Riverman

Yes thank Pluto for these.. Really appreciate them. I notice she appears not to have her front cabin above deck level in the first photo. I am also presuming the concrete was put in the bottom when the crane was installed for stability? Amazing to think that she has been working for over 80 years. Thanks again

Marlow was the one that went to MK and then returned to the Thames for restoration by Peter Freebody ( not sure where it is now ). I know John Salter and I think with changing times the larger boats were not needed. Cliveden and Mapledurham just became beyond economic repair. They operated on theThames for over 50 years without their size being a problem and I have known several of their old skippers who said they were great boats to drive. Clivden still sits in Salters yard awaiting its fate and was certainly in my opinion the best steamer that ever operated on the Thames. Many of the Salters built tunnel stern boats like Cliveden and Mapledurham such as Queen Elizabeth, Kingwood and Conort still operate down in London.

Thank you Pluto that is very interesting info... Is Calder still around? I will certainly get a copy of Geoff Wheats book. Are you aware of any old photos of Ouse? It is also interesting that some of the other L&L boats whist I thought would have been older than Ouse are newer boats. Thanks again and here are a few more pictures. Cheers

Yes Northwich ... I think spell check took over.... It does indeed have a 3 pot Lister HA that pushes her along very well although a little slow on stopping when she is empty. I would be interested to see the build plans. I think National Rivers ( now the Environment Agency) may have owned her for a time on the Thames and they purchased it from British Waterways. As I understand Liverpool and Leeds short boats were named after rivers so I have always thought Ouse was her original name? Cheers

Hi This is our work barge Ouse that we have owned for around 15 years. We understand it was owned by British Waterways as a crane barge for a number of years. It had a Jones Crane mounted in the front of the hold that we removed about five years ago as it had become unserviceable. We use her for transporting materials along the Thames to our riparian jobs. and it is powerered by a 3 cylinder air cooled Lister. We know very little about her history except some internet reasearch and a guess that she was built by Yarwoods of Norwich and is a Leeds and Liverpool Short Boat. The last owner also used it as we do as a working barge but also knew little about her history. Any information would be most welcome. Dave