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[battleshipman]

I recently built a Cullamix tug and I wondered if there were many others.  I'm on the west coast of Canada (Victoria) and I've never seen one in this part of the world.  I'll try to attach some photos.
I want to build a couple of lighters or barges to tow with Cullamix, and I'm looking for any photos of similar lighters.
My Cullamix is about 40", with a geared 800 series motor driving a 4" prop.  It has serious pulling power!

[JimG]

I built one in the early 80's, powered it with a Stewart Turner 10V steam engine and a Scotch boiler. The engine was a machined kit from Stewart Turner but the boiler was self built based on a design by K.N. Harris in his Book Model Boilers and Boilermaking. It initially used a gearbox to give reverse but this was changed to a variable pitch propeller as the gears proved noisy. The hull was planked with ply strips and while it had a good finish at the start it it soon showed the wood grain under the paint with use so the hull was first glassed than Cataloy filer was used to produce dummy plating, this has held up well over the years. As with yours there was plenty of pulling power, it was used on a number of occasions to tow a full size rowing boat with one passenger on board.
I cant find any photos of the completed boat but here are a some of it in it's pre finished state.
Jim

[dodes]

You should be able to download plenty of photos of the type of barges she pulled, they would have been standard swim head/budget stern Thames lighters of about 250ton lift. Usually about 6 at most towed astern in pairs, also as it was river work the barges were loaded to about 3 inch's freeboard .

[battleshipman]

Thanks.  Haven't found anything specific for the Blue Circle Cement Co., but I think I'm going to build a couple of very simple/generic lighters that will take a lot of abuse in transport.  I always find that the fancy & delicate models take up all the room in the vehicle, so these lighters will have to be "robust".
I plan to build two lighters at 1/2" = 1 foot (same scale as my Cullamix) so they will be about 52" x 14".  Hopefully I can post some pictures but I'm not having much luck so far.

[derekwarner]

Without complication of the the question, the Thames Barge WEB site a few days posted an image of a Thames Sailing Barge noting that it was built for or purchased by the Blue Circle Cement Co


The reason my eyes picked up is we in Australia, have the same Blue Circle Cement Co just 50 miles from me......


There is little point in me finding the posting as the Barge in question was probably circa ~~1900


Derek

[RST]

The reason my eyes picked up is we in Australia, have the same Blue Circle Cement Co just 50 miles from me......

Yea Derek "Blue Circle" in the mother country, elsewhere:  Lafarge (French) these days and been so for some time now but they keep the blue logo aparently!

Rich

[battleshipman]

I'll try to post some photos of the lighters.  Maybe I can add a decent paint job to hide their lack of style!  and I may have solved the photo barrier with a pic of Cullamix.... we'll see

[dodes]

I was referring to the Thames lighter not sailing barge, APCM in its time did own a large fleet of sailing barges, as they expanded and bought various companies and also took over their fleets such as Smeed and Deans.

[LightermanII]

I do hope we dont need the full delights of the memory lane of a lighterman ?

[LightermanII]

TOOOO LATE YOU WERE NOT QUICK ENOUGH
Blue Circle had big barges when the cullamix was plodding up and down. they would be 17-21 in the beam and 80 foot long with a loaded draft of 8 foot. the freeboard on a loaded barge is 6inches for a hatched barge.
As cement was carried in bulk and bagged it's preferable to have it under hatch boards, with sheets (tarpaulins /cloths) as cement gets nasty when wet, its gets warm and goes hard and the customer gets the hump.


here is a picture of one of Pollocks (ship builders) barges.like most builders they produced models of their wears

[LightermanII]

I don't know why but there are no attachments appearing in any of my posts.

[dodes]

Yeah they are the beasts I remember, spent most of my time dodging them, as i was a sailorman, when in the docks used to moor a lighter alongside at night, because those swimheads used to ramp up inboard and take out your rails rip hatch cloths etc. Remember in Tilbury docks in the canteen having a meal when I saw a empty lighter blowing down the new dock with a gale of wind. It hit a big solid caste steel ship mooring bollard, it snapped off level with the ground and rolled a good 50ft. The lighter was unaffected. But those tug masters and the old lighter men knew their trade well, seeing them line up a barge let go of the tug and watch it run up nice into its berth on the river front.

[battleshipman]

That's a sweet looking lighter barge.  Mine won't be anything so nice, but should look fine from 20 feet.  I'm going to solve the heavy ballast requirement by leaving off the bottom and letting the buoyancy come from the bow and stern sections.  i also cut the sides up a little to reduce overall weight and unneeded buoyancy.  My hope is that it will produce a bit more towing resistance for a overpowered tug.  I'll add some styro in the top of the hold to resemble bulk cement or aggregate.  Should be ready for paint soon.

[LightermanII]

I was going to say that prop looks very heavy pitched. almost like a paddle wheel

[battleshipman]

Yes it moves some water!  The geared motor gives great low speed control.