Name Sandbach

SANDBACH was built in 1946 for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS), which owned the Trent & Mersey and Shropshire Union canals at the time. 

Built by W J Yarwood & Sons on the River Weaver at Northwich, she was one of a pair of tug/icebreakers built for LMS and launched in February 1946 (Yarwoods yard no. 779).  The sister tug was BEESTON and they were both built 25 feet long, although SANDBACH was lengthened to 35ft less than a year later. The hull is made of riveted steel with a rounded chine, although the additional 10ft added later the same year was welded.  The cabin originally included a wheelhouse with a wheel steering arrangement.  Originally built as a maintenance tug/icebreaker for work on the Trent & Mersey Canal, she also worked on embankment repair work at Shebdon on the Shropshire Union Canal. 

On the nationalisation of the railways and some waterways in 1948, SANDBACH was transferred to the British Transport Commission (British Transport Waterways).  This became British Waterways Board in 1963.  SANDBACH was part of the maintenance fleet, based initially in Middlewich, and later (by the 1970s) on the River Weaver. 

Later abandoned and sunk, she was rescued by Malcolm Braine in 1982, and restored, with a new (traditional narrow boat style rather than replacing the previous wheelhouse) cabin, by Malcolm and his son, Ian, between 1985 and 1995, at Norton Canes. 

The original engine was a Russell Newbery DM2 which was replaced by an Armstrong Siddeley AS2.  The current engine is a Bolinder 1052, a two cylinder 23 hp built in 1953, fitted by Malcolm and Ian during their restoration (and previously from narrow boat CACTUS).

SANDBACH went through 4 further ownerships from 1995, during which time the boat was based on the Worcester & Birmingham/Coventry canals (1995 to 1999), Stourbridge (1999 to 2009), Peak Forest Canal (2009 to 2012) and the River Wey (2012 to 2015). 

Since 2015 SANDBACH has been owned by Alison Smedley (whose husband, Rupert, owns Cowburn & Cowpar motor SKYLARK).  In January 2018 it was featured as an inside exhibit at the last ever London Boat Show at Excel in London’s docklands.  SANDBACH has recently returned to the canals after five years on the rivers of East Anglia.