On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 9:42 AM, sean neill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > IIRC horses lasted up to the effective end of carrying on the BCN > because the logistics were different to long-haul routes, where a > motor-boat could be 'hammered' to get ahead, and a horse could not. For > short-haul BCN shuttle traffic, especially through lock flights, the > horse could pick up an 'empty' for the return journey and depart > immediately, whereas a motor would have to be unloaded; also the > double-ended design of day boats, avoiding the need to turn, would be > impossible with a motor. > > Thus the horse could be more productive. I don't know whether the late > Harbourmaster-engined BW boats were an attempt to allow engines to be > swapped between boats in the same way as horses?
I'm not an expert on this - but I thought that tugs were mainly used on the BCN, especially where the day boats were concerned? Much of the main runs were lock free, and they may have even had seperate tugs for each long stretch of water, bow hauling, or using a towpath tractor through the locks where needed? I beleive they did this on the Regents. Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
