Reports from our Talks Programme
by Peter Keen

1: Railways on Film : Chris Coffey

The Society's January talk was to have been given by Keith Naylor, on the subject of the Vulcan Loco works, a topic of great interest to many local historians and railway aficionados. In the event Keith was unable to attend through ill health, but the Society was fortunate to get Chris Coffey to substitute at short notice. He is well known in the St.Helens area as a stalwart of the Sutton Historic Society, a film buff and railway enthusiast and was happy to show some of his materials.

He began by explaining a little of the history of moving pictures, featuring examples of the earliest films by the Lumiere Brothers which frightened many customers as a steam train seemed to be hurtling out of the screen towards them. It was 1896 when moving pictures first arrived in Britain, shown in town halls and other large venues since there were no cinemas at the time, these did not arrive until 1910.

More early film followed, including footage shot from the Liverpool Overhead Railway showing the dockside activity. Next came the first attempts at entertainment, where the railway was an appropriate background to scenes of robbery, kidnap and attempted murder. As the industry developed the popularity of the train continued, featuring in such films as "The General", "Oh, Mr. Porter" and of course "Brief Encounter" to name but a few.

These films were made by professionals but over the 1950s and 1960s increasing numbers of ordinary people were able to buy movie cameras, followed in the 1980s with the video camera. This allowed vast numbers of amateurs to make their own films, to record their favourite trains, loco's, routes, rolling stock and the numerous peripheral items of railway interest. Since many of them are now available on various web sites Chris was able to show some examples. (www.bandrvideos.co.uk)

First in this section were items of local interest, shots of steam loco's hauling trains through Wigan North Western, Winwick Junction, (right) Warrington and Earlestown. You could almost smell the steam and feel the coal dust in the air. Next came shots of the Sankey Viaduct, coal trains at Bold Colliery, sand trains at St. Helens, shunting at Sutton Oak and crossing the Liverpool to Manchester line. To add to the trains there was a wealth of historical information in the background of the films, buildings and landscapes gone or much altered over the years.

An early feature of railway filming was the Phantom Ride, where a camera was mounted at the front of a train to record the journey along the track. Examples of this technique were shown from early film and also from a train negotiating the line from St. Helens Shaw Street south towards St. Helens Junction. These shots were especially relevant to SCARS since they showed one of the many obstacles to restoration, the rail bridge across the canal, but this time from a very different perspective.

Since the original talk was to have been about the Vulcan Works Chris had specially chosen some material which was connected with this site. For example, the Lion, (alias the Titfield Thunderbolt) an ex Liverpool to Manchester locomotive was restored in 1980 by Vulcan apprentices for that Railway's 150th year celebrations. More film followed this time shot in the south of England but showing the Deltic stable, the diesel locomotives which were built at the Vulcan Works to replace the Mallard class on the east coast route before electrification was brought in.

The grand finale of Chris' presentation was footage of the interior of Vulcan Works when it was in production in the early 1950s. Whilst the film was not of the best quality and lacked a commentary nevertheless it was a fascinating record of a departed industry, showing scenes in the drawing office, pattern shop and foundry, demonstrating moulding, casting, drilling, milling, planing , pressing and riveting. A rotating jig allowed access to all parts of a tender under construction which meant a rapid build rate was possible. Records show that Vulcan exported one locomotive every fortnight to India for over 100 years and that was only one of many world-wide customers. The wheel shop and assembly and testing of the loco's were shown and finally their dispatch by road and ship. Despite the lack of soundtrack some of those present were able to contribute information about the various scenes depicted, having been involved in some of the activities during their working lives.

The evening was most successful and much appreciated by a large attendance. The Society is grateful to Chris for his presentation, especially since he has agreed to pay further visits in the future, whilst wishing Keith Naylor a speedy return to good health.

(The photo below, of the Vulcan Works, is from Steven Dowd's excellent, comprehensive website on Newton-le-Willows: http://www.n-le-w.co.uk/index.php.)

2: Canals of the North West : Harry Arnold

Harry Arnold has been a well known figure in the waterways world for many years in his capacity as a journalist, having edited or managed a number of waterways publication during that time. This has however only been one aspect of his life and his presentation to our February Society meeting went through his earlier days when his contact with canals was much more "hands on". (Harry has shown an interest in the Society since it began, and made a set of photographs he took of the Sankey in the 1960s freely available for us to use to promote our work. They have been used extensively since, here in CUTTINGS, and in Talks given by our members. Last year he sent some further views, some of which are used to accompany this article. The first, below, shows the Winwick dry dock, with the crane used to move the towpath footbridge aside to enable vessels to enter and leave the facility.)

Born in Warrington, Harry had many connections with canals, a family home at Sankey Bridges, one relative working at Claire and Ridgeway's boatyard, another on the Manchester Ship Canal, whilst yet another was a sailing flat skipper. Living in Stockton Heath for 21 years he was to become very familiar with the MSC whilst his local pub was on the banks of the Bridgewater Canal.

