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Water Wanderer


Heartland

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It is often a topic of conversation to follow boat origins. There was a boat called Water Wanderer that could be seen on the canal network such as the Grand Union, called the Water Wanderer, does anybody know of the history?

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5 hours ago, Heartland said:

It is often a topic of conversation to follow boat origins. There was a boat called Water Wanderer that could be seen on the canal network such as the Grand Union, called the Water Wanderer, does anybody know of the history?

There was a passenger/hotel boat called 'Water Wanderer' operated by British Waterways in the 1960's, but it was either an old 'West Country' boat, a Leeds & Liverpool Short boat or something else of a similar size, so it would never have been run on the Grand Union between Foxton and Buckby. You are probably thinking about 'Water Rambler', which was a little Woolwich motor with the top bends and the deck cut down to just above the guard and a glass saloon for the passengers between the deck and back to behind about where the middle beam would have been. They only carried tea mashing and sandwich making gear on board for the daytime and the passengers were put up in hotels or B&B's each night.

'Water Wanderer' ran on the Trent, the Fossdyke and the Witham between Nottingham, Newark, Lincoln and Boston, and 'Water Rambler' mainly on the Oxford and Leicester Cut's. There was also a 'Water Princess' - similar hull to 'Water Wanderer' but just a day trip boat operating a short way on the Trent or up the Soar from around Trent Lock (bottom end of the Erewash). There was another almost identical boat doing day trips around the Leeds/Wakefield general area for a short while in the 80's - 'Fair Maiden', I think.

 

Edited by PhilAtterley
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I think Water Wanderer was A&CN Flyboat 99, built in 1879 and lengthened in 1913. Fair Maiden may have been A&CN 95, also 1879 and C&HN size, as was A&CN 68 of 1876, which may be June, and A&CN 85 of 1878, which may be Pauline. The three L&LC boats were Humber (Water Gypsy), Wharfe (Water Prince), and Aire (Water Princess), the later two being shortened to work on the C&HN. David Lowe recently sent me the details regarding the L&LC boats.

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26 minutes ago, Pluto said:

I think Water Wanderer was A&CN Flyboat 99, built in 1879 and lengthened in 1913. Fair Maiden may have been A&CN 95, also 1879 and C&HN size, as was A&CN 68 of 1876, which may be June, and A&CN 85 of 1878, which may be Pauline. The three L&LC boats were Humber (Water Gypsy), Wharfe (Water Prince), and Aire (Water Princess), the later two being shortened to work on the C&HN. David Lowe recently sent me the details regarding the L&LC boats.

I think you're probably right about 'Water Wanderer'- my recollection of it was that it was definitely longer than the others. 'Aire' was one of the shortboats that BW used for a while on the Nottingham - Leicester traffic before they got the first Bantams for running to Leicester with Nottingham Pans, and I think the other one was probably 'Wharfe'.

Edited by PhilAtterley
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2 hours ago, Heartland said:

Thanks for that, the question now is captioning error? This image is quoted as near Kingswood

 

 

WWanderer.jpg

That is one of the little Woolwich Zoo Bus conversions, so it definitely is NOT 'Water Rambler' - the hull is still 'as built' without having had the top bends and deck cut down to improve the forward view for the passengers sitting in the glass saloon which ran about halfway along the length of the boat.

As for where the photo is - going from the concrete piled and capped inside (towpath side) and how close the railway is, I would say it's just on the Hatton side of the turn into the arm on to the North Stratford at Lapworth, which I think I have heard referred to as Kingswood Junction.

Edited by PhilAtterley
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19 hours ago, Heartland said:

Thanks for that, the question now is captioning error? This image is quoted as near Kingswood

 

 

WWanderer.jpg

For one moment I thought that having roll down sids roll down sides, the photo could be of Water Sprite (Ex GUCC small Northwich "Pisces"), but the roof line is not quite correct. Water Sprite had squared corners on the roof, whereas the boat in the photo appears to have rounded corners, also Pisces did not have a cabin stove, although that could have been removed before it was sold.

I have never seen a photo of Pisces either in her GUCC condition, either carrying or as a wartime Thames fireboat, or as an operational water bus. If anyone has one i would love to see it.

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22 hours ago, PhilAtterley said:

There was a passenger/hotel boat called 'Water Wanderer' operated by British Waterways in the 1960's, but it was either an old 'West Country' boat, a Leeds & Liverpool Short boat or something else of a similar size, so it would never have been run on the Grand Union between Foxton and Buckby. You are probably thinking about 'Water Rambler', which was a little Woolwich motor with the top bends and the deck cut down to just above the guard and a glass saloon for the passengers between the deck and back to behind about where the middle beam would have been. They only carried tea mashing and sandwich making gear on board for the daytime and the passengers were put up in hotels or B&B's each night.

