The way we were 1970's & 80's

[Laurence Hogg]

Yes, firmly believed to be Sickle at the back there, with A-frames and rocker bar still on, but ice-ram removed.

 

From available evidence, it looks like the yellow band ran up sides of cabin and along top, but not on the lower cabin edge.

 

Another Sickle picture, (published in Narrow Boat magazine, this month- albeit quite small), seems to show a round decorative funnel, presumably where the engine exhaust is, although large diameter than a normal pipe. This also seems to be blue, with a yellow band on.

 

Oh I wished people had photographed maintenance craft more - particularly the "Middle Northwich" icebreaker conversions!

 

Alan,

That picture was obtaned from Bradley workshops years ago, they may have been responsible for some of the work. Looking at a hi res of the Naroowboat mag picture I would agree tht there is a small funnel with a yellow band. Looking at the B/W picture you can just see it poking out from behind the pile rig leg, can send you hi res of that if you send email address.

[AMModels]

Do you have any mid 80's pics of the area Laurence, dont remember seeing any when the big crane had gone.

[Laurence Hogg]

Do you have any mid 80's pics of the area Laurence, dont remember seeing any when the big crane had gone.

I'll have to search but I do have some, nothing much was to be seen there in that period except the odd boat rally.

[Laurence Hogg]

Imagine, 40 years ago - its a wet dull day and you have to empty rubbish out of an old Midlands & Coast boat in the drizzle, this was two years after the last "Jam ole run" when up here on the BCN there was still regular commercial traffic which included horse drawn boating. Why not re create this scene got to be more fun than going to somewhere that doesnt now exist!!

 

"Susan" is the "Diamond" a horse boat built for Midlands & Coast by Chriton's of Chester whose yard was at Saltney on the river Dee, the stem is forged from tramway rail and the boat today is a static dry land exhibit at the Black Country (just about) Living museum. Shortly after this picture was taken she was sold off, cut in two but somehow the halfs got reunited.

 

[AMModels]

Where was that taken? Lovely fore end on Susan.... if she doesnt mind me saying.

[Laurence Hogg]

Where was that taken? Lovely fore end on Susan.... if she doesnt mind me saying.

Sorry, I missed the location out! Its on the Gower just below Brades.

[Max Sinclair]

Maintenance was still done back in 1978, here is a Bantam tug with joey heading off to the tip after clearing part of the Walsall, it is seen alongside Rubery Owen works in Willenhall, a nother "giant" of British Industry now lost. Today a parcel distribution centre occupies the site at Owen rd.:

 

 

"Holiday time" at the IWA national at Northwich, a younger David Blagrove stands on "Neptune's" gunwale whilst ex BCN tug driver and Shropshire Union steerer Len Wilson drives the boat. To the right is ex FMC "Monarch" then owned by the late Andy millward.

 

Rubery Owen ( Motor Division ) Darlaston to give correct title. My Ford Zephyr at far end with my Sales Director office beyond.A wonderful Company destroyed by deliberate Trades Union activity because we were a family business . We led the world for many years.Proud of my Rostyle Wheels which altered the face of motoring at home and overseaas.My axle modification to the London Routemaster Bus stopped persistant axle failure and many of them still working overseas.

At this time one Monday Bantam tug, joey and day boat tied up outside my office with about seven crew. In the week they laid SEVEN bricks CRT must never allow this to happen again.

Edited October 27, 2012 by Max Sinclair

[AMModels]

Hi Max, I think I mentioned before I worked in the wheels factory after Ruberys shut down and worked with a number of ex RO workers, the picture above shows the site on the other side of bughole bridge/The Crescent doesnt it?

The wheels factory had that distinctive extension on the bughole bridge end which when I worked there consisted of the brick outline and a toilet bowl sitting in the end of it.

Is this looking towards the housing as is now or to the site of the burnt out factory which was most recently a furniture makers?

 

Incidentally the wheels section is now base for a battery recycling firm.

[Laurence Hogg]

My honeymoon was Norton Canes docks to Stoke Breurne and back in a week, Jim Yates had lent us the yard foremans boat "Minataur", On the was back we passed these dredging boats tied up, little did I know that the boat on the right would be with me longer than the wife was!! "Barnet" looks very drab and in the deep blue and gold Bradley yard colours. 1972 Walsall canal.

Today Barnet is well kept and brightly painted and looking far better at 76 than she did in 1972 at the age of 36......... some things get better with age!

 

[Max Sinclair]

Darlaston

Following Laurence's post No 5 this picture shows Vesta moored up outside

Rubery Owen Motor Division 1964 before going to Stratford Canal opening.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Max Sinclair

[casper ghost]

 

1979 ish. Cheating I know, as the boat's on my parent's drive, but you can see me standing on the gunwale.

