Ruston Quays

[figworthy]

 

 

Bantum Tugs and their attendant compartment barges, had a beam width of 7' and operated on broad canals, such as the Aire and Calder in South Yorkshire. Typical cargoes included coal from pit to power station or domestic coal depot, such as the South Yorkshire Coop at Leeds.

 

Julie

 

 

The Aire and Calder is my old stamping ground, I grew up not far from it, and explored it several times by boat in the 70s and 80s.

 

The bantam tugs and compartment barges may have operated on the Aire and Calder (which was in the West Riding, none of it is in South Yorkshire), but they would have been used for maintenance purposes.not for cargo purposes, they wouldn't have been economical.

 

http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/barge-monica-and-tug-albion-of-the-leeds-co-op/284

 

Shows barges awaiting unloading at the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society (not South Yorkshire Coop) wharf in Leeds (just below the city station)

 

http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=2007914_164739

 

Shows some of their older craft between jobs

 

http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/leeds-co-operative-coal-barges-in-leeds-new-lock/312

 

Shows the typical kind of barge used for the coal traffic to power stations (Skelton Grange nr Leeds in this case, the caption is wrong)

 

http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/item/cawood-hargreaves-tug-ch103-and-compartment-boats/7995

 

Shows a tug and compartment barge (pan) en-route to Ferrybridge C.  Each pan could carry 170 tons, and (much like with a coaling tower) would be lifted up and turned through 135 degrees to discharge it.

 

 

Adrian

[Phil Parker]

 

The bantam tugs and compartment barges may have operated on the Aire and Calder (which was in the West Riding, none of it is in South Yorkshire), but they would have been used for maintenance purposes.not for cargo purposes, they wouldn't have been economical.

 

 

Which is why the RQ boat is being used with a dredger and lighter - there is film of Bantam's moving this dredger around as part of the maintainance work.

 

Aren't boats fascinating though!

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Avonside 1536 said, Most certainly not if the narrow canals are being referred to, boats of 7ft beam or less are alway narrowboats, never barges. Barges are only found on the broader canals! [Pedant Mode Off]

 

Bantum Tugs and their attendant compartment barges, had a beam width of 7' and operated on broad canals, such as the Aire and Calder in South Yorkshire. Typical cargoes included coal from pit to power station or domestic coal depot, such as the South Yorkshire Coop at Leeds.

 

Julie

 

 

Hi Julie...

 

Some confusion here I think...

 

Bantam Tugs were made to a varirty of sizes, wide and narrow beam, and some worked with wide beam barges.

 

British Waterways used a lot of Bantams, mostly narrow beam...

 

Cawoods Hargreaves (A consortium of Cawoods and Hargreaves) Used Pusher Tugs to move "Trains" of  "Pans", each carrying up to 170 tons, and moved three at a time  (lashed firmly together with the tug pushing from the back),  from collieries to the Ferrybridge "C" Power Station on the Yorksire Waterwys, mainly via the Aire and Calder Navigation (Based on the River Aire and the River Calder.).

The pans were emptied by lifting them up into the air, and turning them over, in the same way as coal wagons were emptied into the "cenotaph" style locomotive coaling plants.

 

These were wide beam Tugs and Pans, and not E.C. Jones of Brentford Bantam Tugs at all.

 

Developed when the Kellingley Colliery opened at Knottingley. The Hargreave barge system was used to transport coal to the power station at Ferrybridge The configuration consisted of three coal pans, each 56 by 9.25 feet (17.07 by 2.82 m) and 9.5 feet (2.9 m) deep, capable of carrying 170 long tons (190 short tons; 170 t) of coal. With a pusher tug at the rear, the train was 195 feet (59 m) long. The pans were rigidly connected to each other.

 

Aire & Calder Navigation... (That is why Castleford Girls are so fair...The bathe in the Calder, and dry in the Aire!)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aire_and_Calder_Navigation

 

Photo of Push Tug and Pans (etc.)

 

http://narrowboatstarcross.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/those-were-days.html

 

 

The Pans and tugs were "decended" from the "Tom Pudding" Trains that were used to take coal to Hull Goole Docks for Export.

 

The "Tom Pudding" name refers to the fact that the Pans used looked a bit like over dishes for making Yorkshire Pudding!

 

These used a tug (originally steam powered, later Diesel Motor Tugs) and a small "dummy bow" known as a "Jebus", which was attached to the front of the train of "Puddings" to split the wash from the tug.

