Historic Boats for sale online

[Athy]

The last surviving example of the narrowboat train ferry - a particulary unsuccessful integrated transport experiment...

It has, according to the advert, become a haven for wildfowl. The spec promises the buyer "a rudder and pintails".

[nebulae]

This looks like the back of one of the Manchester Ship Canal mud boats stored at Castlefields for years .Advertised by MSC last year. Has their been a post on this forum about these boats?

[Timleech]

This looks like the back of one of the Manchester Ship Canal mud boats stored at Castlefields for years .Advertised by MSC last year. Has their been a post on this forum about these boats?

It was a bit longer ago than last year.

This one, as a complete boat, was bought from MSC Co & its move away was held up by the breach at Dutton, while waiting, unattended, for that to finish is sank.

 

Tim

[magnetman]

It has, according to the advert, become a haven for wildfowl. The spec promises the buyer "a rudder and pintails".

 

nice one

[bargemast]

Either that or maybe it was welded up and towed by a tug? Must be too wide to go on a truck.

 

(edit to add, by that I mean maybe the boat was taken to cornwall as an unconverted work boat and had the superstructure arrangement added when it was already there ) but to be fair with a 180hp detroit in there she isn't underpowered..

 

There was another Humber Keel (Beecliffe?) down there which I think now belongs to a forum member and they are planning to or have already come round to London from Cornwall.

She must be very wide because that domestic heating oil tank on the back looks really small !

 

The Sheffield size "Beecliffe" did some quite extensive travelling on the other side of the Channel, Holland, Belgium, France and she started of from the UK with a 33HP Lister that was later replaced by a Gardner, forummember Tim Leech was one of the part-owners at the time, and later a friend of mine named Robert Whitaker was one of the part-owners. She is/was for sale in London for a small fortune now, while saved from a wreckers yard in the early 70ties for peanuts.

 

Peter.

[Naughty Cal]

 

The Sheffield size "Beecliffe" did some quite extensive travelling on the other side of the Channel, Holland, Belgium, France and she started of from the UK with a 33HP Lister that was later replaced by a Gardner, forummember Tim Leech was one of the part-owners at the time, and later a friend of mine named Robert Whitaker was one of the part-owners. She is/was for sale in London for a small fortune now, while saved from a wreckers yard in the early 70ties for peanuts.

 

Peter.

http://www.londontideway.com/boats-beecliffe.html

[bargemast]

http://www.londontideway.com/boats-beecliffe.html

Yes, that's the one, still for sale then until someone wealthy comes along.

 

Peter.

[magnetman]

Or BWML hike the mooring fees

 

I think the other one in cornwall is 'southcliffe' actually

[Timleech]

 

The Sheffield size "Beecliffe" did some quite extensive travelling on the other side of the Channel, Holland, Belgium, France and she started of from the UK with a 33HP Lister that was later replaced by a Gardner, forummember Tim Leech was one of the part-owners at the time, and later a friend of mine named Robert Whitaker was one of the part-owners. She is/was for sale in London for a small fortune now, while saved from a wreckers yard in the early 70ties for peanuts.

 

Peter.

 

You missed out Switzerland

 

Was Robert Whitaker one of those who bought it from us? We never met the purchasers.

It didn't seem like peanuts to us, at the time, but with hindsight it may seem that way.

 

Tim

Edited December 8, 2014 by Timleech

[bargemast]

 

You missed out Switzerland

 

Was Robert Whitaker one of those who bought it from us? We never met the purchasers.

It didn't seem like peanuts to us, at the time, but with hindsight it may seem that way.

 

Tim

 

Sorry I missed out Switzerland, that was simply because I didn't know about that, I presume that that was just more or less a border crossing and going up to Bale, but that shows that writing "some quite extensive travelling on the other side of the Channel" was definitely no lie, and I'm sure that very few non-commercial boats have ever travelled that far.

 

Robert Whitaker had a Katwijker named "Poolcat" in the early 80ies, when he'd sold that a few years later, he was boatless and when the opportunity came up to buy a share in "Beecliffe" he was in, Now he shares a barge that used to work on the Severn named "Pisgah" with his son, and they're cruising on the Midi.

 

The peanuts were as far as I remember talking to your partners in Amsterdam in the early 70's £3000 which were of course of more value than they are now, but evenso it was dirt cheap (I think).

 

Peter.

[Timleech]

 

Sorry I missed out Switzerland, that was simply because I didn't know about that, I presume that that was just more or less a border crossing and going up to Bale, but that shows that writing "some quite extensive travelling on the other side of the Channel" was definitely no lie, and I'm sure that very few non-commercial boats have ever travelled that far.

 

Robert Whitaker had a Katwijker named "Poolcat" in the early 80ies, when he'd sold that a few years later, he was boatless and when the opportunity came up to buy a share in "Beecliffe" he was in, Now he shares a barge that used to work on the Severn named "Pisgah" with his son, and they're cruising on the Midi.

 

The peanuts were as far as I remember talking to your partners in Amsterdam in the early 70's £3000 which were of course of more value than they are now, but evenso it was dirt cheap (I think).

 

Peter.

