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Moving Boats On The Railway

Batavia

By Batavia
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Batavia Proficient

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Posted
Posted (edited)

I found the extract (from the Bucks Herald of February 1890) on the Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society's website....

 

"Mr. E.W. Costin, boat builder, of Castle Wharf, sent away, per rail, the second of a number of boats he is building for Eastern Counties navigation. The boat being about 50ft. long and 10ft. wide, and weighing seven or eight tons, was a difficult thing to convey to the station, but the removal was less troublesome than on the first occasion. By the aid of one of Messrs. East and Son's timber carriages, and some of their firm's experienced men, with assistance from the Railway Company, seven horses, under the direction of Mr. Harvey Bedford, conveyed the boat to the Goods Yard, from whence it was sent to Ely.

 

I would have thought that a boat this size would have been a pretty snug fit within the loading gauges of the various railways along which the boats would also have had to be transported - perhaps one of the railway experts on the forum could advise about this? Was moving large boats by rail common practice?

 

Also, it is interesting to speculate what happened when the first boat was moved to the station - was the Press interested in the second move because the first one had been rather more than "troublesome"?

 

Chris G

 

PS Speedwheel might have some photos of an interesting boat move (this time into Castle Wharf) which happened about 110 years later.

 

Edited to get the date right.

Edited by Batavia
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Speedwheel Influencer

Speedwheel

Posted
Posted (edited)

PS Speedwheel might have some photos of an interesting boat move (this time into Castle Wharf) which happened about 110 years later.

 

Only a pictures of the pictures. Not sure who has the originals so I don't know who to attribute them to. (Dad possibly ETA or maybe Ian Tyler, Roger Alsop or Mike Foster - though I think Mike is in one of them!)

 

IMG_0027.jpg

 

IMG_0029.jpg

Edited by Speedwheel
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Batavia Proficient

BataviaDonate to Canal World

Posted
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Posted

"I found the extract (from the Bucks Herald of February 1809) on the Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society's website...."

 

I'm confused as well because 1809 seems before the age of railway.

Oops! Sorry - another one of my transpositions.

 

It should have been 1890.

 

Post edited.

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Pluto Veteran

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Posted
Posted

If you read my book on the L&LC, you will find mention of moving a short boat by road in 1816. A large team of horses were provided to get the boat down and then up the sides of Roddlesworth valley, but in the event it was the large audience who ensured the success of the move. The boat was going from Blackburn to Riley Green before the locks had opened.

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kbarber Contributor

kbarber

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There certainly would have been an issue with the loading gauge if a boat were sent by an ordinary service train without special arrangements. But it was common for out-of-gauge loads to move by rail, particularly in that era when the railways were statutory 'common carriers' and thus required by law to transport just about any cargo that was offered to them. There was a considerable variety of special wagons built for the carriage of exceptional loads, railways tended to have loading inspectors who had a wealth of experience in such matters and there was a well-known process for organising out of gauge movements.

 

At ten feet wide, the boats would fit through most bridges and, perhaps at the cost of being raised slightly from the wagon deck, could probably be persuaded past most platforms. There might well be special instructions for loading them - one possibility would be to offset them from the centre to one side or the other, to secure clearance on one side. Speed restrictions through overbridges or tunnels would be a way of ensuring a safe passage - at walking pace, it wouldn't matter if there was only an inch or so clearance. There might be a restriction on passing other exceptional loads, or other trains of other kinds (particularly passenger trains, just in case someone leaned out of a window at an inopportune moment). Sometimes it might be necessary to run 'wrong direction'; that would be most likely of the load was offset to pass most platforms, but there was one station where the platform was on the other side of the line. The load might be required or prohibited on certain lines at some locations, or prohibited from using a crossover between platforms, or other such special conditions.

 

In the extreme the load would be moved on a Sunday, when it was possible to more-or-less make it the only train on the line (or at least disrupt other traffic without too many consequences). Whenever it ran, it would either be advised out to signalboxes in a printed traffic notice or wired out by telegraph; the notice would include full details of restrictions and requirements. Signalmen would use special regulations (and accompanyng special bell signals) to ensure safety as it was passed from box to box. Driver and guard would be issued with a special form giving full details of conditions and requirements. A particularly large or awkward load might be required to be accompanied by a loading inspector. This film

gives an idea of what could be involved with a more 'interesting' load.
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Batavia Proficient

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Posted
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Posted

Thanks for your comprehensive reply - and the fascinating video.

 

I had wondered if transporting the boat on its side might have been an option.

 

Also, any idea of the probable route - north, via Bletchley, Bedford & Cambridge or south, with some route for getting across the "top" of London?

 

The boat movement in Speedwheel's photos was quite impressive - the boat's deck was level with the middle of first floor windows of the cottages in Bridge Street!

 

Chris G

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furnessvale Influencer

furnessvale

Posted
Posted

10ft wide, and 50ft long is going to put it well "out of gauge"!!

Generally anything over 8ft wide is going to have questions raised, even then.

Not quite that bad Graham. Coaching stock is 9'3" over door handles. 10ft would certainly be out of gauge but, unlike these days, OOG loads were moved. Even when I started work on the railway in 1964 I can remember being sent to double check tight locations for proposed OOG loads.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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pete harrison Veteran

pete harrison

Posted
Posted

Seems a very odd thing to do, buying an (I assume from the sizes and destination) fenland lighter from as far away as Berkhampstead, when there must have been more local builders.

Costin's were a boat builder of considerable reputation and built boats for operators throughout the country, some of which are captured within the Berkhampstead Health Register.

 

Two of the more interesting entries are numbers 411 and 412, both issued on 25 July 1905 and named as DAUNTLESS and ACTIVE respectively. At first glance these appear to be pretty standard wide boats built for Charles Claridge, but Mr Claridge was a timber merchant based in Exeter - and DAUNTLESS is recorded as being sunk en-route !

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IanM Experienced

IanM

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Abdela and Mitchell at Brimbscombe on the Thames & Severn used to ship out by rail any boats too large for the canal. They built them at the yard, cut them up into bits then transport them by rail to Sharpness before sticking them back together again.

 

Lots of the ones built for the overseas market went out this way.

 

There are pictures somewhere.

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Tim Lewis Veteran

Tim Lewis

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Posted (edited)

Reminds me of watching documentaries of the early british built ships on Lake Titticata which were transported by canal/ship/mule & railway.

 

One of the first ones was later fitted with a 4 cylinder hot bulb Bolinder engine and is still running:

 

http://www.yavari.org/yavari-story.html

 

Tim

Edited by Tim Lewis
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kbarber Contributor

kbarber

Posted
Posted

As an aside.

 

They took the bell codes for "out of gauge loads" out of the Rule Book recently.

Little wonder. Can you see the modern railway system coping with an OGLO, with all the penalty payments that would inevitably be triggered?

 

Where's the 'don't like' button when you need it?

  • Greenie 1
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Graham Davis Veteran

Graham Davis

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Posted

Little wonder. Can you see the modern railway system coping with an OGLO, with all the penalty payments that would inevitably be triggered?

 

Where's the 'don't like' button when you need it?

 

Green arrow, bottom right hand corner!

  • Greenie 2
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