UXB 597

Last owned by Hector Bijl who lived aboard at Paddington there was a fire on board and it was possibly dumped on the Slough arm in the 50's

Shortened to 62ft. In BWB ownership until mid 1980s. Based at Tardebigge. The original 15hp Bolinder went into ENGLAND. Adder

sold to Leonard Leigh 1/41 at some point Ernie Thomas had this boat shortened to 57ft. converted tug was @ Rickmansworth 10/99 as full length tug. When shortened by Ernest Thomas, the boat was called MERCURY. Recently lengthened using side plates from the FMC butty BRENTFORD. Now based on the GU at Uxbridge and owned by Peter Thompson of Marine Engine Services. Has a 15Hp Bolinder. Pic

uncon one of the most famous of Narrowboats being an exhibit at the Black Country Living museum, Dudley. President website FMC photos

Ferret is powered by a Bolinder BM 15 hp hot bulb oil engine.  As well as carrying her own cargo, this gives enough power to pull an unpowered narrowboat called a ‘butty’.  A motor and butty together are called ‘a pair’.  During her working life Ferret was paired with several butties as part of the Fellows, Morton and Clayton north western fleet.  Rumour has it that Ferret was a ‘change’ boat, used temporarily while the boatman’s usual motor boat was in dock for major repairs.  This might explain why Ferret was paired with so many different butties. Ferret was based at Albion Wharf, Wolverhampton, and travelled to various places in the North West of England such as Ellesmere Port, Weston Point Docks, Runcorn and Manchester.  The butties it is known she was paired with include: Clara, Grange, Stone, Winsford and finally, for 4 years, Urmston. On nationalisation, Ferret was sold to the predecessor of The British Waterways Board on 18 November 1948.  She was allocated to the North Western Division, Southern Carrying Fleet but transferred to London in 1953.  This time the butties she was paired with were Northwich, John, Nebula and Bangor. After a spell as a maintenance boat, the Ferret was sold in 1960 to Waterdale Canal Services at Moore in Cheshire with the intention of converting her to a floating hotel.  At some stage, her original Bolinder engine was removed (this was fitted into Dragon, a Yarwood’s built boat).  In a rather poor condition and still in British Waterways colours, she was sold to Mr and Mrs Clark in 1964  who based the boat at Preston Brook and then Barbridge.  During the mid 60s, they built cabins in the hold and the Bolinder engine from the motor Elk was installed (by Peter Froud) and served them well for nearly 20 years of extensive cruising on the canal system.  The boatman’s cabin was restored professionally by Taylor’s Boatyard, Chester in the mid 70s. In 1983 she was sold to the City of Nottingham Industrial Museum.  Although working well, at this time, the Bolinder engine was overhauled. The Bolinder engine is a lamp-start, single cylinder 15 horse power semi-diesel two stroke.  This engine type was the work horse of the Josher fleet and has a highly prized exhaust note with an unusual hit and miss governor arrangement. In Waterways World, March 1986, John Cockcroft gives a colourful account on the starting procedure for the ‘terrifying’ Bolinder engine when he brought the boat back from Norton Canes to Nottingham:

‘This 15hp (1500cc) single cylinder engine has to be kick started – against compression – after being heated at the cylinder head by a blowlamp!  Kick starting is achieved by means of a pin or plug which projects from the front face of the flywheel, it is spring loaded so that normally it is retracted. The victim puts his right foot on the pin, a small grab handle is provided for his right hand while the top of the fuel tank supports his left.  The idea then is to concentrate all the force in your body onto that right foot and push down to the deck as hard and far as possible.  When your foot hits the deck the pin springs back, onto the flywheel, which returns powerfully in the direction whence it has come, hopefully to start the engine by its inertia. Obviously if the would-be starter has totally committed himself, and the engine fires prematurely, then like a winged spirit he takes flight, hence our trepidation.’

From a former owner I received -   My husband and I owned a motor from 1965 to about 1971 which we were first told was "Ostrich" but various BW maintenance men we talked to all over the Midlands all said that it was "the old Kestrel" - Ostrich having been cut up by mistake and BW switched their names.  The boat we owned has various dents in the back counter caused by use at some point without fenders and this is how these old BW employees recognised the boat.   We subsequently called the boat Kestrel which we believed to be No.202 GUCCC   At first the boat was converted to residential accommodation but we "deconverted " it by transferring the conversion wholesale on to a wooden butty we had acquired which we called "Delta" *(the original name having been forgotten but the BW men said it began with D and was about9 letters)  we used the lock at Stoke Prior wharf as a "jack" to do this job, which worked very well.  We then proceeded to restore Kestrel to working condition before selling it to two brothers Roger and Peter Currell in about 1971 who continued the restoration work.  Kestrel had an Armstrong Siddeley engine in it and was full length. We restored the back cabin.  KESTREL   Stern photo Drews site

