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Jim

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4 hours ago, David Mack said:

And if I remember rightly, Janusz and Ruth died when an out-of-control lorry crashed into a tearoom at Ironbridge, some time in the 1980s.

Yes, that's correct. Every time I go down the hill into Ironbridge I think of them. His name was Janusz Rockiki. It was a big news story at the time, and many of us in the canal world felt grief for them, even if we didn't really know them.

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6 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

......

Delta Marine, a company building high class Dutch barges.


Don't you mean English Barges? Fabricator manufactures steel barges vaguely resembling the better known "Dutch barges" but at the end of the day it is an English barge. Quality product Made in England. Be proud to be English.

Call a spade a spade. Please.

 

Edited by magnetman
typographical error
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Certainly they are not Dutch barges and indeed strictly speaking not barges at all but they and pipers boats are marketed as either Dutch style barges or just Dutch barges and the owners think they are,and indeed many of them look down on us with genuine barges built in the Nederland many years ago.

 

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I know. I live on a modern English barge built by Pickwell and Arnold in Yorkshire. When I located it on apolloduck it was described as a dutch barge replica.

Its not. Its a modern English barge which has more in common with boats used on the northern commercial waterways than any Dutch vessel.

I guess its a marketing thing, which has gone a bit mad with the caricature Piper boats.

Anyway apologies for going off topic its just I was a bit surprised to see Tam Murrell describe Delta Marine boats as Dutch !

 

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8 hours ago, pete harrison said:

I think the exOvaltine motor HARRY also worked as a camping boat, owned by Peter Shrubshall trading as the Boat and Butty Company, Runcorn - but I do not recall ever seeing it.

In more recent times (late 1990's and early 2000's) WHITBY and PICTOR / BANSTEAD and METEOR have also worked as camping boats.

It appears to me that there is the makings of a book here :captain:

We recently bought back Meteor, stripped of all its camping gear, and also have Heyford. Both are at Langley Mill. What killed the camping as far as we were concerned was the increasing cost of insurance on what was only ever a marginal operation financially. Insurance companies seemed to think that taking parties along the Trent and Mersey had the same level of risk as crossing the Atlantic. We learned a great deal by watching Graham Wigley at work. Truly a master of his craft. Pun intended. HughC.

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6 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

We have, I admit gone a bit off piste in this thread now, and Tam is probably right that a new one might be worth starting.

I was trying to look for previous ones, and one of the things I note is that Photobucket's decision to not allow users to host their images and display on other sites means that many of the images previously on the forum now can't be viewed.

As a small step towards reinstating some, here are some I have previously put up of Union Canal Carriers boats in the early 1970s.  I might be struggling though, in some cases to say which boat is which!

Bilster, (obviously), which my brother Mike later owned.  Behind, away from tow-path is I think Bexhill, which we hired).  Next to that, possibly Hawkesbury?

UCCCo001.jpg.f50d02185574b48711ccfb484d85956c.jpg

 

Taken from Bexhill - possibly Hawkesbury alongside next to tow-path?

(Note: Offside, below the lock, "shortened butty" taken to extremes!)

UCCCo003.jpg.0bd3006e8727a31eb3249e8aeb17c188.jpg

 

I think Bilster is on the outside here, so they have moved since earlier shot.  On the other boat is ex working boater Ted Ward, I think employed then as a mechanic.

Possibly Petrel & Moon lying as the next pair along?

UCCCo004.jpg

 

Not at Braunston here.  The thin, long haired, young man steering Bexhill has just typed this caption!

UCCCo002.jpg

Boat nearest the towpath in the second picture is certainly Hawkesbury, the bullseye is the giveaway as it is situated further forwards than normal, above the cross bed. 

6 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

 

Edited by BWM
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2 hours ago, magnetman said:

Anyway apologies for going off topic its just I was a bit surprised to see Tam Murrell describe Delta Marine boats as Dutch !