'Water Wanderer' ran on the Trent, the Fossdyke and the Witham between Nottingham, Newark, Lincoln and Boston, and 'Water Rambler' mainly on the Oxford and Leicester Cut's. There was also a 'Water Princess' - similar hull to 'Water Wanderer' but just a day trip boat operating a short way on the Trent or up the Soar from around Trent Lock (bottom end of the Erewash). There was another almost identical boat doing day trips around the Leeds/Wakefield general area for a short while in the 80's - 'Fair Maiden', I think.

 

I think that the "Water Wanderer" you're talking about ended up in France sometime during the 70's, where she worked as an hotel-barge, last time I saw her was in the early 80's not looking well cared for tied up at the Port of Beaucaire in the South of France.

 

Peter.

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2 hours ago, J R ALSOP said:

That would have been George Walker, seen here as we were heading to the IWA Rally at Stratford upon Avon.

IMG_4206.JPG

You Sir are 100% correct events/folk of 60 or so years ago I'm now suffering brain fade

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20 hours ago, AMModels said:

PC%2003b%20Water%20Rambler%20passing%20t

PC%2003a%20Water%20Rambler02%20approachi

Heres Water Rambler as described with cut down top bends.  From the late Jim Paylers collection as seen on Blisworth.com and my site.

This is "Water Rambler" in her second guise. The original conversion retained the full height bow but was found to obstruct the forward view so remedial action was taken after the first year and part of the "top bend" and the bow removed as seen here. A commercial postcard exists of the boat as originally built: large.5933f2849c764_WATERRAMBLERPOSTCARD

 

also two pictures in the BW collection:

http://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw192.2.4.1

http://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw192.2.4.2

Edited by Laurence Hogg
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Thanks for that link Laurence, I found a photo of Pisces on the site, showing Pisces when she was operating as Water Sprite. Apart from the back panel, and the enclosed cabin section (which we put on) she looks almos identical to how she looked when she was taken over by the London Borough of Hillingdon, and given her original name back.

Water Sprite (2).jpg     Water Sprite

Uxbridge1966 01a.JPG       Pisces

Edited by David Schweizer
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Found this on the CRT archives. 

Water Kelpie.jpg

BW192-3-2-2-13-1-586 Water Kelpie

'Water Kelpie' near Hayes on the Grand Union Canal

Description

Black and white photograph taken from the stern of the boat looking along the top towards Bridge 198, the boat is heading north.

Date

1960

 

Edited by Ray T
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20 hours ago, zenataomm said:

Water Ouzle operated out of Braunston regularly tripping up to Brinklow to turn in the arm in the mid 60s.

She was small Woolwich "Sun"

Was still operating in Braunston in the '90s

15980555231_6acc240143_c.jpgVulcan by Ian, on Flickr

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From Tony Lewery's "Flowers Afloat."

Water Ouzel.jpg

Caption reads:

"The Trip boat Water Ouzel with roses and Castles by Dennis Clarke in the 1970's, when he owned and operated it in Braunston. It was photographed in 1993 just prior to a major restoration which required the complete replacement of the cabin sides."

Edited by Ray T
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  • 4 months later...
On June 4, 2017 at 03:08, bargemast said:

I think that the "Water Wanderer" you're talking about ended up in France sometime during the 70's, where she worked as an hotel-barge, last time I saw her was in the early 80's not looking well cared for tied up at the Port of Beaucaire in the South of France.

 

Peter.

My husband and I traveled on the "Water Wanderer" in August 1964 from Nottingham but did not make it to Lincoln. Sadly the Captain died the night before we were to cruise into Lincoln  so we were taken in by bus. It was a wonderful cruise otherwise and we all were very upset at our Captain dying. I have photos somewhere of the trip if I can  find them. Also a package of information about the cruise issued by the British Waterways . Twelve years later we returned to England and rented a Narrow boat and with our 2 young children cruised for 2 weeks and had a fabulous time. 

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2 minutes ago, Yorksshirepud said:

My husband and I traveled on the "Water Wanderer" in August 1964 from Nottingham but did not make it to Lincoln. Sadly the Captain died the night before we were to cruise into Lincoln  so we were taken in by bus. It was a wonderful cruise otherwise and we all were very upset at our Captain dying. I have photos somewhere of the trip if I can  find them. Also a package of information about the cruise issued by the British Waterways . Twelve years later we returned to England and rented a Narrow boat and with our 2 young children cruised for 2 weeks and had a fabulous time. 

Rather an unusual way to end a trip! I, and I am sure others, would be interested to see any photos you can find. The time when canals/waterways were changing from commercial to leisure use is becoming of interest to historians, so any information is very useful.

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Pluto. Glad my post went through as I was not sure if I had done it correctly. I just joined so I  could reply about the " Water Wanderer ". I will look through all my photos the next few days and see what I can come up with.

 

i have also often wondered what happened to the lovely narrow  boat called "Dorothy Grace" we rented in 1976  

in October 1982 we rented another narrow  boat but forget the name. We met a lovely couple who were living on their boat they had build . He was a Jazz Musician and she was a writer . Their name was Owen and Iris Bryce.   

Such an ideal way to get away from the life in a city. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Yorksshirepud
Spelled word incorrectly
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