Elements to Stourport

Reader's Letters & Queries: NarrowBoat, Summer 2014

Yet another well researched and written article by Alan Faulkner – this time about T&S Element (Spring 2014 NB). I wonder whether your readers, or indeed Alan himself, might like even more information. I have had in my possession, for some 30 years, a toll collector’s ticket book from Bratch Locks on the Staffs & Worcs Canal. The book measures 8in x 4½in and consists of permits numbered 1 to 300. As can be seen in the photograph, each page was perforated. I presume that the torn-off part went to the accounts department for invoicing purposes. Otherwise, was it given to the boatman? Of the 300 entries, from 14th November 1939 to 16th April 1940, I have identified 62 different boats (see list) attributed to the ‘owner’ Shropshire Worcestershire & Staffordshire Electric Power Company (SW&SEPCo), with the ‘steerer’ listed as ‘Element’, all engaged on the Otherton to Stourport power station coal traffic. No other loa…