Winter 2018 - Issue 52

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The Winter 2018 issue includes the following features. You can purchase this magazine from our online Shop.

You can read the articles in this and all other NarrowBoat issues online by becoming a NarrowBoat subscriber.

Front Cover: Samuel Barlow Coal Company Ltd acquiring second-hand craft from various sources during World War II. One was butty Unostentatious, owned by boatman Daniel Doughty of Linslade. Bought by Barlows in February 1940, after docking, the company renamed her Nell.

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Working the Waterways

Carriers at War

Chris M. Jones studies the activities and politics of canal-carrying in the South Midlands up to and during World War II

View an excerpt.

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Working the Waterways

Inspection Boats

Part two of Cath Turpin’s exploration of the variety of craft once used to survey the condition of the inland waterways

View an excerpt.

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Picturing the Past

British Waterways: Northbound on the GU

Another delve into the photo archive of Patrick Rawlinson shows British Waterways craft working northbound on the Grand Union

View an excerpt.

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Unearthing History

Pride of the Thames

Chris M. Jones reveals the story behind two well-known and often reproduced 1870s engravings of a narrowboat on the Upper Thames

View an excerpt.

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From the Archives

The Listener

Joseph Boughey discovers waterway tidbits in a defunct magazine’s online archive

View an excerpt.

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Picturing the Past

Failsworth Wharf

Chris M. Jones reveals the story of a family of textile workers who took up boating on the Rochdale Canal in the 1870s

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Last Traffic

Losing a Vital Facility

Hugh Potter uncovers a fascinating document recording the last traffic on the Cromford Canal when it closed in 1944

View an excerpt.

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Picturing the Past

Final Years of Carrying on the Wilts & Berks

Chris M. Jones examines two rare images of carrying on the Wilts & Berks Canal during its latter years of trade

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Historical Canal Maps

Potteries Prelude

Richard Dean describes the earliest surviving survey for the Trent & Mersey Canal

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A Broader Outlook

Wide-boat at Watford

Chris M. Jones studies the details of a pre-WWI image showing a broad-beam boat on the Grand Junction Canal at Cassiobury Park

View an excerpt.