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Oh dear


roland elsdon

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I had one a couple of days ago.

Bod on towpath: How long does it take you to raise steam in the morning?

Moi: Eh?

Bod on towpath: Your boat. It's powered by steam.

Moi: Nah, its a twin cylinder diesel. Old I grant you but not steam.

Bod on towpath, looking perplexed: But it looks and sounds like a steam engine

Moi: Well I'm afraid it's a diesel

Bod on towpath: So what does it run on then? 

Moi: Diesel!

Bod on towpath: Not coal then?

Moi: Speechless.....

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On 06/10/2017 at 00:13, David Mack said:

Early diesel engines ran on powdered coal dust....

 

I rather doubt the bod on the towpath knew that!

But is there any sort of coal dust other than powdered? ;)

And more seriously, are there any coal-dust powered diesels still in use out there?

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We had a guy at a lock telling his son how they made the fire up for raising steam and pointing at the back chimney as explained how steam engines worked. Then looked at the fuel tanks and said thats the boiler and showed the son the exhaust and said where the steam comes out

All to then say thats a nice old diesel engine and walked away.

 

Ive also on many occasions.

Conversation with in a group

is it all wood?

Yes oak sides and elm bottoms

It must leak alot as its pumping alot of water out the side.

Oh no thats the engine cooling it dosnt leak at all.

Thats good then.

As they walk off someone normaly says was it leaking, yes but its made of wood.

 

Edited by billybobbooth
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9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

People ask how old mine is, 15 years. people not involved in canals have no idea about them

Not just canals, boats in general.

People often assume ours is new, then get perplexed when we tell them it is 14 years old.

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Once told someone who asked why we were towing the butty  if it was broken down I replied we were bump starting it. He responded by asking if we wanted  borrow his jump leads...  He was on a boat..like yesterday's who had a shiny boat .

where did the heritage crap start, it's an old narrowboat

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I often wonder if heritage is a word invented by those who have difficulty in describing the age. It seems to cover the time span from the bronze age to five minutes ago. For motor bikes the terms veteran and vintage have some rough time period, but for the dug out log boat, clinker and carvel built boats there appears to fit the description "heritage will do".

If Heritage has some meaning that is something that has a "heritage value". In this aspect it came to mean that it had a certain importance and may be deserved either preservation or recording. It is often a mystery how Historic England decides on listing structures and their criteria may well be some sacred hidden text for what actually receives listing status. Classifying boats is equally of concern. For those who can tell a Bantock from a Cuckoo or a Star Class from a Town Class are genuine enthusiasts, but not every body has those perceptions.

Still telling the difference between a bolinder powered semi diesel engine, a modern diesel and a steam boat with boiler and engine (or even a  boat driven by producer gas) should be reasonable to expect. Yet things move on. It is like me, the other week, talking to a young man in the Telford at Trevor, and trying to explain Town Gas and Coking plants after his father mentioned the town, which he had grown up near Doncaster was where Coal from Askern Main was sent to be converted to Coke. This young man had reached his 18th Birthday and had no knowledge pf these things.

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Coal was already history as far back as the 70s when we ran trips on the GU for school kids in Uxbridge. We mentioned narrowboats carrying coal on canals in our commentary but often then had to explain what coal was and what it was used for.

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3 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Pah speak for yourself,  I could still party all night, well maybe most of the night, well for an hour or two and anyway I like early nights

When the ten oclock news comes on we are off to bed!! God only knows how we ran pubs eighteen million hours a week only a few short years ago.

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25 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Pah speak for yourself,  I could still party all night, well maybe most of the night, well for an hour or two and anyway I like early nights

Yes, like you I was born to be wild (at least until 9:00 pm these days) :mellow:

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3 hours ago, Tam & Di said:

Coal was already history as far back as the 70s when we ran trips on the GU for school kids in Uxbridge. We mentioned narrowboats carrying coal on canals in our commentary but often then had to explain what coal was and what it was used for.

I remember telling their brothers and sisters that the next one who put his hand out of the cabin going through the locks would get his knuckles tapped with a windlass, I also remember drunken political party boat trips hurling bottles at each other... 

Can you imagine the fallout if you even spoke to a school kid as a boat steerer nowadays, never mind threatened to modify his fingers with a windlass

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Yes. Gin palaces were big, ostentatious, fancily-decorated pubs built in Victorian times, when gin was a popular drink. One pub which I used to use (and where indeed I first met the future Mrs. Athy), an extravaganza of a place called The Princess Louise in High Holborn, is a fine surviving example.

Transfer such epithets as "ostentatious" and "gin, popular drink" to boats and I think you have your answer.

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27 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

Yes

:)

enlightening stuff - im glad i asked 

Thankyou 

24 minutes ago, Athy said:

Yes. Gin palaces were big, ostentatious, fancily-decorated pubs built in Victorian times, when gin was a popular drink. One pub which I used to use (and where indeed I first met the future Mrs. Athy), an extravaganza of a place called The Princess Louise in High Holborn, is a fine surviving example.

Transfer such epithets as "ostentatious" and "gin, popular drink" to boats and I think you have your answer.

enlightening stuff - im glad i asked . 

Thankyou

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