as I had undertaken to take photos for circulation to the press etc before realising it was going to be side slipped - an opportunity for brilliant photos, or for missing it completely. Anyway, I fiddled with my new camera a bit and this is my favourite.

 

 

The whole sequence (low res) is on the blog here.

 

Mykaskin will be along with a video shortly.

 

Good picture(s).

Sadly had to miss the occasion as I was on a trip across the Mersey which had been postponed from the day before, tweaking an old engine.

 

Tim

[ditchcrawler]

I mentioned this in the Dane thread but thought it deserved a post of its own. Yesterday I was at the launch of Walton, a 1939 wooden Mersey, Weaver boat built by FMC at Uxbridge which has been undergoing painstaking restoration for many years, which has been recognised with HNBOC's Keay award. It was a bit nervewracking as I had undertaken to take photos for circulation to the press etc before realising it was going to be side slipped - an opportunity for brilliant photos, or for missing it completely. Anyway, I fiddled with my new camera a bit and this is my favourite.

 

The whole sequence (low res) is on the blog here.

 

Mykaskin will be along with a video shortly.

Mykaskin's video is great, but I thought the band was supposed to stand in the hold.

[Speedwheel]

It was a great event. Lovely to see her in the water at last. Ade has worked so long and hard and the workmanship is amazing.

 

Launch went perfectly too.

[Tiggers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBv0zKd0_iA&feature=plcp&context=C3bcb4e3UDOEgsToPDskKWUbD6m2P_8Cy_tWPXvOWd

Hope this works! Mike's fantastic video of the occasion

P.S. Cracking pic Chertsey Edited February 19, 2012 by Tiggers

[Speedwheel]

Great Video.

 

Not sure of the date of this pic.

 

[Guest]

Great video - and what must be a fair degree of skill/experience applied to ensure when launching a boat like that it doesn't strike the opposite side...

[Guest wanted]

I mentioned this in the Dane thread but thought it deserved a post of its own. Yesterday I was at the launch of Walton, a 1939 wooden Mersey, Weaver boat built by FMC at Uxbridge which has been undergoing painstaking restoration for many years, which has been recognised with HNBOC's Keay award. It was a bit nervewracking as I had undertaken to take photos for circulation to the press etc before realising it was going to be side slipped - an opportunity for brilliant photos, or for missing it completely. Anyway, I fiddled with my new camera a bit and this is my favourite.

 

 

The whole sequence (low res) is on the blog here.

 

Mykaskin will be along with a video shortly.

 

Great photo, now my wallpaper! Cheers

[Laurence Hogg]

Great shot and film of launch - well done, another good boat safe. Here she is after another docking some years earlier and with the alternate BW name:

 

[Chertsey]

Great video - and what must be a fair degree of skill/experience applied to ensure when launching a boat like that it doesn't strike the opposite side...

Others will know more than me about how it works, but there is only the cushioning effect of the water to stop it. Apparently a previous launch there made a much bigger wave. Walton didn't have an engine in or any weight and finished up sitting very high in the water.

[Timleech]

Others will know more than me about how it works, but there is only the cushioning effect of the water to stop it. Apparently a previous launch there made a much bigger wave. Walton didn't have an engine in or any weight and finished up sitting very high in the water.

 

The water acts as a very effective brake, it'll slow down rapidly once the side of the boat is in the water.

 

Tim

[carlt]

Brilliant!

 

Ade is a genius and a nice bloke too.

 

It must have been torture for him though as he has the same aversion to being on that side of a camera lens that I have.

[Fred_Smith]

yes very nice, when do they fit the row of false rivets all the way down the side?

[Paul H]

Great shot and film of launch - well done, another good boat safe. Here she is after another docking some years earlier and with the alternate BW name:

 

 

I don't think this is correct I'm afraid. The boat in the photo is ex-FMC's Raven which operated in the SE division. BW did have a boat which was re-named Raven in the NW division but this was a butty (IRC ex-GU Hydrus.)

 

Walton was, together with the remains of the rest of the Mersey Weaver fleet, taken over by British Waterways in 1958 and although repainted and renumbered, I believe kept the original name.

 

Paul H

[Chertsey]

Brilliant!

 

Ade is a genius and a nice bloke too.

 

It must have been torture for him though as he has the same aversion to being on that side of a camera lens that I have.

Yes, we couldn't present the award until after all the press had gone.

 

I don't think this is correct I'm afraid. The boat in the photo is ex-FMC's Raven which operated in the SE division. BW did have a boat which was re-named Raven in the NW division but this was a butty (IRC ex-GU Hydrus.)

 

Walton was, together with the remains of the rest of the Mersey Weaver fleet, taken over by British Waterways in 1958 and although repainted and renumbered, I believe kept the original name.

 

Paul H

I have a photo from Ade of Walton in 1940, and its health registration is Uxbridge 596 - interesting coincidence. Does this suggest that it came out of the FMC yard around the same time as Raven? I was told yesterday by a granddaughter of a Mersey, Weaver employee that the boat was built by FMC for Claytons the tar people but was rejected by them and subsequently bought by Mersey, Weaver.

 

PS. What do you call the big lumps of wood the boat slides down?

Edited February 19, 2012 by Chertsey

[Pluto]

If you want a proper launch, you have to have a proper boat. At Wigan, boats were built on a piece of land about four feet above the water. You would suggest, to people you didn't like, that the best view was from the towpath opposite. This is Darlington, a wooden general cargo short boat built in 1951.

