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Worcester Canal:Salvage Turn: Holliday Wharf: Cart Tracks

C

Chris Stock

Brummie babby
Hi just wondering if anyone can tell me what the cart tracks were used for in on the tow path corner opposite the Mailbox. I think they call it Salvage turn as there was a salvage works near where the Cube is. Also The corporation Holliday Wharf occupied most of the wharf side so I suspect it was part of the Works dept that operated there. I’m intrigued to know exactly what they were part of and where they started and finished as they look very part of a bigger system. Any help from this fantastic resource greatly appreciated

IMG_9501.jpeg
 
Welcome to BHF Chris!
I think that the narrow gauge tramway laid here is a modern reconstruction using materials from elsewhere? (Unless anyone has a photo to the contrary.) The tramway would be used for carts pulled by men or horses to load or unload material from the wharf. There is a discussion on Canal World. But sadly no historic photographs. Derek https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/42107-corporation-wharf-tramway-tracks/
 
Looking about on line I found this photo of Salvage Turn in 1912 (if the date is accurate). No tramlines to be seen. So they are not historically accurate, but a modern construction of 'heritage' as they give an impression of what a wharf might have been like. Without any trucks, workers, horses, rubbish (salvage materials which might be reused) or filth! (Source: Captain Ahab's Watery Tales).
Wharf at Salvage Turn on Worcester Birmingham 1912.jpg
 
Thanks, in the discussion on Canal World reference was made to extensive wharf side tramways elsewhere in Birmingham; an example would have been near the Roundhouse. Are there any photos of such canal side mechanical unloading/transport assistance at any of the Corporation Wharves notably Montague Street? I’m away of roadway hill assistance systems for horse drawn corporation waste carts. Thanks to all for replies
 
Heartland said:
Yes the tracks were added much later as a feature and have lead some trip boat commentators to make the wrong assumption that they had an industrial role. The tracks on the towpath at Dockers Brothers had a real purpose however
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Do you know if they can still be seen? Or have they been removed or covered over? I know Icknield Port Loop is a big development. I've not ventured to that part of the canal for many years. I have seen Osler street about 7 years ago and the reservoir. I've read the thread on canalworld.
 
Stokkie said:
Do you know if they can still be seen? Or have they been removed or covered over? I know Icknield Port Loop is a big development. I've not ventured to that part of the canal for many years. I have seen Osler street about 7 years ago and the reservoir. I've read the thread on canalworld.
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They are still there. I do not recall them in the past and think they are a more recent decorative addition.
 
Stokkie said:
Welcome to BHF Chris!
I think that the narrow gauge tramway laid here is a modern reconstruction using materials from elsewhere? (Unless anyone has a photo to the contrary.) The tramway would be used for carts pulled by men or horses to load or unload material from the wharf. There is a discussion on Canal World. But sadly no historic photographs. Derek https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/42107-corporation-wharf-tramway-tracks/
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Can confirm this.....wandered up and down that bit of towpath since the 1970s and no recollection of any such tramway. ..

Who remembers the shonky plank bridge across the stop lock at Worcester Bar? Long before the silly brick footbridge was built!

I certainly do!
 
Speedy23 said:
Can confirm this.....wandered up and down that bit of towpath since the 1970s and no recollection of any such tramway. ..

Who remembers the shonky plank bridge across the stop lock at Worcester Bar? Long before the silly brick footbridge was built!

I certainly do!
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I most certainly remember that shonky plank bridge across the stop lock. In face when I fist saw it, it was just a plank. It then became all posh and technical with a block of week and a big bolt for it to swivel on. I was sad to see it go in all honesty
 
Gas St 1985(1).jpg
A boat I was involved with in Gas St, Summer 1986...on our way from Northampton to Ellesmere Port.

Built in 1936, a Harland and Wolfe Small Woolwich motor boat, Bargus. Original fleet number was GUCC No.18.

Her registration number was 567 and she featured in the opening shots of "The Bargee" which was filmed on the lower Grand Union.

She is still around, trading as a fuel boat on the Macclesfield Canal, last I heard of her.

Picture was taken from outside what was the James Brindley Pub....which was considered as a johnny-come-lately upstart, and now itself long, long, gone.
 
Speedy23 said:
View attachment 200722
A boat I was involved with in Gas St, Summer 1986...on our way from Northampton to Ellesmere Port.

Built in 1936, a Harland and Wolfe Small Woolwich motor boat, Bargus. Original fleet number was GUCC No.18.

Her registration number was 567 and she featured in the opening shots of "The Bargee" which was filmed on the lower Grand Union.

She is still around, trading as a fuel boat on the Macclesfield Canal, last I heard of her.

Picture was taken from outside what was the James Brindley Pub....which was considered as a johnny-come-lately upstart, and now itself long, long, gone.
Click to expand...
After being closed for years, The James Brindley has been refurbished as The Canal House.
 
Stokkie said:
After being closed for years, The James Brindley has been refurbished as The Canal House.
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Might pop in for a pint, just for old time's sake.

Don't know if anybody remembers, but the James Brindley had been "decorated" by the brewery with a (not unsurprisingly) "canal theme". On one of the walls was a large photograph, proudly labelled "Gas St. Basin, 1910"....the picture showed a long line of boats, moored elum end on against the Bar....it looked pretty period at first sight....until you looked closely, when you could see the front of a Honda 50 Cub just poking out from between two butties.

So the photo must have been taken in the 60's, but as I say, apart from that it did look pretty old-style!
 
So does that mean it is not a pub any more. The Botanist brand places I have seen show little resemblance to a pub . but are a sort of restaurant
 
mikejee said:
So does that mean it is not a pub any more. The Botanist brand places I have seen show little resemblance to a pub . but are a sort of restaurant
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There's still a bar, Mike. With beer under £5 a pint. But the money comes from food and cocktails. They have a website. At busy times in the evening it will be rammed. I've not been in myself, but Brindley Place and Gas Street are very lively in the evenings. There's Sunday lunch and live music at weekends.
 
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