Steamboats stuck in Museums stores

For the non-technical side of living with Steamboats, videos and general pictures.
Post Reply
Mike Cole
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead
Posts: 179
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:08 am
Boat Name: Blue Buccaneer
Location: Wallasey

Steamboats stuck in Museums stores

Post by Mike Cole » Wed Feb 24, 2016 8:09 pm

A post from John today stuck a chord with me as I was walking past the Liverpool maritime museum on the way to work,thinking of the steam launch Birdy and then John goes and mentions Birdy in a Post. As far as I know Birdy was last steamed about 10 years ago probably that time with John at the helm. What s steamboat do you know of that are being wasted just doing nothing but lying in a museum store.
More importantly John what do you think the chances are of the museum letting us get her back into steam.
Mike Cole
User avatar
TahoeSteam
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead
Posts: 813
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:38 am
Boat Name: Wayward Belle
Location: South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA
Contact:

Re: Steamboats stuck in Museums stores

Post by TahoeSteam » Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:28 pm

I recall as a child there being a steamboat, along with several large steam locomotives in the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.

There are innumerable marine steam engines lying in the storage houses of maritime museums around the world, only to be viewed by the curators, and certainly never to be steamed.
johngriffiths
Warming the Engine
Warming the Engine
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:13 pm
Boat Name: Tenacity

Re: Steamboats stuck in Museums stores

Post by johngriffiths » Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:56 pm

Hi Mike,

After a fairly big restoration including a boiler rebuild, done by Dorothea and an engine rebuild in house,(polished crank pins showing no wear, unlike the thrust) plus an in house replacement of the skeg where the stern tube went through, Birdie was run for one year and displayed on the water at Albert for the subsequent year. It became very clear that the conservation team were not happy about having a very rare steam boat, hull about 1899 and updated plant made for it a few years later by the same company, deteriorating out on the water. Big discussions and it was decided to bring it indoors and it now lives in a conditioned ex bonded warehouse in Liverpool where it is not easy to get at, even when I curated a collection part stored in the same warehouse. It is, of course covered in dust sheets and two staff members are required to remove them.

I doubt it will ever by put on the water again. Under the present management and with the lack of conservation staff, you will be lucky to be able to see it although a small group might be better placed. Similarly Lion, the L'pool and Manchester Loco built 1838 and which was occasionally run until the 1980s, will never run again, now having its tubes permanently removed and a crack in an axle box if memory serves. I doubt if the Smithsonian will ever run the John Bull either, as he was showing me over it, John White told me it would put too much of a strain on its very elderly 1829 Stevenson boiler. Well off topic so I'll shut up.

John G

PS ex bonded, most certainly not old bonded, quite young by L'pool warehouse standards having massively thick reinforced concrete walls.
Post Reply