Interesting Pulley at Atherstone Top Lock

[alan_fincher]

Just now, Heartland said:

It is 1958, The original is now with Pluto, maybe the card, the postcard size photograph is mounted on, has more detail

Sounds right - boats in standard BW Blue & Yellow.

Athy's "starting with a J", can't be correct, as I think the only GUCCCo butty that did was Juno, and it is clearly more than 4 letters.

I think the name is illegible as reproduced, but maybe starts with an "A"?

[X Alan W]

On 9/17/2017 at 10:47, Dave Payne said:

with the bridge in place on the towpath side I would imagine a straight line wouldn't have worked due to the angle.... But I cant see what use it would have ben with a full size boat going out the lock as the front of the boat would have been past this pulley.

 

the lock keepers theory sounds better looking at the old photo.

 

 

Through the brain fade ISTR around 1958 there were 2 more pulleys 1 near the bride arch & 1 around half way along the clean length of coping ,the coping 1 was removed 58/59 I never really knew but assumed it related to getting boats in/out of the arm & in/out of the lock but have no real knowledge if indeed this was so, remember seeing a boater trip over the lockside one in the failing evening light & fall in the lock, luckily it was full, both sets of gates closed ,he was coming uphill with a single motor, single handed  & had closed the top gate without drawing any bottom paddle/s to help with closing/keeping top gate closed & for some reason crossed back to the cottage side on his way to draw the bottom paddles bit lucky as in those days no lock ladders to help climb out even more so as the lock was not draining

[David Mack]

9 hours ago, Ray T said:

If you tie breasted boats just fore and aft the butty will surge fore and aft. Using the anser pin and tunnel hook on the motor and butty a X of ropes can be used similar to springs. Yotties use springs when in port or tieing along side another boat. Fore and aft ropes keep the boats side by side springs help cut down independant fore aft movement. Also to assist with towing working breasted up, boaters often took the butty's mast rope to the bow T stud on the motor. The anser pin was also used when strapping a boat into a lock.

Another use, when a tug  towed a "train" of horse boats through a tunnel or otherwise the anser pin / tunnel hook of  one butty would  use a Y of ropes from the boat in front to the bow T stud of the boat behind, thus keeping the tow rope clear of  the ellum. The Barratts used this method when towing two  buttys behind Rocket when delivering coal from the Moira Cut.

 

So did horseboats have tunnel hooks and anser pins? Or did these get added when motor boats came along and horseboats became butties?

[Ray T]

16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

So did horseboats have tunnel hooks and anser pins? Or did these get added when motor boats came along and horseboats became butties?

Out  in the tin tent or as some friends call it our "Land boat" so I don't have access to my photo's or books at the moment.

[Derek R.]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

So did horseboats have tunnel hooks and anser pins? Or did these get added when motor boats came along and horseboats became butties?

I believe the latter is so. Anser pins came along when motors pulled butties. Tunnel hooks have been on horse boats ever since they needed to be towed through tunnels.

[Ray T]

Crater here has two tunnel hooks:

 

Rocket towing two buttys and tunnel hooks and anser pin in use.

 

[Dave Payne]

44 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Crater here has two tunnel hooks:

 

Rocket towing two buttys and tunnel hooks and anser pin in use.

 

Is the second photo Hawkesbury Junction, pump house to the left?

[Ray T]

13 minutes ago, Dave Payne said:

Is the second photo Hawkesbury Junction, pump house to the left?

It is indeed.

Another

The Barratt's had a regular run from the Moira cut to the Coventry Light.

[Dave Payne]

awesome photos ray, thanks for sharing!

[stevecarter]

WRT the pulley at Atherstone. It was indeed used for starting the boat out of the lock with the horse walking back down the lock because the towpath forwards went over the basin bridge and that made the pull much more difficult. (Refer to the pictures to see).

[RLWP]

26 minutes ago, stevecarter said:

WRT the pulley at Atherstone. It was indeed used for starting the boat out of the lock with the horse walking back down the lock because the towpath forwards went over the basin bridge and that made the pull much more difficult. (Refer to the pictures to see).

Thanks for that Steve, welcome to the forum

Richard

[Ray T]

Hello Steve, welcome to the forum. Are you related to Charlie Carter?

[Athy]

11 hours ago, stevecarter said:

WRT the pulley at Atherstone. It was indeed used for starting the boat out of the lock with the horse walking back down the lock because the towpath forwards went over the basin bridge and that made the pull much more difficult. (Refer to the pictures to see).

Welcome to the forum, Steve. I'm sure I've seen your boat - I noticed the Cornish name because I have a customer who lives in Chyandour Terrace in Penzance. Do you travel the South Oxford?

[stevecarter]

10 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Hello Steve, welcome to the forum. Are you related to Charlie Carter?

Thanks for the welcome. Don't know any Charlie Carters.

6 minutes ago, Athy said:

Welcome to the forum, Steve. I'm sure I've seen your boat - I noticed the Cornish name because I have a customer who lives in Chyandour Terrace in Penzance. Do you travel the South Oxford?

We did come up the South Oxford a few weeks ago, so you may have seen us then. Or boat is mainly black. There is one other Chyandour on the system; it is mainly blue and lives on the Erewash Canal.

[Athy]

7 minutes ago, stevecarter said:

Thanks for the welcome. Don't know any Charlie Carters.

We did come up the South Oxford a few weeks ago, so you may have seen us then. Or boat is mainly black. There is one other Chyandour on the system; it is mainly blue and lives on the Erewash Canal.

Yes, I think you passed our mooring in Cropredy village.

[Ray T]

Steve, the Carters were a well known boating family in the Midlands. Rose & Charlie.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Ray T

[Ray T]

16 hours ago, stevecarter said:

WRT the pulley at Atherstone. It was indeed used for starting the boat out of the lock with the horse walking back down the lock because the towpath forwards went over the basin bridge and that made the pull much more difficult. (Refer to the pictures to see).

Mike confirmed this, identified the lock from the picture in post #1, he mentioned the horse going back down the lock and the bridge without me showing him any other pictures.

[mykaskin]

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by mykaskin

[Graham and Jo]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. It all makes sense now! Next time I'm at Atherstone I'll be imaging horses and boats and ropes and bridges.

Cheers Graham

[Graham and Jo]

Back at Atherstone again and wondered what this round object with a hole is. They can be seen above the top gates on either side or both.

 

Cheers Graham

 

[J R ALSOP]

Blow holes

[RLWP]

2 minutes ago, J R ALSOP said:

Blow holes

I think the blow hole is the bolted down plate to the right