New pages: Shipping

[richard]

Thank you to George Robinson for collating and writing new pages covering all the ships that operated with the LNER.

The new section is still under construction, but can be found here:

http://www.lner.info/ships/index.shtml

So far, we have completed the GE Area ships.
All non-train ships are here:

http://www.lner.info/ships/GER/index.shtml

And the Harwich train ferries are here:

http://www.lner.info/ships/GER/index_train.shtml

Each ship has its own page with photo(s) (where available) and summary of technical information and notes.

A few ships do not have photos yet. As ever, I welcome photos (with suitable copyright) to fill these gaps, and to improve on existing photos (some of the older photos and wartime photos are of only moderate quality).


Richard

[JASd17]

Hi Richard and all.

The LNER shipping services were a large enterprise and deserve to be better known, well done.

One of my Great Grandfathers William Gibson Wood was a Captain for the LNER, having started on the GCR, and is well known for a rescue. However, I believe that he did not end his career as an LNER employee. Possibly being transferred to Associated Humber Lines, can anyone confirm this?

John

[ferryman]

John, AHL was formed in the 1930's as a management company for the Humber-based railway company vessels although ownership continued to rest with them. I will cover this when I get to that section!
So your GGF may well have sailed under the AHL flag and funnel colours.
If you have details of any of his ships I will see what I can find.

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

Good on yer! Shipping is a neglected area of railway history.

[Bryan]

Just been looking at the Train Ferries section.
Couple of comments.
Under Capacity it states Rail wagons only on some of the ferries.
Would this be in a form of standard unit eg in SLUs (Standard Length Units 1 SLU = 21ft) and how many would be able to fit onboard? Or has that detail been lost to us?
I note that 1 of the ferries does have a figure listed but the others don't.
Other question What would the layout be on the train deck?
2 parallel roads or more?

Very well done though.

[ferryman]

Bryan, I have entered details from wherever I could find them, additional info is always welcome and I am sure Richard will be happy to update!
As I am not a 'railwayman' I cannot answer re how the wagon numbers were defined.
I have an idea there were 4 roads on the main deck but would need to study photos to be sure.
p.s. photos do indeed show 2 tracks across the stern ramp into the ships, each one splitting into two, port and starboard sides.

[JASd17]

John, AHL was formed in the 1930's as a management company for the Humber-based railway company vessels although ownership continued to rest with them. I will cover this when I get to that section!
So your GGF may well have sailed under the AHL flag and funnel colours.
If you have details of any of his ships I will see what I can find.

George,
WG Wood was Master of the 'Wrexham' in 1911, at the age of 40. My understanding was that he was Captain of the 'Dewsbury' later on. I have found several references in the LNER Magazine, but the transfer to AHL put an end to the direct railway involvement, as I understand it. Therefore their were no further references in the magazine as these were based on pension data.

John

[ferryman]

John

WREXHAM was a GCR vessel built in 1903 for Finnish/Russian owners and bought by GCR in 1905 for their Grimsby based fleet, she was wrecked in June 1918 on a trip back from Murmansk in a war convoy.
You can find details here in a site I am involved with
http://www.teesbuiltships.co.uk/raylton ... ii1903.htm

DEWSBURY was built for the GCR in 1910 and appears under the GCR fleet list on this site, she passed of course to LNER then to BTC, although with the other Humber-based railway ships (LNER and LMS and others) she came under management of AHL from 1935, all the ships were still owned by their respective companies (see the intro page to GCR on here).
It could be that staffing was affected, I have no knowledge as to whether Capt. Wood would have transferred to some common AHL employment package which would affect pensions etc. But he would still be sailing on an LNER-owned ship! She lasted to 1959 so did good service.

[JASd17]

John, AHL was formed in the 1930's as a management company for the Humber-based railway company vessels although ownership continued to rest with them. I will cover this when I get to that section!
So your GGF may well have sailed under the AHL flag and funnel colours.
If you have details of any of his ships I will see what I can find.

George,
WG Wood was Master of the 'Wrexham' in 1911, at the age of 40. My understanding was that he was Captain of the 'Dewsbury' later on. I have found several references in the LNER Magazine, but the transfer to AHL put an end to the direct railway involvement, as I understand it. Therefore their were no further references in the magazine as these were based on pension data.

John

Many thanks for your help ferryman, I will have to look into how things changed in 1935. Remember the LNER records are avaiable via the GERS LNER magazine DVD - data discs

John

[richard]

I should just add: the GCR ships were finished yesterday.

We're starting on the NER ones (I've just received the Wilson ships from George)...

Richard

[richard]

The NER ships (including Wilsons) are now online.

The Scottish ships will be added in the New Year.

[richard]

With the addition of the Forth ships, the Scottish ships are now complete:

http://www.lner.info/ships/NBR/index.shtml

This completes all the ferries and revenue earning ships.
Thanks once again to George Robinson (ferryman).

George is currently working on a list of ports - we intend to create a page listing LNER ports, and (if practical) a page listing the smaller vessels (the nautical equivalent of "departmentals"!).


Richard

[Rlangham]

Really fascinating - regarding smaller vessels, HMS Char was formerly an NER tug that was sank off Dover, there was an article on it in the NER staff magazines but I didn't get the chance to write anything down as was too busy gleaning information abou the Hartlepool Bombardment

[ferryman]

CHAR was indeed the former N.E.R. West Hartlepool tug STRANTON built in 1899 by Rennoldson on the Tyne, you will find her details and a photo on Dave Waller's website here ...

http://www.tynetugs.co.uk/stranton1899.html

See the Heugh Battery site for some info re the WW1 bombardment of the town
http://www.heughbattery.com/site/history_of_the_site

[Rlangham]

Thanks George - very good site that, it's really helped with my NER research and i've identified a further three NER tugs that served in WW1 - does it list all Tugs used by the NER, or were any others built away from the Tyne not listed on the site?