Casp'

[stagedamager]

Maintenance was still done back in 1978, here is a Bantam tug with joey heading off to the tip after clearing part of the Walsall, it is seen alongside Rubery Owen works in Willenhall, a nother "giant" of British Industry now lost. Today a parcel distribution centre occupies the site at Owen rd.:

 

 

snip

 

This photo interests me, as it looks curiously like a Hickman hull, being pushed around, and with holes at the front which look curiously in the same position as they are on BCN 1645... Could this be my boat perchance????

 

Dan

[Laurence Hogg]

This photo interests me, as it looks curiously like a Hickman hull, being pushed around, and with holes at the front which look curiously in the same position as they are on BCN 1645... Could this be my boat perchance????

 

Dan

 

It probably is BCN 1645 as it was used on the dredgings and then dumped at Bradley where my other slide showing the BCN plate was taken.

The other thing no ones picked up on is the Bantam is stemming the boat, theres no bollard to tie up to on the joey.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[churchward]

1983 was the first time we encountered the BCN, and were fascinated and captivated. Quite why may be hard to understand when most relish the soft green water pathways teeming with wildlife, but the grime, pollution and industrial decay presented us with images of pure energy that once thrived. It seemed thick with ghosts and stories untold.

 

Nice shot of JUDITH ANNE. I took some of SALLY in the later eighties on the way to the BCLM.

 

I quite agree I loved my first trip to the BCN in 1984.

 

Oh those lovely vans!

The boats are nice too.

 

I drove a Bedford like the yellow and black one at the back. I thought it was rather good for the time except when the catch went on the sliding driver door and you never knew when it was going to open next! I had a couple of goes in a Thames bread van again like the one in the picture and it was terrible, noisy and slow and every time we went round a corner I thought it might roll over the steering was awful.

[alan_fincher]

The other thing no ones picked up on is the Bantam is stemming the boat, theres no bollard to tie up to on the joey.

Is that actually a Bantam?

 

I would have thought it to be one of the more modern push tugs, and I thought Bantam was a specific genre - albeit that not all were the same - which that doesn't look like to me.

 

Am I wrong?

[Laurie Booth]

Great sets of pictures, thank you all.

[Athy]

Thanks to Laurence and others for the marvellously evocative photos and informative commentary.

At the end of the 1960s I was at university in Brum, and even noticed that the city had a "Gas Street" but never went there, and so never saw what would still have been working boats in their natural environment. Oh, for a time machine!

[Laurence Hogg]

More glimpses of the recent past and how so different it was.

First the lost canalside settlement at Highfields Bridge in Bilston on the Bradley arm:

The last wooden motor "Maureen" docked at Waltons yard alongside Matty's yard in Deepfields, Coseley. This was an ex small ricky motor from the GU fleet. In front is a short joey bult new by Harris's for the forgings and Pressings trade which was short lived.

 

The chaos of Matty's yard, Big Northwich Stratford at rest after returning to the yard after the phosophorous waste traffic had ceased, Aldgate and Greyhound are in front of it:

 

 

Matty's tugs "on the pipe job", "Tycho" still with its friendly ram in place is laid up on the new main line during the laying of the natural gas pipes in the towpath, behind it is one of the ex Stewarts and Lloyds tugs:

 

 

Smethwick locks in the wrong place??? No BW used the recovered gate from the duplicate lock flight to repair the single lock at Brades on the Gower branch, confused a few at the time!! (on my honeymoon here!!!)

 

 

This was when BW maintenance was done at a gentle pace, indeed the boats were here several weeks just repairing a few yards of towpath, ahh wasnt life nice on the dead quiet BCN where no one looked at what you did!! This is Lane Head Willenhall, BW tug "Nansen 2" built originally for SW division and a ex GWR joey, Barry Lycett's ex Mersey Weaver motor "Avon" is on Mr Lee's wharf.

 

 

Those were the days my friends that never seem to want to end .................................................................................

Edited November 24, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Guest]

Some amazing pics and accounts here. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[stagedamager]

Lovely shot of 'Avon'.

[lydfordcastle]

Sorry, don't have any pictures to post but if I close my eyes tight I can conjour up some distant memories of when I were a lad, before I discovered girls, and roamed Walsall canal towpaths by bike in the 1950's. Perhaps someone can tell me if my memory is correct or whether it's playing tricks on me.

 

First memory - Bentley Lane, Walsall, just by where the Anson branch ended, I can recall jumping from bow to bow on what seemed to be a lot of old boats moored up or half submerged on the Reedswood Park side of the road.

 

2nd memory - Aldridge end of Longwood Lane, Walsall. I don't recollect a canal bridge but I do recall what seemed to be a largish basin in the woods on the other side of the lane to the lock, with some, but very little water in it. Was there a basin at that point?

 

3rd memory - Golds somethingorother, Hill Top, Wednesbury. Mooching around the scrapyards one day I found a spooky looking hidden area consisting of three cobbled streets in a square with terraced houses on each side, a pub on one corner and a shop on another with a canal on the fourth side. The whole place was deserted but the canal was in water. Not sure if it was the Tame Valley or the Wednesbury Old. Never been able to find it on a map. Did it exist or did I dream it?