I was only using the term used to market them, and at least Gary's have more class to them than most. It gets to be too much of a pain to keep referring to them as pseudo Dutch style barges or some such. I do refuse to use the term "wide beam narrow boat" or its varients though

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23 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

Tim Carter, (who occasionally posts on here), seems to be enjoying a fair amount of business with "William" that he has operated for several years now.

However most, (but not all) of that trade seems to be short breaks, I think often with only one night on board, although I know some much longer trips are done.

William is still fairly basic, although the kitchen is I think well upmarket of a UCCCo offering from the 1970s.  It is far better presented - some of the UCCCo boats were fairly rough, including having cloths that leaked badly, so it was hard to find a dry bunk amongsts the dozen available.

Of course William also has a big Bolinder, making it really rather special.

Tim has indicated to me he would love to add a butty to work with William, but that the demand for double the berths would be unlikely to be sufficient to justify it.

That was more or less my point, there may be enough folk left requiring that type of canal holiday to keep 1/2 boats going & making a living for there owners  but there is no way that type of holiday would support the number of boats that ran in the heyday, also i wonder at the reaction of the greater number of shiny boat owners now than then to the sight of an unloaded town class bows bearing down on them being steered by a young lad standing on a box to be able to see over the fore end shame that the boats that were the life of the canal for decades are now regarded by a growing number of canal users as channel hugging priority claiming  rust buckets

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2 hours ago, X Alan W said:

That was more or less my point, there may be enough folk left requiring that type of canal holiday to keep 1/2 boats going & making a living for there owners  but there is no way that type of holiday would support the number of boats that ran in the heyday, also i wonder at the reaction of the greater number of shiny boat owners now than then to the sight of an unloaded town class bows bearing down on them being steered by a young lad standing on a box to be able to see over the fore end shame that the boats that were the life of the canal for decades are now regarded by a growing number of canal users as channel hugging priority claiming  rust buckets

Birmingham and Midland are also still running a pair (COLLINGWOOD and ASH) and a single motor (YEOFORD) as camping boats from Gas Street Basin, Birmingham. I do believe they sold their other boats a few yeas ago (CYPRESS = now hulked, ACHILLES = now two motors and ARGON - now a house boat conversion).

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3 hours ago, Heartland said:

Yes the B & MC are still active. On another point what were the first camping boats? I suspect Cadbury's have a claim in this regard

Didn't the "Salvation army"have a horse drawn holiday(camping")? boat along with their school boat  maybe it was only a day tripper Harry arnold/jack Roberts had the 2 horse  drawn boats but they had solid cabins Hostel craft also a horse drawn boat but that was also converted

Edited by X Alan W
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  • 1 year later...

I did three Camping runs with Jaguar, operating out of Swarkstone, 1975.  Two trips were fine and enjoyable.  The other was with Tadworth, primary schoolkids from Bristol.  Total shambles.  I had 12 boys, Tadworth had 12 girls.  Somehow I usually ended up with rather more than the legal 12 passengers. It got to the stage where I told the teachers to sort things out, or they would all be thrown off.

To be fair, the kids were too young and got bored. It was before these I-pads and things.

Tadworth's steerer managed to put her up in the field at Great Haywood Junction - came out too fast and she wouldn't turn. 

I did have one young lad who was quite interested and I let him have a go at steering.

Today, it would only work for Scout groups, who are more used to 'roughing it', but I think the Safety 'Elf has killed it.

 

Photo of Kimberley with UCC at Napton.

Kimberley.jpg

Edited by Chris Williams
photo name.
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1 hour ago, Chris Williams said:

I did three Camping runs with Jaguar, operating out of Swarkstone, 1975.  Two trips were fine and enjoyable.  The other was with Tadworth, primary schoolkids from Bristol.  Total shambles.  I had 12 boys, Tadworth had 12 girls.  Somehow I usually ended up with rather more than the legal 12 passengers. It got to the stage where I told the teachers to sort things out, or they would all be thrown off.