 

Long trains were run....up to 19 pans...

 

The pans were emptied by Hydraulic hoists at Goole, that lifted each pan up and tipped the coal out...

 

The empties rode high in the water, so the Jebus was not needed, and was pushed in front of the tug. The wash passing under the pans.

 

Introduced in 1863 and used until 1985...

 

Tom Puddings...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pudding

 

http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/2273/wheldale

 

http://deuchars.org.uk/hiwb/boatgallery/goole.htm

Edited April 9, 2016 by Sarahagain

[figworthy]

 

Hi Julie...

 

Some confusion here I think...

 

Bantam Tugs were made to a varirty of sizes, wide and narrow beam, and some worked with wide beam barges.

 

British Waterways used a lot of Bantams, mostly narrow beam...

 

Cawoods Hargreaves (A consortium of Cawoods and Hargreaves) Used Pusher Tugs to move "Trains" of  "Pans", each carrying up to 170 tons, and moved three at a time  (lashed firmly together with the tug pushing from the back),  from collieries to Power Stations (Especially Ferrybridge) on the Yorksire Waterwys, mainly the Aire and Calder Navigation (Based on the River Aire and the River Calder.).

The pans were emptied by lifting them up into the air, and turning them over, in the same way as coal wagons were emptied into the "cenotaph" style locomotive coaling plants.

 

These were wide beam Tugs and Pans, and not E.C. Jones of Brentford Bantam Tugs at all.

 

Developed when the Kellingley Colliery opened at Knottingley. The Hargreave barge system was used to transport coal to the power station at Ferrybridge The configuration consisted of three coal pans, each 56 by 9.25 feet (17.07 by 2.82 m) and 9.5 feet (2.9 m) deep, capable of carrying 170 long tons (190 short tons; 170 t) of coal. With a pusher tug at the rear, the train was 195 feet (59 m) long. The pans were rigidly connected to each other.

 

Aire & Calder Navigation... (That is why Castleford Girls are so fair...The bathe in the Calder, and dry in the Aire!)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aire_and_Calder_Navigation

 

Photo of Push Tug and Pans (etc.)

 

http://narrowboatstarcross.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/those-were-days.html

 

 

The Pans and tugs were "decended" from the "Tom Pudding" Trains that were used to take coal to Hull Docks for Export.

 

The "Tom Pudding" name refers to the fact that the Pans used looked a bit like over dishes for making Yorkshire Pudding!

 

These used a tug (originally steam powered, later Diesel Motor Tugs) and a small "dummy bow" known as a "Jebus", which was attached to the front of the train of "Puddings" to split the wash from the tug.

 

Long trains were run....

 

The pans were emptied by Hydraulic hoists at Goole, that lifted each pan up and tipped the coal out...

 

The empties rode high in the water, so the Jebus was not needed, and was pushed in front of the tug. The wash passing under the pans.

 

Introduced in 1863 and used until 1985...

 

Tom Puddings...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pudding

 

http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/2273/wheldale

 

http://deuchars.org.uk/hiwb/boatgallery/goole.htm

 

Hi Sarah,

 

A good summary.

 

For clarification, the Cawood-Hargreaves pans only supplied Ferrybridge C (you can still see the tippler on Google Earth).  Other power stations that received coal by barge were supplied by conventional barges.

 

The Tom Puddings only ran as far as Goole, I doubt that they would have survived a trip to Hull.  They ran in trains of up to 19 pans at a time, this being the longest that would go through the locks without splitting the train.

 

Adrian

[Steam_Julie]

I've only personally seen Bantums tugs pushing broad beam barges. The Bantum and compartment boat I saw on the Basingstoke Canal had a 7 foot beam, whilst walking with my sister and her dog. Photographs in an earlier posting.

 

I was walking today, with my sister and her dog Maisy along the Basingstoke canal just outside Woking, Surrey and guess what we saw?

A Bantum tug and one of it's compartment boats, these were the barges that the Bantums pushed along, often in multiples.





Julie

PS this is getting to be a barge blog?

Julie

Edited April 13, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[dana]

the New Pecketts and Manchester Ship Canal Sentinel loco should be useful for the Ruston Quay's project .

