About Oakley

This is a record of the restoration of narrowboat Oakley, a large Northwich of the Town class of the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co. Ltd. built in 1936 by Yarwoods in Northwich. Her fleet number was 159, she was registered at Rickmansworth number 98 and her gauging number was 12631. She originally had a Russel Newbury DM2 engine. She was originally paired with butty Oxted. She was absorbed into the British Waterways fleet in 1948. If you have any information regarding the history of Oakley then please contact me.

Monday, January 14, 2008


All going well, The fuel tanks are completed, these were built into the hull using 12mm plate for the sides and 5mm cheuquer plate for the lids. I have pressure tested and made sure there are no leaks (diesel has a tendancy to get through the smallest of holes). Once I was happy with the tanks i made some mounting plates which i bolted to the engine, placed the engine in the right place and welded them to the tops of the tanks. Now I have moved the engine back out to paint the bilge and am also in the process of cleaning the engine down so i can respray it.

So far I have removed all the electrical parts and made blanking plates for the exhaust/air intake. I intend to borrow the use of a steam cleaner so that I can get all the grease and oil removed before respraying in lister green.
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