Graham Owens wrote:
>I was glancing through the latest issue of "Railway Bylines" and there is a
>very interesting short article about Astley Green Colliery at Leigh
>
>In one of the photos is a picture of a wooden barge (in poor condition)
>tied up at staithes on the Bridgewater Canal. The barge is clearly marked
>NCB. Did the NCB operate their own barge fleet here or for that elsewhere
>(Airedale Collieries come to mind) and what was the purpose of Astley Green
>barge?
A friend of mine in Birmingham bought an ex-NCB narrow boat from (I
think) Preston Brook on the Bridgewater Canal in 1975. It was a
wooden boat with a sheet metal back cabin and engine - although the
engine had been removed when my friend purchased it. The boat's name
was "Fred" (on a plate either side of the stern) and on either side
of the bow it carried plates "Natoinal [sic.] Coal Board" and
"National Coal Board", all in white sans-serif capitals on a red
background with a white border. The cabin was painted red and the
fore-peak blue, the rest of the hull was black. My friend fitted a
full-length wooden living conversion in front of the back cabin. The
boat changed hands to another friend of mine who took it to London
and the last time I saw it it was in Battle bridge Basin near King's
Cross sometime in the 1980s. I'd be interested to know what the date
of the picture was and if it was the same boat.
Also, I think the NCB operated barge trains (Tom Puddings?) on the
Aire & Calder Navigation to supply coal to Ferry Bridge power
station. I think these barges were designed for use with mechanical
handling (something like a wagon tippler) to lift them out of the
water and invert them to discharge the coal.
Dave
--
Dave Linton
Tel: (01341) 280901 (UK) +44 1341 280901 (international)
Fax: 0870 124 9761 (UK)
http://www.hendrecoed.org.uk/
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