In 1964 the stern 22 ft of Alder was made into a push tug (along with FMC Bream) at Bradley workshops in Birmingham, the fore end was as you say made into a painting boat called Alder II. Alder the push tug worked at Hillmorton and Hatton for a few years, but was unstable and essentially not very useful, in late 1968 the tug was taken to Gloucester Repair Yard to have the bows of a Harris Brothers dayboat added to make it into a 38ft tug with a then new Lister HA2. A Lister HR2 was installed new in 1969 and the tug Alder was transferred to Padworth. It worked on the K&A until about 2000 and was offered for auction by BW in the first round of auctions 2 yrs ago or so. I persuaded BW that it had historic value and it was withdrawn from the auction, In October 2007 the Hereford & Gloucester Canal Trust having been leased the boat by BW, removed it from the canal at Devizes and took it to their basin at Over near Gloucester. Over the winter it has been cleaned, welded and painted, it's running gear has been renovated and it is now in the basin awaiting work to the topsides and interior. We intend in the future to get the boat back onto the main system travelling around, promoting the Trust and ultimately being used to pull mud hoppers about for the restoration of the canal up to Hereford. (from C Jones - H&GCT) ALDER FMC photos

APPLE is a narrowboat built by W. J. Yarwood & Sons of Northwich in 1931 and commissioned by Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. Her fleet number was 302 and she was registered at Birmingham as number 1537. In 1958, she was re-numbered by the Inland Waterways and then re-registered at Northwich as number 46. She was originally used on the Grand Union Canal between London and Birmingham as a 'flyboat', operating day and night carrying perishable goods. Later, she moved to the North West area between Birmingham, Manchester and the Mersey estuary, towing an unpowered narrowboat. APPLE passed to British Waterways in 1948 and was then sold to Threefellows Carrying Company. She was bought by the present owner in 1993. Her hull is currently sound and her cabin, containing mostly original fittings and fixtures, is under restoration, together with the running gear. The hull is riveted, with coppered steel plate sides, and initially had an elm bottom which has now been replaced in steel. The cabin is made of pitch pine, with oak frames. APPLEs current engine is an inboard Lister HB2, with two cylinders and twenty-nine brake horse power, made in 1960. APPLE

In the late 1980s, BREAMS hull was bought by Keith Ball of Industry Narrowboats. Over a period of four years, he gradually restored her to original condition. By 1994, she was complete. She had a new bottom and stern, with a full length steel cabin containing exceptional steel work and recessed panels, sign-written in Fellows, Morton and Clayton livery. She was fitted with a traditional Lister HA2 and a new PRM gearbox. After several years, BREAM was sold to Roger Murray who based her at Bollington on the Macclesfield Canal. She was later bought by Martin Knott from Corwen and moved to Ellesmere Port for two years, before being purchased by the Roberts family. BREAM FMC photos

MINNOW was one of only eighteen 'Fish Class' motor boats built for Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. She was designed for use as a 'single motor' and carried pottery and similar goods to Ellesmere Port, as well as imports to Wolverhampton and other depots. She was sold to BW and then Jack Taylor on the Shropshire Union in the 1960s. She was subsequently owned by Dennis Cooper Canal Transport in the 1970s and was bought by the present owner in 1993. residential.12/94.Extended cabin & fore cabin.5/00.Minnow was restored to original condition, with the cabin ahead of the engine room extended slightly to provide additional accommodation. The boat is seen at many boat shows and is often used to promote the work of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust. Until recently the boat had a permanent mooring at Hartshill on the Coventry Canal. The boat is fitted with a Bolinder engine taken from Leopard (previously Dace) so it may be the only Fish with a Fish engine.   Minnow is (2008) owned by Blossom and Dawn Edge and is painted in FMC livery. She is powered by a 9Hp Bolinder \'Pup\' which is believed to have originally been fitted in sister boat Dace. The boat has a short cabin extension ahead of the engine \'ole and is kept on the Trent and Mersey canal at Kings Bromley Wharf. MINNOW Minnow FMC photos

 It is believed that she was fitted with a steam engine by Haines Ltd. of Fazeley St, Birmingham. She was contracted out for many years to John Dickinson's of Croxley as a 'paper dasher'.

In 1924, she was re-named by Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. as CAPTAIN following conversion to diesel power. She now has a full length cabin rather than an open hold.

Countess

 were rebuilds of earlier craft