North Rode Railway Viaduct to Harecastle Tunnel South Portal.

A drizzly start to the day, which cleared by the time we got to Harecastle tunnel. In fact it was so cold that Marmite curled up with Paddy in his bed to keep warm!

Approaching Congleton.

Hall Green stop lock.

Approaching Hardings Wood junction.

Waiting at the north portal of Harecastle tunnel. We were expecting a boat to come out, but it reversed back out the south portal, apparently it’s water pump failed.

Just entered the north portal of the tunnel.

Keith.

Danes Moss to North Rode Railway Viaduct

 

A damp start, but nothing torrential. Royal Oak swingbridge.

Nb Fulbourne moored near nb Shirley, nb St Austell and nb Alton.

Bosley cloud underneath heavy clouds!

Bosley locks. We were informed by the volunteer lock keeper that there were 7 boats coming up through the locks, which was going to make our life easier, for a change.

Pretty flower in the lock wall.

After this photo my camera died, the lcd screen has failed. As there was no mooring space immediately below the locks we carried on a bit further, to just before the railway line that crosses over this magnificent viaduct over the River Dane.

Keith.

Page for Hadar’s Engine

I have added a new page about Hadar’s National DA2 engine at http://nationalengine.blogspot.co.uk/ or follow the link from our blog list.

Fourlane Ends to Danes Moss

Where has the warm weather gone this morning? I know it is early, well earlyish when we set off at 7:00am this morning, but having to wear a scarf in July!! Adelphi Mill, Bollington.

Hovis Mill Macclesfield.

Passing through Macclesfield.

Having moored up near Danes Moss Bridge No.46, the sun has come out from hiding, and then Les & Jacqueline on Valerie pulled alongside for a quick chat.

Keith.

Anson Engine Museum

We set off for the Anson Engine Museum this morning, via the Middlewood Way, which is a bridlepath on the route of the old railway line.

This is the old railway station which now serves as a picnic area.

Back onto the road and the signs points the way to the museum.

The museum entrance.

There are lots of engines here, steam, gas and oil engines of all shapes and sizes.

There is a craft area outside.

Besides the full size engines, there are some superb model ones.

They have a few National Gas engines, this one was running, until the gas bottle ran out!

We had been told about the model of the area, which is really rather excellent.

After our visit to the museum we popped into the Boar’s Head for lunch.

Jo had the fish cakes and I had the ham, eggs and chips, and  pint of Black Sheep Best Bitter each.

Whilst at the Museum we got chatting to Geoff Challinor, one of the founders of the museum, and I showed him the plaque from our engine, his face lit up and he scurried off with it and said he would be back. He returned with a beaming smile on his face and with a few documents stapled together, this was the top sheet.

He then disappeared again to get them all photocopied for us, I will scan them tonight, and start up a separate page on here for our engine. Basically our engine was built in 1949 by a company called Trojan Ltd, on behalf of National Gas & Oil Engine Company as part of an order for 18 such engines and then supplied to a company called Auto Diesels Ltd of Uxbridge, where they were attached to the base plate and connected to the generator, before despatch to Middle East Pipelines. Now we have this information we can now do some further research.

Keith.

Marple to Fourlane Ends.

No sun this morning, but still quite warm as we set off for Higher Poynton. Goyt Mill in Marple. I did my first ice climb in the mill, albeit an artificial ice climb, at the Rope Race Climbing Centre.

We had intended to stop at Higher Poynton so we could visit the Anson Engine Museum, but there was no moorings available, so we carried on to Fourlane Ends, where we pulled into the 24hour moorings, whilst I checked the 48hour moorings the other side of the bridge, to which we moved.

We can walk to the museum from here, it is about 1.5 miles, so not too far away. The museum is not open until Friday so until then we can do some local exploring.

Keith.