Canals v railways, Old Wolverton

If there ever was an ironical situation in the battle between the British canals and railways, this is it! The photo shows the Loco or Locomotive Hotel or Inn (now the Galleon pub) alongside the Grand Union Canal at Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes. The irony of course, is naming a canalside pub, built to serve the working boatmen, after the very thing that caused the demise of the working canal system in the UK. The reason behind it though, was that Wolverton became the centre for repairs to railway engines for the London to Birmingham railway, and although the Hotel was quite a way from the railway, it was actually quite close to the workshops and sidings. It's nice to see the shape of the pub hasn't changed too much.

Old wolverton, canal and hotel poster by puddled_clay

The area has seen considerable change since the building of the city of Milton Keynes, and one canalside and railway casualty, was just down the canal at Wolverton Station. The building has only in the last few years been completely replaced with a modern station, so apart from the canal itself, little remains from this photo. Probably taken around the 1940s at a guess, the Fellows, Morton and Clayton narrowboat Bison carrying a load of coal in winter on the icy canal below the old signal box with the station in the background, possibly on it's way to Croxley Paper Mills.
The narrowboat has since been restored and converted, and the owners blog gives more history and progress since restoration http://fmcbison.blogspot.co.uk/

FMC Bison in winter Poster by puddled_clay

Canal present ideas from my shop

Puddled Clay's canal gift shop

With Christmas coming up, I expect many people are struggling with ideas for presents for canal enthusiasts and narrowboat owners - particularly the latter as space is limited. So taking an oppurtunity to plug my shop. here are a few ideas!

Traditional rose design close-up

Firstly, a set of gifts with traditional narrowboat roses. I made these digitally but using the traditional method of a centre circle overlaid with lines and petals that are slightly transparent so the background shows through, as you can see in the close-up on the left. Although shown with a blue background, that can be changed to any colour using the customize button. These are on all sorts of products from stickers and keyrings, to cushions and bags, iphone and ipad cases, and of course mugs and coasters. There are too many to list here but the whole range can be found in my Zazzle shops: Puddled Clay (UK) in the UK, or in America, my Puddled Clay (US). Please note that these links also contain my referral and tracking codes. There are also other international domains and most products are shipped internationally.

I ordered a clock, calendars and some greeting cards recently, and they took about two to three weeks to arrive as they come from America, though the clock came very quickly, and I'm very pleased with all of them!

Canal calendars

For other ideas for presents, my shop also contains some digital paintings, vintage photos from English canals, as well as some of my old photos from canal trips since the 70s plus newer ones of French canals. I do hope you'll come and visit, even just to browse!

Digital paintings and vintage canal photos