 

[Paul H]

 

I have a photo from Ade of Walton in 1940, and its health registration is Uxbridge 596 - interesting coincidence. Does this suggest that it came out of the FMC yard around the same time as Raven.

Walton was launched in June 1939. Raven didn't follow until May 41 (and a rebuild at that). Well there was a war on!

Paul

[Laurence Hogg]

I don't think this is correct I'm afraid. The boat in the photo is ex-FMC's Raven which operated in the SE division. BW did have a boat which was re-named Raven in the NW division but this was a butty (IRC ex-GU Hydrus.)

 

Walton was, together with the remains of the rest of the Mersey Weaver fleet, taken over by British Waterways in 1958 and although repainted and renumbered, I believe kept the original name.

 

Paul H

 

According to FMC dock records which I have a photocopy of, their "Raven" was built in 1917 at Uxbridge dock and registered as 596 on the Uxbridge PH register. It was rebuilt in June 1940 at the same dock, re registered there as 597 and was renamed "Walton" at some stage. The name "Walton" is written as a note in the record.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Laurence Hogg]

Walton was launched in June 1939. Raven didn't follow until May 41 (and a rebuild at that). Well there was a war on!

Paul

Raven and Walton are the same boat, I am sure Mr Harrison will confirm this. I am pretty sure that Chertseys post relating to a rejected boat is correct too.

[pete harrison]

According to FMC dock records which I have a photocopy of, their "Raven" was built in 1917 at Uxbridge dock and registered as 596 on the Uxbridge PH register. It was rebuilt in June 1940 at the same dock, re registered there as 597 and was renamed "Walton" at some stage. The name "Walton" is written as a note in the record.

 

RAVEN was built at Uxbridge by F.M.C. Ltd. in July 1917. It was health registered as Birmingham 1360 (13 July 1917) and gauged as B.C.N. 22793 (06 December 1917) and G.J.C. 12041 (02 May 1921). Birmingham 1360 does not list any cancellation details. B.C.N. 22793 is crossed out and noted as being cancelled - cut up 24 July 1940. G.J.C. 12041 is noted as broken up at Uxbridge June 1940. My transcript of the "F.M.C. Ltd. Boat Register" states "rebuilt 26 June 1940". My transcript of the "F.M.C. Ltd. Docking Book" states "rebuilt and registered Uxbridge 597". Clearly mid 1940 is the point where the old RAVEN was either broken up or rebuilt into the new RAVEN (the boat seen in Mr Hogg's photograph). It is quite plausable that the hull of the old RAVEN was sold on to new owners, but I have seen no evidence of this.

 

The new RAVEN was health registered as Uxbridge 597 (?? June 1940) for F.M.C. Ltd., and again was built (or rebuilt from the old RAVEN) at Uxbridge. This new RAVEN was not gauged (and in my opinion continued to use the gauge details from the old RAVEN). Uxbridge 597 was re-issued on 28 February 1950 to the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive. Uxbridge 597 was re-issued on 26 July 1955 to Willow Wren Canal Carrying Company Ltd. (having been sold to them in October 1954). Uxbridge 597 was re-issued on 23 September 1958 to Willow Wren Canal Carrying Company with a change of name to AVOCET. I last saw AVOCET tied at Weedon in 1982 and I think it was broken up shortly afterwards.

 

WALTON was health registered as Uxbridge 596 in May 1939 (23 May 1939 per NarrowBoat magazine Autumn 2007 page38) for Mersey Weaver & Ship Canal Carrying Company Ltd., Burslem. Uxbridge 596 was re-issued on 26 January 1954 for Mersey Weaver & Ship Canal Carrying Company Ltd., Burslem. Uxbridge 596 was re-issued on 17 June 1958 for 'British Waterways'. WALTON was then health registered as Northwich 104 on 03 October 1958 for 'British Waterways', Liverpool. WALTON was never gauged.

 

I have always understood WALTON to have been a new boat built by F.M.C. Ltd., Uxbridge - but I am always happy to be proven wrong.

[Derek R.]

Pete's records seem to marry with the gent on the back end who tells of his Father having WALTON from new in 1939. His name if I recall was Morris. He's on the video. (Not so sure about all the 'diddly-diddly' music. Prefer the launch to the concert - but well done Mike).

[Chertsey]

Pete's records seem to marry with the gent on the back end who tells of his Father having WALTON from new in 1939. His name if I recall was Morris. He's on the video. (Not so sure about all the 'diddly-diddly' music. Prefer the launch to the concert - but well done Mike).

And the lady I spoke to (Lily Wakefield I believe; a cousin of Phyllis Johnson, both nee Wain) said that her father went to inspect the boat on behalf of Mersey, Weaver after Claytons had rejected it as unsuitable for carrying tar. It was a new boat then. He said Mersey Weaver should buy it and they did, and it became the first motor boat in their fleet.

[AMModels]

As I am updating my site Im checking out the links and in doing so I found my way to the youtube vid and HNBOC pictures of this boat.... what an amazing job has been done in rebuilding/restoring her the love and craftsmanship on display is staggering.

[carlt]

As I am updating my site Im checking out the links and in doing so I found my way to the youtube vid and HNBOC pictures of this boat.... what an amazing job has been done in rebuilding/restoring her the love and craftsmanship on display is staggering.

Ade is one of the best woodworkers I've ever met.

 

Here is a stunning slideshow of Walton's rebuild...

 

Clicky

[Derek R.]

Bl***y 'ell, comes as a shock when you see someone who could be your twin. The bloke in the red boiler suit standing behind Dick (photo 12.)

 

Fabulous work.