 

http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2016/sentinel-dh16-4dh-msc.html

http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2016/peckett-0-4-0t.html

http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/peckett-0-4-0t-1.html

http://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/peckett-0-4-0t-2.html

[DonB]

Don't think that it has been mentioned previously in this thread, Manchester Ship Canal obtained a GWR "Toad" for use at Elsmere Port, It is (or was in 2009) preserved at Gloucester Docks. Picture in my gallery, together with a shot of the explanatory poster. In its, as preserved, MSC livery it would make a fine partner for the Hornby Sentinel. A RTR "Toad" would just need a little modification to copy the verandah end. 

 

Sorry.. not sure that I can transfer pictures from gallery into a thread post. No doubt some one will be along to tell me how !!

[DonB]

 

A drag and drop pic. bigger versions in the gallery.

Edited April 21, 2016 by DonB

[Ruffnut Thorston]

There is a 1950  film "Inland Waterways" which  is one of my favourite films...made to shew how the canal system should work! Highly educational, it was made to help educate the BW staff, and well worth watching!

 

At around 25 minutes in, there is some footage of a steam powered Grafton Boom Dredger (like Phil's model...)  named "Alice" at work, also a Piling rig, etc...

 

 

"In the layby the boats are waiting..."

Edited May 1, 2016 by Sarahagain

[figworthy]

There is a 1950  film "Inland Waterways" which  is one of my favourite films...made to shew how the canal system should work! Highly educational, it was made to help educate the BW staff, and well worth watching!

 

At around 25 minutes in, there is some footage of a steam powered Grafton Boom Dredger (like Phil's model...)  named "Alice" at work, also a Piling rig, etc...

 

 

"In the layby the boats are waiting..."

 

 

 

Some footage of a very similar dredger at work, attended by bantam tugs :

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4GYAxaeT4k

[Ruffnut Thorston]

That is the only surviving (as far as I know) Grafton Dredger.

 

Ex Grand Union Canal Company, and British Waterways. Sold to the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust (I think I remember correctly) before passing to the Society that was (is) restoring the Basingstoke Canal.

 

The parts of the dredger are at The Boat Museum (Now the Canal & River Trust National Waterways Museum) at Ellesmere Port.

 

Sadly, it has been in parts for quite some time now, and is not really "on shew" as such.

Edited May 3, 2016 by Sarahagain

[Steam_Julie]

I was recently traveling ‘tup Norf’ by train and I required something to read. I bought a copy of Model Rail. An article written by Paul Lunn, about modelling a rail / bus interchange. There is a video of a method, using a long stick and two magnets, to be able to move the busses around a realistic way. One design even includes a bus fiddleyard.

 

Sorry this is grabbed image and not a link to the video.

 

That started me thinking that a similar technique could be used to move barges around the canal basis on Ruston Quays too. 

 

Julie

Edited July 31, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Phil Parker]

The idea would work, but I think steering reaslistically would be really difficult.

 

However, Faller offer a motorised version based on the raod system: http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=FA161460&style=&strType=&Mcode=Faller+161460 which would fit a barge. You'd need to add a couple of "off stage" fiddle yards though.

[Huw Griffiths]

The idea would work, but I think steering reaslistically would be really difficult.

 

However, Faller offer a motorised version based on the raod system: http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=FA161460&style=&strType=&Mcode=Faller+161460 which would fit a barge. You'd need to add a couple of "off stage" fiddle yards though.

 

Fiddle yards - or turntables?

 

A few years ago, I wondered about something like this - but had no use for it - so I quickly thought about something else instead.

 

Another potential issue with something like this is that the "boat" would probably be running on tyres - which could, over time, leave visible tracks.

 

There's also the fact that barges and working boats sometimes push leaves and algae aside as they move along canals, leaving a "swept path". I'm not sure that it would be easy to do a credible looking job of mimicing this on a model.

 

I don't think I'll be trying this stuff any time soon - I seem to have enough of a job building and modifying model trains, leave alone scenery!

 

 

Huw.

[Steam_Julie]

The basis of what I am saying, is a video contribution on the BRM DVD about using animation on a layout. I think the demonstrator, was Phil Parker, with his beer festival and and a felled tree. The jist of which was a little goes a long way!

 

I'm advocating an occasional movement of a barge, say onto or off the scene. I'm thinking in terms of a hard flat surface of the canal, and felt, a suitable colour to be non obvious, stuck to the bottom of the barge to prevent scratching and facilitating easy movement.

 

Perhaps such a movement may be performed to distract a viewer, whilst a derailed loco is being put back onto the track?

Julie

Edited May 4, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Phil Parker]

I have a feeling that the solution to the barge movement might be a thin layer or real water over the varnish base. That would hide any scratches and also make boats operate more realistically.

