Jump to content

Steam Boats

Edwin

By Edwin
in General Boating

 Share

Featured Posts

NB Alton Proficient

NB Alton

Posted
Posted

There are a few steam powered narrowboats around including "whistle down the wind" which along with historic steam tug Kerne normally attend the steam weekend at the Leigh Arms, Acton Bridge nr Northwich. It's held on the first weekend in October & is a very sociable & informal event, usually attracting about 20 traction engines & steam rollers as well as a selection of historic narrowboats & wide boats. For a quick look at Emily Anne & Whistle down the wind see http://m.youtube.com/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DS_wPw7DAWpY&v=S_wPw7DAWpY&gl=US

 

Cheers, Brian

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Athy Veteran II

AthyDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Was steam ever actually used on working narrow boats or did the technology leapfrog from horse straight to diesel? I suppose there must be a few examples of steam-powered working narrowboats?

Indeed it was: President is a steam-powered former working boat. I'm no expert, but I believe that the era of steam-powered narrowboats was quite brief because the steam engine took up a lot of space which could otherwise have been used for cargo, so when suitable oil engines came along, most were converted from steam to diesel. I guess that would have been in the late 1920s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jo_ Proficient

Jo_

Posted
Posted

President and Kildare have just chuntered past at a fine old rate, steam whistle blowing to get all the boaters out and waving! We are at Tixall Wide for a couple of days - place associated with total peace and quiet, rippling water, water birds (o.k. maybe a bit windy and wavy sometimes!) - and him and me were shaken from our book reading and Mrs Swan-on-her-nest's head shot up as the whistle blasted through the calm! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bizzard Veteran II

bizzard

Posted
Posted

The beauty of steam reciprocating engines in boats is that they have no need of a gearbox or clutches,they start on power and load from rest,the same as a railway steam loco,for they are external combustion engines as apposed to a diesel engine which are internal combustion.So maybe a reduction box but very rare i think. The prop shaft is coupled directly to the engines crankshaft and astern gear is selected by altering the valve events position to reverse the inlet of steam and to exhaust it. The draw back was as someone said,the extra space required for boiler and coal. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fu Manchu Engager

Fu Manchu

Posted
Posted

I decided that it would be an interesting idea to have a steam engine; but didn't fancy the idea of having to lift bags of coal around. And the other half didn't like the idea of a boat full of coal dust. So the compromise was a steam engine, but with an oil-fired boiler.

This has the secondary advantage that it is much easier to control: if the pressure builds up too much when waiting for a lock, you can just switch off the burner.

The big disadvantage is that a steam engine is much less efficient than a diesel engine. The latter can be about 50% efficient, while a steam engine is typically less than 10%, so I prefer not to think about how much fuel we burn per hour (and today's price!)

But it's great fun playing with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
JamesWoolcock Proficient

JamesWoolcockDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Greetings from Fellows Morton & Clayton's ex-steamer MARQUIS, built 1898.

 

Go onto Richard Thomas's excellent website www.steamershistorical.co.uk and so much will be revealed about the number of steamers that were about.

 

Incidently, of the iron built FMC steamers, built by FMC at Saltley, I think you will find almost every single one is accounted for and still afloat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Timleech Veteran II

Timleech

Posted
Posted

Indeed it was: President is a steam-powered former working boat. I'm no expert, but I believe that the era of steam-powered narrowboats was quite brief because the steam engine took up a lot of space which could otherwise have been used for cargo, so when suitable oil engines came along, most were converted from steam to diesel. I guess that would have been in the late 1920s.

 

The first Fellows, Morton (semi-) diesel boats were built circa 1913, I think. They offered such a huge advantage over steam that I don't suppose the steam Narrow Boats lasted for long after that.

On the other hand steam did continue, I think, until the 1950s in a few Leeds & Liverpool boats where there was less of a space premium.

 

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.