To be fair, the kids were too young and got bored. It was before these I-pads and things.

Tadworth's steerer managed to put her up in the field at Great Haywood Junction - came out too fast and she wouldn't turn. 

I did have one young lad who was quite interested and I let him have a go at steering.

Today, it would only work for Scout groups, who are more used to 'roughing it', but I think the Safety 'Elf has killed it.

 

Photo of Kimberley with UCC at Napton.

Kimberley.jpg

 

Is this the same "Jaguar" as the one currently moored at Alvecote?

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Tadworths steerer that day was the late Graham Palmer. He had telephoned me to say that the engine PD2 wouldn’t rev up. I came up to top of fradley by car and when the boats arrived I dropped into the engine hole flipped the butterfly stop fully over and reved the engine. The stop rod on the pd2 had a semi circular end and this could finished up in the halfway position so the engine would start but not rev up.

by the time I got to Fradley I already knew he’d been in the field and any way the foreend had plenty of mud on it.

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On 16/11/2017 at 21:00, Jim said:

Well my advice wasn't that far out. Thanks for solving a mystery.

I'm intrigued by Alan's reference to Tim and Andy Collier's book, something I wasn't aware of. As a participant on the northbound trip I'd like to read Andy's account of it. The pace was certainly frantic and the passengers (customers) were given no say in where or when the boats would stop for the night . I even recall the steerer refusing to stop to pick up a girl who had fallen in whilst trying to board the moving boats and requiring her to run down the towpath to overtake them and try again! I'm surprised though that I have no memory of bow hauling against the current on the Trent, so perhaps it was another trip being written about.

But if someone can give me the title of the book I'd be grateful.

Edited to say that I've now realised that on the trip to Nottingham the boats would have been going with the current, so the bow-hauling must have happened on the return south. Doh!

Lyra in its working boat era was the butty my cousin was born on

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Dave - We got 'Jubilee' to pull her back into the cut.  Her steerer had seen it happen and was highly amused. 

He got stuck again around Barton.  A passing hire boat told me "Your mate is stuck back there".  Off on the bike to the rescue.  Get all the kids on one side and off she came.

 

Frahkn - 'Jaguar', the Paper-dasher, belonged to Nick Hill when I was steerer.  Later with South Midland.

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Two more UCC campers:  'Hawkesbury' at Reading in 1971  and 'Eileen' at Aynho Weir in April 1972.

Lifejackets are noticeable for their absence.

Hyperion.jpg

eileen.jpg

Edited by Chris Williams
She is a Town not a Star.
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EILEEN - that had a back to front cabin when I knew it from Chertsey days (1981). A traditional back cabin, but placed ahead of the engine right aft. It was cabin'd full length then, and I seem to recall the guy who lived aboard as Paul. Had a Long haired Collie called Toby?

 

ETA: Jim MacDonald had it later and I think put a motor counter on the back; removed the long cabin, and probably reverted to back cabin with engine ahead of.

Edited by Derek R.
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Eileen - certainly had and still has an eventful life.  After she was with UCC she was owned by 'Canalware Supplies', based in Chester.

I believe she has now got a normal cabin/engine ole set-up.  BMC engine?

Just realised that in my pic of her you can see the engine's water outlet right at the stern.

Edited by Chris Williams
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Eileen's owners run an extensive, and to my mind somewhat unusual, web-site for her.


This page covers much of her researched history - she has certainly had an eventful life, including being completely burnt out at one stage causing hull distortion that required significant work to straighten it......

 

https://inlanding.wordpress.com/a-brief-history-of-eileen/

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A bit like Grandad's hammer that has had two new heads and three new handles, but it's a hundred years old.

I did some work on BWB's 'Water Lupin', which was the front half of 'Gorse', I understand that there are now two boats called 'Gorse', one made from 'Lupin' and the other from the back half.

Water Lupin.jpg

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