 

We basically paid the scrap value of the steel, plus the engine (which had already been removed, so was a separate purchase). That gave the scrapyard a profit because they didn't have the expense of cutting it up. Actually my then partner & myself hatched the plan, but decided we couldn't afford it by ourselves so asked Phil & Anne (who you met) if they would like to come in with us.

The boat was too good to scrap, but that was how things were at the time. We passed through Stanley Ferry, where the scrapyard was and where we spent some time getting the boat sorted out, this October with the Kennet and spent a night there. I was astonished at how much the place has changed, would have been unrecognisable without the aqueduct. It really is a condensed example of the way inland waterways have changed here in the last 40 years.

 

Tim

[madcat]

Sadly not all the changes are for the better. Some things have improved though . I'm not sure there was ever a golden age of anything.

Even so there's a lot of stuff I miss from the past

Edited December 9, 2014 by madcat

[Athy]

Sadly not all the changes are for the better. Some things have improved though . I'm not sure there was ever a golden age of anything.

 

This is a salutary reminder. We see lovely old working narrowboats and think of them as representing a golden age of canals - but in reality it was an age of working sixteen hour days for low wages and living in a ten feet by six bedsit (or two if you were lucky).

[Pluto]

This is a salutary reminder. We see lovely old working narrowboats and think of them as representing a golden age of canals - but in reality it was an age of working sixteen hour days for low wages and living in a ten feet by six bedsit (or two if you were lucky).

Of course, it is easy to forget that there are many people still working under these conditions, just not in this country.

 

In general terms, we are probably better off today, and this is certainly the case from a medical view point. However, we have lost some of the better things from earlier years. There was probably more job satisfaction, certainly for skilled workers producing or maintaining things, and the much greater equality in the workplace meant that people were happier at work. When I was engineer at the Lancashire Textile Museums, it was interesting to hear former textile workers views; none wanted to go back to the conditions of work then, but most missed the comradeship.

[Athy]

Of course, it is easy to forget that there are many people still working under these conditions, just not in this country.

 

 

Yes, yours too is a salutary reminder, though I think we were talking about this country rather than far-flung foreign parts.

What you allude to, and what is too often absent these days, is pride in the job. One still sees it, but all too rarely.

[Ray T]

Yes, yours too is a salutary reminder, though I think we were talking about this country rather than far-flung foreign parts.

What you allude to, and what is too often absent these days, is pride in the job. One still sees it, but all too rarely.

 

From the "On the Cut" CD an ex lock gate maker; "In my day there was pride in your job and pride in making something. All people have today is pride in making money".

[bargemast]

 

We basically paid the scrap value of the steel, plus the engine (which had already been removed, so was a separate purchase). That gave the scrapyard a profit because they didn't have the expense of cutting it up. Actually my then partner & myself hatched the plan, but decided we couldn't afford it by ourselves so asked Phil & Anne (who you met) if they would like to come in with us.

The boat was too good to scrap, but that was how things were at the time. We passed through Stanley Ferry, where the scrapyard was and where we spent some time getting the boat sorted out, this October with the Kennet and spent a night there. I was astonished at how much the place has changed, would have been unrecognisable without the aqueduct. It really is a condensed example of the way inland waterways have changed here in the last 40 years.

 

Tim

 

I think that the 4 of you made the right decision to buy that barge, and save it from the scrapyard, it gave you several years of exploring unknown and interesting waterways in the (good old) days where everything was still possible and not yet spoilt by lots of rules that have no use other than making unneccessary problems for almost everybody, while very often without them everything would go smoothly. Of course those rules are made by people that haven't got a clue about the subject.

 

Peter.

[mark99]

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=395397

[Cloudinspector]

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=395397

I could be wrong but I think this may be Albion being built inside Former H&R Ainscough dumb boat Vicktoria at Lorenz yard in Leigh.

 

 

 

[junior]

http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=395397

Well thank you!

 

Not quite historic, but it did work for a living before being converted. I did forward a few photos of the boat in its working days to the broker in the hope they might stick one on the advert/brochure, as it's story/history was one of the things that attracted me to the boat and I hoped it might do the same for prospective purchasers. Alas they chose not to use one but I have every faith in them being able to sell it and know what they are doing.

 

Any yes, that is Albion being built inside Viktoria, minus the back cabin. Once floated it was motored under its own power to Jim Forrester at Chester dry dock where he built and fitted out the back cabin.

[madcat]

Fantastic photo

[Derek R.]

Indeed. The basin shot shows two other ex-working boats, one might be a Runcorn boat, the other is SCALES, a middle Northwich butty renamed POWYS PRINCESS which was its identity as a trip boat in 'Boyo' land.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Derek R.

[Steve Corbett]

The Bedford Basin picture was taken in 1980 and does indeed show Scales/Powis Princess. Ex FMC Venice is tied next to Viktoria, ex Grand Union Glossor is tied in the back corner and the boat in the foreground is the Leo which came from BWB as it then was. Leo is better known on the Bridgewater as the Water Womble and has been used as the rubbish collection boat for the last 34 years.

[captain birdseye]

Is the tug at the back next to Glosser Sprite

[Steve Corbett]

Yes I think it is. If I remember correctly it had a big rubbing band on one side only but that might be my memory playing tricks on me. Tim Young might remember. The ferroconcrete yacht at the back was always just known as the Concrete Boat. Bedford Basin was home to a wonderful assortment of interesting boats.