 

If you need to distract the punters while fixing the layout then the movement needs to be automated like the drinkers and tree were. I'll admit the idea appeals!

[Steam_Julie]

I've seen layouts where barges have moved, but I think they have made the mistake of having too much movement. This has often been too regular! A little occasional movement, I think is much more effective, both because it is unexpected by the viewer and more realistic too.

 

Julie

[Steam_Julie]

 

 

Description Below:-

 

 

Another layout design of the theme of a canalside yard and a passenger shuttle, but this time based on Cromford Goods, as recently examined in Model Rail. 

 

The model is designed to be N gauge and the total layout size is 880mm by 450mm. The scenic section is designed to fit into a 22 litre Really Useful plastic box for transport, thus it's size of 360mm by 200mm.

 

The design was carried out using Anyrail, using settrack components. If built using the settrack points and flexible track, the track will look more realistic as the track spacing can be made correct and slight curves can be introduced, making the track flow.

 

It is necessary to introduce a slight down gradient on the DMU shuttle track to give sufficient run to hide it at the RH end of the run. I envisage that the clearance is the minimum to allow the unit to pass under the fiddleyard track and that in the event of derailment the unit would be pulled clear of the over track, before it being re-railed. I think that the shuttle track should be slightly below the level of the canal, to allow the trains to be seen from normal viewing position. At the prototype location the track is about 16' below the canal level, behind a stone wall. 

 

Julie

 

Based on the above design and using the idea from Hornby Magazine, Readers Projects, Bishopsdale in my opinion would produce an interesting project in N or 2mm finescale which could me made to fit into a toolbox.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111658-a-model-railway-in-a-toolbox/

 

Julie

Edited July 8, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

The diagram below shows how the layout fits ino the toolbox.

 

 

The layout in a toolbox thread can be accessed by using the link below.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111658-a-model-railway-in-a-toolbox/

 

Julie

Edited June 25, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

The fiddleyard will be constructed as a flat unit with a recess for the scenic module to fit into. I envisiage the two track boards will fold inwards to protect them whilst in tranist. Add a handle to carry and they can be moved by bus, train or ferry.

 

The module size, using a toolbox format will be slightly longer than shown in the design, dated 24th June, in his blog.

 

Julie

Edited June 29, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

The new trackplan supplement of course has a drawing of Ruston Quay on the front. I think BRM should do a micro layout issue.

 

The layout in a toolbox is another way, which is innovate of presenting a micro layout.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/111658-a-model-railway-in-a-toolbox/

 

Further developments in Holloway Goods, based on Cromford Goods, inspired by Ruston Quays, can be found at.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/2062/entry-18087-checking-the-design-before-laying-any-track-2/

Julie

Edited July 26, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

Ruston Quays is in the 2nd track plan book after all.

Julie

Edited September 20, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

Yesterday I visited Bristol, with a friend call Daisy. We walked around the floating dock and came upon the Bristol Museums 'M Shed' a working museum including part of the Bristol's port railway system. We saw a saddle tank in he livery of the Inland Waterways and Docks Board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This type of working museum could be implemented, using the Ruston Quay format, particularly as the have shunting demonstrations several times a day. They also do train ride, an excuse for a single coach and a guards van shuttling to and fro to a location off scene. The only addition required would be a loco shed to store several small 0-6-0 and 0-4-0 locomotives.

 

 

The car in the above photograph is crossing the passenger line.

 

The upper level could represent the modern railway with electric or diesel multiple units. The track used by the demonstation shunting only had two bolts per fishplate, BUT the passenger line had the full four!

 

 

The above photograph shows the contrast between the preserved dockside and he modern financial district opposite.

 

The passenger accomodation on the dockside line, is not quite up to modern standards?

 

 

 

Julie

Edited September 20, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Steam_Julie]

A photograph of Miss Daisy is shown below, she is my sisters dog. The photograph was taken onboard the South West Trains service we took back to my sister's. After visiting the Bristol Harbour Railway and M Shed Museum.

 

 

Julie

Edited September 20, 2016 by Steam_Julie

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Some interesting Passenger Stock there!

 

I especially like the passenger container on the Conflat wagon!

 

The GWR had passenger containers in mind....in "Next Station", or The Great Western Railway's Last Look Forward (Re-print)...

 

https://www.shadylanemodels.co.uk/ourshop/prod_634433-The-GWRs-Last-Look-Forward.html