Paul H

Indeed. It was sold to L B Faulkner of Leighton Buzzard by GUCCC (when it was renamed Raven) and then became one of the few boats to be bought back by BW for operation in the north west. It has now been rebuilt extremely well and extremely expensively into a full length converted motor boat and is at Brinklow. I don’t think the butty stub end survived. Paul

The hull of the old Worcester and Birmingham tug Birmingham aka Tyburn is “preserved” at Tardebigge Locks. what a waste! Paul

And Vesta has been (finally) sold… Paul

It’s now a houseboat hiding in Wenlock Basin in London. Looks a bit sad but I do know they had a new elum made a few years back. Paul https://hnbc.org.uk/boats/cleopatra

L T C Rolt bought the famous Cressy in 1939 but it had originally been converted to steam in 1929. It retained the horse boat stern but incongruously a motor boat rudder and tiller. I don’t think this was the earliest “butty conversion” either. Paul

Indeed. It was built by Rugby Boats on traditional tug lines for Robert Wilson (of canal book fame) who placed it in the UCC fleet as a “sponsored” hire boat. UCC also had another similar “hire tug” based on the back end of Josher “Bream” mated with the bow of a railway boat. I no longer have an old brochure but recall they featured bunk beds crammed into the front cabins and probably an elsan in the engine room. Them were the days. Paul

Hound was a “station boat” built by Yarwoods for the LMS railway around 1930 and would not have be3n fitted with a cabin. Station boats were fine lined and low sided to take light goods from parts of the Black Country not served by railways to “interchange depots” where the parcels etc. would be transferred to rail. I’m not sure when this practice finished but I think in the 1950s when as a result of nationalisation Hound would have come into the ownership of British Waterways. A few were converted to long distance cabin boats, others to early pleasure boats for hire but the majority were used as maintenance boats often for dredgings. Station boats have a design fault in that there is a lapped joint half way up the hull side which creates a little “shelf” and there is usually serious corrosion behind the knees. Many of these boats have been rebuilt as attractive tugs but I’m not sure if Hound was one of the lucky ones. Quite a few maintenance boats “disappeared” in the north west as the staff allegedly sold them for scrap for cash. Richard Booth of the Historic Narrow Boat Club has made a study of station boats and may be able to help further. Contact him on archivist(at)hnbc(dot)org(dot)uk. hope that helps (a bit!) Paul

All station boats have this hole usually plated over. I’d always thought it was for a portable hand pump. It’s a bit far forward for a towing mast I’d have thought. Paul

The boats are Dane, ex- Thomas Clayton tar boat and Bullfinch a “modern” butty then the base of Tradline Fenders who later moved into on of the nearby buildings. Paul

But quite sensible if the butty is unattended. As built, the boats didn’t have “scuppers” or drains from the hatches (“aft cockpit.”). So rainwater goes into the bilges under the cabin. If you seal the deck/cockpit and introduce scuppers then you’ve got trouble (or wellies!) if you put a load on! Paul

If Hampton was used on the BCN then a “log” might refer to a substantial piece of timber or iron on a chain which was hung over the side of the boat from a ring on a wharf in lieu of tying up - the advantage being that as the boat is loaded or unloaded the mooring self-adjusts. John Teale Ltd rang a bell with me and I realised that they also used to own Elizabeth, Jim Macdonald’s old boat. And amazingly the company still exists seemingly now as a property rather than gravel company. I wonder if they have any archives or historic pictures on their office walls? Paul

Bob May captions the boats as being Hereford and Ilford. Paul

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Monkey-Red-Rose-Heather-Prime-Blackie/31637741747/bd

The boat in the original picture with the handrail is clearly wooden. It was replaced (late 1950s?) with one of BW NW’s chopped -off Josher motors. It was said to be the England but some believe it was subsequently buried when the entrance to the “old” Harecastle Tunnel was filled in. In which case either that boat or the boat pictured cannot be England… (ducks) Paul

Iirc this is the Hythe Bridge arm in Oxford of the Oxford Canal just behind Worcester College. Paul