L&L Short Boat information.

[Riverman]

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

[zenataomm]

Very nice, 3 cylinder Lister ...HA?

[Laurence Hogg]

Don't know the original name but her drawings are available in our list. Great boat to own. Think you mean "Yarwoods of Northwich" rather than Norwich.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Laurence Hogg
add ibfo

[Riverman]

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

[Pluto]

Ouse was one of two boats built for Canal Transport Ltd by Harkers of Knottingley in 1934, the other being Calder. They had 26 new steel boats between 1932 and 1954, the others were built at Yarwoods (12) or Pimblotts (9), both in Northwich, with the final three at Harland & Wolff on the Thames. Those built before nationalisation were named after rivers, with the six built subsequently named after Lancashire towns. Canal Transport Ltd also had a fleet of wooden boats, the ones they had built, rather than the ones they took over in 1930, were named after planets, stars and rivers, with a few other names, usually reusing older names as boats were motorised. The final, post-nationalisation, wooden boats were named after Yorkshire towns. The L&LC Society does have a few copies of Geoff Wheat's book, Canal Transport Ltd, for sale at £3 plus postage, or available direct when Kennet is open.

[Riverman]

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

[Pluto]

A couple from  circa 1975, when Ouse was based in the Skipton area. The first by Roger Lorenz, the second by Geoff Wheat.

 

[bargemast]

Thank you both very much for the posting of these pictures Riverman and Pluto.

Peter.

[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

[Pluto]

The original bow cabin was probably removed when the Jones crane was installed. The new cabin is smaller, though the original 'base' seems to have survived.

[billh]

Pluto, the second picture by Geoff Wheat, is there a date on it? I'm guessing  1973, the folk lounging about on Weaver (Captain Derek Bent) look familiar. Is the  boat Irwell (Captain Paul Lorenz) just off camera do you know?

Bill

[Pluto]

The date I have for the second photo is 1975, the only other photo at Skipton taken at the time shows Ouse tied up. There are several of Irwell in 1973, when it was first used for camping.