Photos   LYNX

LAUREL carried various cargoes from 1914 to 1947, working for Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. With nationalization, she was transferred to British Waterways and used on the Coventry Canal between 1948 and 1960. She later sank at Hartshill, Nuneaton, and remained there until she was acquired by the present owner in 1964, when she was converted to pleasure use. 

Her hull is composite, with riveted wrought iron sides and an elm bottom. The current engine is an inboard diesel Freedom Range (FR3) made by Lister Blackstone Marine Ltd. It has three cylinders and twenty-four brake horsepower at 1500 rpm.

LUPIN

PLOVER

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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 Bingley on the L & L. The original 15hp Bolinder went into ENGLAND.

She has a pointed bow with raked curved stem and a counter stern. Her hull is in very good condition, but the cabin needs replacing. The hull has original riveted iron sides, although she now has a steel bottom. The current engine is an inboard diesel made by National, model DM2, with two cylinders

BISON

CAPTAIN

sld. Leonard Leigh1/41 at some point Ernie Thomas had this boat shortened to 57ft.cnv.tug.was @ Rickmansworth10/99 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.

Photos   MONARCH  Monarch

MARQUIS

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

THE KING

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JACKAL

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VICTORY

OWL

PANTHER

ALDER was commissioned by Fellows Morton & Clayton Ltd. and built in 1931 by W.J. Yarwood & Sons Ltd. at Northwich, Cheshire. Her original engine was a fifteen horsepower Bolinder semi diesel, but she currently has a nineteen horsepower Gardner engine installed which previously belonged to the narrow boat tug FRED.

She has a coppered steel hull, with iron frames and a steel bottom that was originally made of elm. Her initial length was seventy-one feet, but she was shortened to fifty-seven feet in the 1960s. She operated as fleet number eighty and was based at Anderton, Cheshire, as part of the Northern Fleet.

Between 1949 and 1990, ALDER worked for British Waterways as a maintenance craft. In 1990, she was bought by the present owner and fully restored to 1931 condition and her original red and green livery. She has the correct period back cabin and engine room and is moored at Ellesmere, Cheshire.

 Oct 2000 at Dutton T&M.

ALDER

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. APPLE�s current engine is an inboard Lister HB2, with two cylinders and twenty-nine brake horse power, made in 1960.

Her current engine is an inboard Lister diesel HA2, with two cylinders and twenty-two horsepower, made in 1953.

BREAM was the first of the Fish Class of single motors. She carried up to 32 tons and is believed to have broken all records for the fastest runs, fully laden. She was part of a special fleet of fast express boats, each with a hold two feet longer than the standard motors, enabling them to carry twenty-five tons easily. They could be more flexible and offer an express service in response to increasing competition from rail and road.

The new design was approved in 1931 and in July the following year, BREAM was ordered as the prototype vessel. She was aptly nicknamed the MAURETANIA by the crew after the Blue Ribband Cunard liner of the time and carried wheat grain and flour amongst other cargoes.

In the late 1980s, BREAM�S 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.

Shortened to a tug for BW up for lease as part of the friends of working boats (2001) 10/00 

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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 Minnow

CACTUS was the first of an order for ten similar craft and was built in 1935. She operated as a city boat, mainly traveling between Birmingham and London, towing a butty boat. CACTUS worked for Fellows, Morton & Clayton Ltd. until the firm went into voluntary liquidation in 1939, when she was transferred to the British Transport Commission. She later moved to British Waterways, withdrawing from the trade in 1963 when she was sold to the present owner.

In 1967, she was converted to a passenger boat with a capacity of forty-six seats and used in this way for twenty two years before being withdrawn from service for a complete restoration to her original condition.

She was judged winner of the Alfred Ritchie Award at the Inland Waterways Association National Festival Rally; an award given to the boat deemed to be best presented as a genuine working craft of its type and consistent with its recent record of actual working commercial movement.

CYPRESS�s original engine - a Bolinder with one cylinder and fifteen brake horsepower - has been removed, along with its replacement � an Armstrong-Siddley ASZ, with two cylinders and twenty brake horsepower. She has a steel bottom and sides, although these were originally made of elm.

RUDD was launched in February 1937 as a single motor, intended to work alone without a butty or tow. She traded for Fellows, Morton & Clayton until nationalisation and then worked for the Docks and Inlands Waterways Executive which later became the British Waterways Board. After 1963, she was transferred to the maintenance fleet. Northwich 96 on 3. 10. 1958 .

RUDD 

SHAD 

TROUT

APOLLO