Under construction!
Just a few random items that were easily culled from my collections. More to
follow.
PUSHING & PULLING
Little John - a relatively modern replacement for an old Bantam tug (of the same name), which was previously used in the Nottingham/Trent area for many years. Pictured in 2009
At Swinton in 2005 were these two 'boxy' looking tugs, FREIGHT TRADER & FREIGHT PIONEER, which have a rather sad history. They are the two BACAT (Barge Aboard CATamaran) tugs that were built in the 1970s for moving BACAT barges in pairs around the north-eastern waterways prior to shipping them on the BACAT container vessel to and from the continent (notably Rotterdam). This got very much in the hair of the dockers in Hull, who were effectively bypassed, and after long strikes (there were a lot of them at the time) the project was effectively dismantled. The tugs and barges were used for a short time on local traffic (I think some of the barges still are) but the tugs were not as practical as more traditional variants and were laid up. The BACAT mother ship was scrapped after many years on conventional container service in about 2009. Also laid up here was the Yorkshire Keel CONFIDENCE.
The tug URANUS was shortened from a barge. It and its twins CANOPUS and NEPTUNE
were all from Holland originally but incorporated into the BW fleet for use as
maintenance boats. I am unsure of the prsent whereabout of CANOPUS (last seen
almost permanently moored at Beeston on the Trent in the 1980s) but NEPTUNE is
currently in private hands and travels extensively (see
barge listing
for
photo).
The pan with it is a dumb 'house lighter' (ie it has a rudimentary cabin) and
was being used to carry the large shipping container for use as offices at
Trent Lock for a few years in the 2000s. It was known locally as the BW branch
of IKEA - for obvious reasons!
Wendy Ann at Peel, IoM 2009. Pic: CN Deuchar. This harbour tug is a bit of a classic. Built 1939 for the Admiralty as C129 she seems to have spent her working life around Poole Harbour and Portsmouth. Like many historic boats, her present owners have taken a lot of pride in restoring something that turned out to be much more difficult and expensive than they first thought - but the result is stupendous! See here for more
This brand new push tug was exhibited at the 2009 National Rally at Redhill on the R. Soar. Pic: CN Deuchar
This tiny tug, seen on the Trent at Meadow Lane Wharf in 2009, is little more than a floating engine.
PANS & HOPPERS
Typical mud hopper used ubiquitously for canals, rivers and harbours. Note the built up coamings on the edges of the hold and the spacious 'unused' floatation areas at each end.
Another of the local open pans - with the modern LITTLE JOHN again
This unusual short but wide beam hopper was seen at Zouch in 2007 en route to a house boat conversion on one of the backwaters. Anybody know its history?
DREDGING & LIFTING
Regrettably rarely used now, but ITCHEN was one of the most efficient piling boats I ever saw - or rather heard! As I approached Fazeley many years ago, for over an hour I could hear this boat working - driving 2m trenching sheets along the bank at the rate of one every 10 minutes. Something I have never witnessed since - except possibly amongs the fitter gangs of voluntary groups such as WRG!
Although this was on the Isle of Man, it is typical of the many 'RB' (Ruston Bucyrus) excavators which were once used extensively on the UK mainland by British Waterways and river authorities.
Attenborough Gravel pits again and a standard road crane on a pontoon - working on improving the nature reserve in 2009
In a burst of typical BW wastefulness, the same IKEA box shown amongst the tugs above, was dismantled in 2009 and carried away in pieces in this crane boat (either MCB 1 or 16?) because it was too expensive to remove. This was despite the dry dock opposite being interested in it for an office/extension - which would have been a straight lift for the MCB.
Another view of the same crane boat earlier in 2009. These 'motor crane boats' were originally wire rigged girder lattice cranes which could be used for dredging or general lifting. The hydraulic replacements seem like a good 'upgrade' but the hydraulic jibs are apparently prone to bending in half under stress!
ODDMENTS
This unusual boat seems to have performed some large scale pumping operation (at Attenborough Gravel Pit incidentally) but was sunk when seen in 2009