Thursday 22 December 2011

Riveting afternoon

A bit of a belated entry but the engine room front/side  bulkheads are now riveted in place. With John on the furnace placing the rivets and Graeme on the air hammer I was left with the unenviable job of holding the rivets in place while Graeme hammered the ends round. Apparently we have done the easy bit, next up the engine room roof!

First picture showing engine room frame which will be immediately in front of the engine room door.

Engine room bulkhead from the inside.
Engine room bulkhead from the outside.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Progress

More wire brushing and painting last weekend although progress is carrying on at pace with engine beds fitted, floor bearers in the engine room welded in and bulkheads in place. More painting and sanding and Bison is stating to look like a narrow boat. Next project should be some hot rivetting on the engine ole as well as floor bearers for the back cabin.

Monday 7 November 2011

Bison History

As part of the rebuild of Bison I have been getting together some information on her history and hope to be able to expand on the information that I have as well as gathering some old photos and further information as we go.

Bison was built in 1923 by W J Yarwoods and Sons Northwich as an iron composite motor fitted with a Bolinder NE 15hp .

20/12/1923 Delivered to Fellows Morton and Clayton, allocated fleet number 289
25/01/1924 Health registered Birmingham 1458 (fly- 1 cabin 3.33 persons) Master G Harrison
22/06/1927 Gauged by the BCN Company as BCN 1302 (70' 10" x 7'2" 29 tonnes @ 50.67")
Jan 1947     Re-engined with Bolinder BM 15hp (Ex FMC Motor Briton 240)
01/01/1949 Sold to British Transport Commission allocated to South East Division
24/07/1949 On South East Division fleet paired with butty York
24/10/1949 On South East Division fleet paired with butty Gertie
12/01/1951 Electrics fitted as part of modernisation of ex FMC Ltd boats
13/05/1952 On South East Division paired with butty York
23/09/1952 Bulls Bridge document out of service
23/02/1954 Bulls Bridge document in service
01/10/1954 On South East Division paired with butty Neston
16/02/1955 Bulls Bridge document in commission but surplus to 120 boat fleet proposal
28/03/1956 put into storage at William Boyers pit Harefield
09/06/1953 Sold into private ownership

On the Dock at Last

Bison finally made it onto the dock at Stockton and now the hard work begins. When Bison was originally re-footed the engine beds were installed for a lister JP2. After much deliberations we have decided to fit a Bolinder 1113, more on engines later. So the plan is to cut out the engine beds and start the construction of the engine ole and the back cabin.