Railway safety instruments with strong canal connections were the star items of inland waterways memorabilia under the hammer in May and June, while a poster and a Shropshire Union Canal bridge notice also made their mark.
The highest-priced canal-related safety instrument, featured in a major auction held by Great Central Railwayana on June 6, was a single-line tablet that sold for £1100.
This covered the stretch of track between Banavie Canal, a location on the West Highland Fort William to Mallaig route in Scotland, and Mallaig Junction. The canal referred to is the 60-mile Caledonian Canal, which Banavie is close to, giving it special status due to its proximity to Neptune’s Staircase, a flight of eight locks in the shadow of Ben Nevis.
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Behind this four-figure success in the same auction came another safety item, a single-line staff allowing travel on the 12-mile stretch of the East Suffolk railway route between Halesworth and Oulton Broad South, which fetched £260.
The latter station, one of two serving the Broad, was opened in 1859 and is still operating today, at the last count handling more than 60,000 passengers a year.
A third piece of railway history that continued the auction’s waterways selection was a 1950 BR Scottish Region poster of Loch Lomond, painted by P Payne, that featured the Maid of the Loch pleasure steamer.
Selling for £140, it described the loch as “the largest and loveliest” in Scotland.
This 191ft-long vessel, which weighs 555 tons gross, is the UK’s largest inland waterway passenger ship and the last paddle steamer built in this country. Launched in March 1953, it is licensed to carry up to 1000 passengers and is currently undergoing a multi-million-pound restoration.
Although it may not have the undeniable appeal of a Loch-sailing maid, also worthy of mention is a London Midland & Scottish Railway cast-iron notice that sold for £150 at a Talisman Railwayana auction on May 16.
It was located at an unidentified canal bridge to advise drivers of a three-ton weight limit and was undated. The mid-1920s would be a reasonable estimate, but in addition to the LMS, it carried the identity of the “S.U. Canal Section, Tower Wharf, Chester.”
In January 1923, as part of the Grouping of the railway companies, the LMS absorbed the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Co, which managed the S.U. Canal network.
The notice, described in the auction catalogue as scarce, also had markings on the back where it had been fixed to a post. It is often such nuances that add to the appeal of a century-old historical item like this.
The prices quoted for both auctions exclude buyer’s premium of 15% plus VAT.