 

4th memory - mid 1950's but I'd swear some of the coal boats I saw at Park Hall lock heading towards the Tame Valley were horse drawn but surely I'm wrong on that one?

 

5th memory - early 1960's and dad hired a boat from Ernie Thomas and we cruised to Chester and back. I seem to recall it had a sea toilet and two cast iron benches fixed on the stern deck, one each side.

[pearley]

 

4th memory - mid 1950's but I'd swear some of the coal boats I saw at Park Hall lock heading towards the Tame Valley were horse drawn but surely I'm wrong on that one?

 

Tom Foxon in his book 'No. 1' writes about horse drawn coal boating in the '50s.

 

Regards

Pete

Edited November 25, 2012 by pearley

[Laurence Hogg]

Sorry, don't have any pictures to post but if I close my eyes tight I can conjour up some distant memories of when I were a lad, before I discovered girls, and roamed Walsall canal towpaths by bike in the 1950's. Perhaps someone can tell me if my memory is correct or whether it's playing tricks on me.

 

First memory - Bentley Lane, Walsall, just by where the Anson branch ended, I can recall jumping from bow to bow on what seemed to be a lot of old boats moored up or half submerged on the Reedswood Park side of the road.

 

2nd memory - Aldridge end of Longwood Lane, Walsall. I don't recollect a canal bridge but I do recall what seemed to be a largish basin in the woods on the other side of the lane to the lock, with some, but very little water in it. Was there a basin at that point?

 

3rd memory - Golds somethingorother, Hill Top, Wednesbury. Mooching around the scrapyards one day I found a spooky looking hidden area consisting of three cobbled streets in a square with terraced houses on each side, a pub on one corner and a shop on another with a canal on the fourth side. The whole place was deserted but the canal was in water. Not sure if it was the Tame Valley or the Wednesbury Old. Never been able to find it on a map. Did it exist or did I dream it?

 

4th memory - mid 1950's but I'd swear some of the coal boats I saw at Park Hall lock heading towards the Tame Valley were horse drawn but surely I'm wrong on that one?

 

5th memory - early 1960's and dad hired a boat from Ernie Thomas and we cruised to Chester and back. I seem to recall it had a sea toilet and two cast iron benches fixed on the stern deck, one each side.

 

1st is correct, boats were dumped there but removed to Moxley tip when the canal was cut off by the M6 construction.

 

2nd is the Hay Head arm which was the original terminus of the Daw End canal, it is still there as a nature reserve.

 

3rd is possible a mix or is one of these, Golds Hill was on the Balls Hill branch which would have been in water then but there was also the Danks Branch which ran through Golds Hill connecting the Walsall to the Tame Valley, went under the railway at Eagle st crossing. Dial lane, Bagnall st are possible sites for the pub.

 

4th, More than possible, horse drawn traffic survived there until the 1960's.

 

5th, Very likely the "Heron" as the two cast benches were a feature of this boat.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Laurence Hogg

[Max Sinclair]

1st is correct, boats were dumped there but removed to Moxley tip when the canal was cut off by the M6 construction.

 

2nd is the Hay Head arm which was the original terminus of the Daw End canal, it is still there as a nature reserve.

 

3rd is possible a mix or is one of these, Golds Hill was on the Balls Hill branch which would have been in water then but there was also the Danks Branch which ran through Golds Hill connecting the Walsall to the Tame Valley, went under the railway at Eagle st crossing. Dial lane, Bagnall st are possible sites for the pub.

 

4th, More than possible, horse drawn traffic survived there until the 1960's.

 

5th, Very likely the "Heron" as the two cast benches were a feature of this boat.

No 4 Caggy was regularly along there with coal day boat. See my gallery.

 

1st is correct, boats were dumped there but removed to Moxley tip when the canal was cut off by the M6 construction.

 

2nd is the Hay Head arm which was the original terminus of the Daw End canal, it is still there as a nature reserve.

 

3rd is possible a mix or is one of these, Golds Hill was on the Balls Hill branch which would have been in water then but there was also the Danks Branch which ran through Golds Hill connecting the Walsall to the Tame Valley, went under the railway at Eagle st crossing. Dial lane, Bagnall st are possible sites for the pub.

 

4th, More than possible, horse drawn traffic survived there until the 1960's.

 

5th, Very likely the "Heron" as the two cast benches were a feature of this boat.

No 4 Caggy was regularly along there with coal day boat. See my gallery.

[Max Sinclair]

No 4 Caggy was regularly along there with coal day boat. See my gallery.

 

 

Can I drag you all away from canals, just been advised

 

The Golden Age of Steam Railways Programme 1 Small is beautiful Mon. 10th Dec 9pm BBC FOUR

 

Programme 2 Branching out Mon. 17th Dec. BBC FOUR This follows the canal series.