Despite all these pointers, there was no commitment to waterways, Harry wanted to make his living with his drawing skills, but since there was no art college in Warrington he became an apprentice draughtsman, aiming to become an industrial artist. He was later able to attend Liverpool College of Art until he was called up for National Service.

On leaving the army Harry took his first canal holiday on the Llangollen Canal, where he saw the last working horse boat. The canal must have been attractive because he then spent increasing amounts of time assisting with the running of a Hostel Boat, the Margaret. This had sleeping accommodation fore and aft, with a large common room amidships. Harry showed slides of the vessel on waterways all over the north west. Whilst aboard he was able to photograph the canal world around him so he was also able to illustrate the last few years of the working boats, their liveries, families and cargoes together with their inevitable decline in the face of more flexible road competition.

He also told of various escapades which would today have the Health and Safety Department waving the rule book and saying "stop". He and his crew negotiated the Harecastle Tunnel at a time when it was considered to be in a dangerous state, unlit with sections of tow path missing. Despite this the Margaret was bow hauled and shafted through with the aid of a small oil lamp. At another tunnel, Standedge, another boat was propelled through using short wooden shafts, occasionally grounding despite its draught of only 12 inches and the nominal water depth being 8 feet. Leaking seams in a wooden walled vessel far from a dry dock saw a crew drain off a complete pound to allow access for the caulker's maul. Harry seems to have a thing about being underground, taking the opportunity to explore part of Brindley's tunnel system at the Wet Earth Colliery in the Irwell valley.

After some difficulty, Harry severed his connection with the Margaret Hostel Boat and looked around for a boat of his own. He found the Aston and converted her to the same specifications as the Margaret and was soon busy providing holidays around the region.

At this stage, having just bought a new house, he was offered a new job, running a hire boat company at Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal. Accommodation was part of the deal but this was in a canal cottage which was in a derelict state and would need to be restored. In the meantime Harry and his wife lived on site aboard a narrow boat until their shore base was made habitable. The boat hire business was a very active one and Harry found himself involved in all aspects of the work, fitting out, repair and maintenance and emergency rescue. He had previously worked at designing steel hulls and selling these on after fitting them out - record for fitting out - 3 days! - so he had plenty of experience on which to draw to keep the hire fleet running.

Show business has also figured in Harry's boating life. During the early days of Coronation Street one of his boats was hired for use during an episode where all the old favourites met at a canal-side tea garden, the women from their day out at Chatsworth and the men from their booze cruise aboard the canal boat. On another occasion one of Harry's boats was used in the film "The Bargee" with Harry H.Corbett.

Harry then joined the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal Association, committed to preserving and restoring that waterway. When he mentioned the fact that the association had no magazine the inevitable happened and he ended up editing "Cuttings". Was this the spark which began his career in journalism? At that time the course of the canal remained largely intact but circumstances combined to force the association to accept that restoration was not practical. Its members formed the Shropshire Union Canal Society but gave of their time and expertise to other projects on the Ashton Canal, the Montgomery Canal, working also at Marple and Welshpool. They were involved in rescuing boats from filled in canal arms and in the establishment and development of Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.

Harry illustrated his talk with numerous pictures of canals and canal boats, past and present, many being of locations and boats long gone or changed beyond recognition over the years so his work is of considerable value from the historical perspective. (Such as seen in this view of Sankey Bridges - spot the changes: no Lead Works chimney, signal box, railway swing bridge, road bascule bridge, wartime pillbox, etc. are to be seen nowadays!)

SCARS is most appreciative of Harry's willingness to speak to the Society, especially since he began his talk by saying the he didn't actually give talks. Clearly the Sankey is something special to him and we are grateful for his continued support.

3: The Bridgewater Canal and Runcorn Locks: Les Brown

The Society's last meeting of the year was addressed by Les Brown of the Runcorn Locks Restoration Society. His talk was in two parts, firstly about the Bridgewater Canal and Runcorn Locks, and then about incidents in his working life on the Manchester Ship Canal.

The journey began at Manchester where the Duke of Bridgewater bought the Worseley Estate for £900, intending to exploit the coal which lay in abundance below. Les showed the Canal entrance to the 52 miles of tunnels, constructed by the Duke, with examples of the "starvationers", the very basic boats used to carry coal from pit face to market in Manchester. One man could handle a load of 6 to 8 tons, an efficient method of transport. There were a number of underground levels with inclined planes to move the boats between them. Apparently during the construction of buildings on the surface, workers broke though some tunnel roofs and steel beams had to be installed to take the weight.

These underground tunnels were quite unique at the time, and people would travel long distances for the chance to sail on them. There was the occasional problem when visitors decided that being underground was not to their liking but in the main the response was very positive.

Next came the Packet House. A stopping off point for travellers wishing to board a packet boat to travel down to Runcorn and on to Liverpool. The steps leading up to the building are known as Queen's Steps to commemorate the visit of Queen Victoria. A reception crew, standing to attention in their boat, banged their oars on the bottom boards in salute, only to sink slowly into the canal as one of the oars caused a massive leak.

The Queen also visited the recently built Barton Bridge, carrying the canal over the River Irwell. In common with many, she was not convinced of the reliability or safety of this new fangled contraption and she refused to sail across it. Les pointed out that one of the arches leading the canal to the present aqueduct is part of that original masonry bridge.

