Photos of the tug Bittell and her 12-hour journey from Tardebigge on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal to Parkhead Locks at the south end of Dudley Tunnel in the West Midland's "Black Country".

Click on a thumbnail for an enlarged view

w01 Tardebigge 7-40am.JPG (58291 bytes)

 w03 negotiating boatyard - Alvechurch.JPG (79461 bytes) w05 Bridge 64 2.JPG (88289 bytes) w06 Wast Hill Tunnel.JPG (56090 bytes)

Tardebigge 7:40 a.m.
13th January 2002

 Boatyard slalom - Alvechurch Round the bend - W&B Bridge 64 Entering Wast Hill Tunnel
w09 Edgbaston Tunnels 1.JPG (90598 bytes) w13 by Holliday Wharf 2.JPG (97843 bytes) w14 by Holliday Wharf 3.JPG (95770 bytes) w16 approaching Worcester Bar.JPG (75467 bytes)
Edgbaston Tunnels 'Bittell' by Holliday Wharf / Worcester Turn Rounding Worcester Turn Approaching Gas Street Basin. (Worcester Turn in background)
w17 Worcester Bar.JPG (81912 bytes) w18 Jack's Arm Parkhead Junction 7-25pm - journey's end.JPG (74493 bytes) Dudley_Tunnel_-_Singing_Cavern.jpg (100274 bytes) Standedge_Tunnel_1-5-01.jpg (120987 bytes)
Worcester Bar - Gas Street Basin 2:30 p.m.. Electric tunnel trip boats (rearmost pair) about to run free Journey's end: Jack's Arm, Parkhead Junction - 7:35 p.m. Inside Dudley Tunnel: Singing Cavern with DCT trip boat, mid 1980s?  Near-vertical rock deposits mined-out; horizontal 'pillars' were left behind.
(Photo: DCT/West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive)		 Another canal, another tunnel: the first three boats to have been towed through Standedge Tunnel - 1/5/01. Wandering Star, Maria and Little Gypsy follow the electric tug.
(Photo: Martin Milsom / Dave Hill)