Tom Pudding - Operation

Operation

Although the design was for six compartments per train, it was found that seven could fit through the locks, and so the trains were lengthened. The compartments were made deeper after the first 19 had been built, so that they could carry 30 tons each, rather than 25. The new design was found to be more stable, and a train now held 210 tons of coal. It took between eight and twelve hours to travel from the colliery at Stanley Ferry to Goole, a distance of around 30 miles (48 km), and three and a half hours to unload the compartments, but the trains were often delayed at Goole for two or three days before they could be unloaded, and at the colliery, trains could be delayed for up to 13 days before they were loaded. In order to operate a train, a crew of four men were needed, consisting of a captain, a mate, an engineer and a stoker.

Experience proved that a train of seven compartments was the longest that could be controlled. While it was possible to push ten or eleven compartments, they became difficult to steer when empty, and particularly if it was windy. In the 1870s, the number of compartments was increased to four trains of seven per tug, but as the numbers available increased, the concept of a fixed train gave way to the compartments being considered individually, and a train could be made up from any that were available. The tugs had a water tank near the bow, which could be filled or emptied to alter the angle of the tug depending on whether it was pushing a train of full or empty compartments. When Bartholomew presented evidence to the Select Committee On Canals in 1883, he indicated that trains often exceeded 11 compartments, and that in this configuration, the tug pulled the compartments. At the time, many trains consisted of 11 or 12 compartments, but trains of 22 were quite frequent, and up to 30 had been tried. Spring buffers had been added between the compartments, to assist the straightening of the boat after it had negotiated a bend in the canal. The navigation company hoped to extend the locks by another 250 feet (76 m) to allow the longer trains to pass without having to split them, but there is no evidence that this programme was carried out, as the normal length of a train was still 10 or 11 compartments in 1904.

When the system had been operating for six years, Bartholomew approached the directors, and pointed out that although such a system had not been tried before, it had been completely successful, and he had not wasted any money on abortive alterations. All changes had been made as a result of actual experience. The directors recognised his competence, and awarded him a bonus of £1,000, and a payment of £220 for the models which he had made. As a result, he allowed the canal company to freely use his patent. Bartholomew went on to become General Manager of the Canal Company as well as Chief Engineer from 1875.

After the first world war, the length of the locks between Goole and Castleford was increased to over 450 feet (140 m), which allowed trains of 19 compartments with a leader and tug to work through them without being split. A leader was still used as the pointed bow ensured that the water from the tug's propellor was directed downwards and under the train, rather than hitting the vertical end of the first compartment. Above Castleford, such trains had to be split. Experiments were also made with much longer trains below Castleford, and as many as 38 compartments were coupled together.