Winter 2023 - Issue 72

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Front Cover: After loading with small coal, this pair of Samuel Barlow Coal Co boats have made it through broken ice to Ansty. A sharp drop in temperature overnight has brought a heavy fall of snow, and the cut has frozen solid again. Using a shaft to test the ice proves it is futile to attempt to break it and the crew realise that, unless an icebreaker comes through later in the day, they will have to wait it out.

The Winter 2023 issue includes the following features.

Working the Waterways

Alternative Revenue Streams

Chris M. Jones looks at some of the ways canal companies made money other than from toll income

You can view an excerpt here.

Historical Profiles

The Titford Canal

Andy Tidy explores the history of this short branch of the BCN

You can view an excerpt here.

Historical Profiles

Colin & Iris

Tom Chaplin relates the history of a narrowboat pair and their role in saving the Kennet & Avon Canal

You can view an excerpt here.

Historical Profiles

Horse-boating on the Grand Junction

Chris M. Jones looks at images of horse-drawn boats at work between Braunston and London

You can view an excerpt here.

Historical Canal Maps

Trouble at Runcorn

Richard Dean examines the effect of landowner opposition to the pioneering Bridgewater Canal

You can view an excerpt here.

A Broader Outlook

Craft of the North West

Chris M. Jones studies images of narrow- and wide-beam craft on canals and rivers in the North West

You can view an excerpt here.

From the Archives

Working the Trench Line

Joseph Boughey uses ancestry resources to provide insights into working the Trench Branch of the Shropshire Union in the 19th and 20th centuries

You can view an excerpt here.

Picturing the Past

Coal on the Bridgewater

Chris M. Jones explores images of coal traffic on the Bridgewater Canal taken during its bicentenary in 1961 by Jack Parkinson

You can view an excerpt here.