Although not a 'contour canal' in the later sense of the word, the Bridgewater was lock-free from Manchester to Runcorn where it terminated at some height above the Mersey, its eventual target. The first set of locks was constructed at Waterloo Bridge and the Runcorn end of the canal became a hive of activity as cargoes were transhipped from the narrow vessels of the canal onto wide boats for ongoing shipment on the Weaver and Mersey and round coastal waters to the various markets. In fact so busy was the canal at this point that one set of locks proved to be inadequate so another flight was added.

A narrow boat on the Runcorn flight c. 1900.
Garside Collection, Warrington Museum

Between the lock flights at the foot of the slope the Duke built Bridgewater House from where he could supervise the locks and docks. In its early days it stood out as an imposing landmark with its four similar facades, but latterly it has been obscured by subsequent building in the surrounding area. Its usage too has changed over the years and it is now owned by Halton Council.

A busy scene in the basin above Top Locks at Runcorn, the present terminus of the Bridgewater Canal

Les then spoke on the various vessels which had used the canal. Where other canals had the familiar ice-breakers with a central bar which men rocked too and fro to break the ice, the Bridgewater had steam driven iron-hulled Dukers which forced a way through the ice. Even these were useless in the big freeze of 1889 when the canal was frozen for three months with ice three feet thick. There was no revenue for the canal proprietors and no wages for the boat crews. As with the Sankey, the Bridgewater had its own boat building yards, located at Salford, Ellesmere Port and Runcorn. At one time over three hundred barges were at work on the canal, usually being towed along in trains rather than in pairs. Associated trades and workshops were located nearby, giving employment to sailmakers, smiths and chandlers. With the depression came the decline of trade on the canal, barges were laid up and dozens were sunk at the big pool at Runcorn to preserve them until better times. Sadly these never came and they were removed and disposed of during later road building.

When the new Runcorn bridge replaced the Transported Bridge canal traffic was in decline and the old lock flight was closed and filled in. The later flight also fell into disuse and eventually suffered the same fate.

The Bridgewater is still an operational canal from Castlefield to Runcorn, with connections to the national network via the Leeds Liverpool Canal, the Rochdale Canal, and the Trent and Mersey Canal. It is anticipated that, when the second Widnes-Runcorn bridge is constructed, upstream of the current crossing, the obstructions at Waterloo Bridge will be removed and the lock flight restored, allowing boats access to the MSC, the Weaver, the Mersey and eventually the Sankey. There were three "obligation locks" linking the MSC with the Mersey at Bridgewater, Old Quay and Weston which boats were allowed to use without charge. Perhaps one of these could be made useable again to access the Sankey.

The second part of Les' talk covered his working life on the Manchester Ship Canal. Les had left school at the age of 14 and apart from his time in the navy spent his working life in canals ports and harbours, culminating in his work as a diver along the MSC. He first worked in the old diving suits with air lines to the surface but later moved on to the self contained suit. Ironically, one of his jobs had been the closure of locks which could now be very useful. He was also called on to investigate drainage failure on land adjacent to the canal, caused by subsidence from mining. Vessels sinking in the canal or damaging lock gates caused massive hold ups, trapping other boats upstream of the obstacle. Then teams of divers would have to work round the clock to salvage the wrecks and restore the free flow of traffic along the canal.

The MSCCo had to supply ferry boats for local people to cross the canal and on one occasion, when a ship had demolished lock gates, the water level went down leaving the ferry high and dry moored at the bank. During the work to secure it, a set of commemorative Victoria coins was discovered in the mud below the landing stage. The repairs to the lock gates, which had been caused by a faulty washer costing only a few pence was six and a half million pounds.

Other tasks included recovering cars and explosive mines from the canal bed and conducting inspections and surveys of any underwater location. A blocked culvert was causing considerable trouble and it became clear that divers would have to investigate. Using self contained neoprene suits, the divers entered the culvert and commenced walking, driving before them a multitude of rats which seemed to grow at every step. After some distance the blockage was reached. The rats had of course reached it first and there was a seething mass, whirling around before fleeing back round the divers the way they had come. The blockage was caused by a contractor, digging a trench and building a pipeline with concrete pipes. For some reason he had not enough pipes of the correct diameter so had installed a short run of narrower pipes which had been unable to cope with the demands made upon them. Not only was the blockage removed but the contractor was prosecuted for failing to complete his work as per his contract.

Clearly Les could have gone on much longer with his captivating stories but time had to be called. So great was the interest shown that he found it difficult to pack up as SCARS members interrogated him further. An excellent evening which those who attended will long remember.

Disaster on the Ship Canal in March 1961 - the sand barge MARY F COOPER sank after colliding with FOAMVILLE near the London Road bridge. One for the divers as maximum effort was put into clearing the channel. Picture: Peter Norton

Index for this issue     Index of all Canal Cuttings issues      Home Page

Site design and content © 2002 - 2006 Sankey Canal Restoration Society
Site design by Phil D.Long