The black and white photograph shows the state of the pump house in March 2000 prior to it being restored. A fire destroyed the boiler house seen in this photograph, and delayed the project as the entire plans had to be changed. The boiler house originally being planned to be the meeting hall, was destroyed in the fire and the cost of replacing the roof in keeping with the rest of the building became prohibative. So the plans were modified so that the Engine rooms and blacksmith section would became the meeting room with the boiler house walls being lowered and turned into a compound. Two photographs of the Pumphouse in years gone by. The first is a photo from Roy Kenn who took this photograph in 1986 and clearly shows the state of the engine houses and the area around. The second photo is more recent in 2004 and shows the improvements made.

During the restoration of the Pump house the Tatbank Arm was dredged to remove some of the modern rubbish and some of its industrial debris. In this process the partial remains of an old wooden working boat were found near to the old coal wharf at the end of the branch. It can be seen on one of the mud boats along with just some of the silt removed.

This photograph taken in July 2002 at the Official Opening Rally for the Pump house. Taken from the Tatbank Branch prior to the pontoons being placed along the canal. The bank was very overgrown and only the minimum amount of cutting back was done so access to the boats could be achieved, without disturbing any wild life.

Opening Rally and a view from the pump house steps showing a number of working boats moored along the pump house, in the back ground just some of the boats that attended can be seen. The Sandwell boat Aaron Manby can be seen taking members of the public for a trip along the Titford Canal.

View in April 2003 of the Tatbank Branch showing the new pontoon moorings. In this early photograph the pontoons had not been ballasted properly, which made for a very bouncy ride if you walked along the moorings.

Tatbank viewed again this time in July 2003. Boats that arrived early for 2003 Rally moor on the new pontoon moorings. BW are hiring out these moorings although the pumps to the summit are not completed, it is hoped the work will be completed in 2004. Without the pumps the summit could easily, if there are too many boat movements become short of water. Our rallies have to be managed very carefully at present but hopefully in the future lack of water will be a thing of the past.

Inside the pumphouse when the society first took possesion of the building we inherited just an empty space. The meeting hall had a small kitchen, but that was about all. We where kindly given some church chairs that enabled the hall to be used for meetings. But you really did need religion to sit for very long, so eventually they were replaced with more comfortable chairs. Storage space was increased by the building of a series of cup boards in the style of a boatmans cabin along the rear wall of the hall. This unit also acts as a permanent display, featuring a wooden boatmans stove. Eric Foakes made all of the boatmans display and the fire, as well as two storage units mounted on castors that can form counters and tables as well as storage. These units also can be arranged to form a bar at rallies.

Another feature has been a sign post display, mounted on the wall made up from all the left over bits of many sign posts. The society is obtaining a number of other canal orientated exhibts that will in time be displayed in the hall for interest and decoration. A boundary post has also been rescued and has been erected inside the fenced compound know that all the building work has been completed. The bricked up arch inside the hall that now closes off the two engine rooms has been painted white and makes a very large screen for any slide, talk or film show, making it an ideal venue. A sound system is also fitted to make any presentation better as it was found that the meeting hall was not practical without it. The offices have also been equipped with furniture etc so that smaller meetings can be held upstairs. The society is always happy to rent out the rooms to any group, if interested please contact the chairman, details found in society officers.

The two new pumps were lowered down the shafts in June 2003. Below the pump house is a vertical shaft about 50 ft deep into which the pumps are lowered, the pumps being in a sump at the bottom. The sump is then connected to the Old Main Line by a brick culvert that runs under the locks. The culvert had to be inspected to clear a number of blockages, a long and difficult job requiring men with special breathing equipment to complete the job. The water inlet on the bottom level is right next to Thomas Clayton's old Tar Wharf, and when the pumps where switched on for the first time they pumped up heavily tar polluted water. This caused the pumps to be shut down and the project to be delayed. This problem was the reason the structures seen in the next section "Problems from the Past" appeared. The problems are today much reduced and in late 2004 the pumps can be run to maintain the level but a watchful eye is kept to see that no pollution occurs.

The pump room has its own crane hoist to lower or raise the pumps. The 3 phase power supply to the pumps had to be run from the nearest supply that happened to be at the junction of Engine street and Tatbank Road. This resulted in a trench having to be dug all up Engine Street and across the car park to the site, much of the brick walkway also had to be disturbed. The cable disappears into the engine house, the controls being housed in the BW mess room, taking up the best part of one wall. Seems modern technology has reduced the pumps from needing an entire building to just this one small corner.

The fitting of the pumps not only required the old culvert to be inspected and put back into use but the complete building of a new spillway and weir near to the top lock. In this photo the complete island in front of the pump house has become a building site again. Huge holes were dug and a series of pits and concrete tubes were constructed running from the pump room to a new wier/spill way on the Tatbank branch, near to the top gates of the lock. Water having been pumped travels along the concrete tubes set beneath the grass area and fills up the spill way, that then controls the flow by emptying over a wier into the top level. During the first running of the pumps the sump of the spillway filled with tar causing the pumps to be shut down. All this building work had to be finished in time for a Rally in July 2003. The work was just completed except for the pumps, and the old fence was replaced with a new fence that depicts boatmen from the past throwing coal from their boats to the local children. Some suggest it depicts the missles going the other way more in keeping with modern trends, but we cannot agree with that.

The work was just completed except for the pumps, and the old fence was replaced with a new fence that depicts boatmen from the past throwing coal from their boats to the local children. Some suggest it depicts the missles going the other way more in keeping with modern trends, but we cannot agree with that. A boundary post obtained by the society has been placed on the green near to the fence, all we need now to complete the scene is a society signpost on the junction of the Titford Canal and the Tatbank Branch. In old journals the Branch is referred to as the Spon Lane Branch, so should the junction be the Spon Lane Branch Junction?

Early in 2003 BW undertook the job of replacing a number of the old lock gates on the Oldbury Flight of locks. The new gates that came from the Bradley Workshops were brought to the site by the GU motor boat "Auriga". She can be seen moored alongside the pumphouse loaded down with just two gates, one new and one old gate that had been removed.

October 2003 and BW in the process of refurbishing the Oldbury flight of locks and generally improving the structure of the canal corridor. The lock flight was closed and the lock chambers filled with scaffolding as each chamber was inspected and repaired. All the wiers down the flight were cleared of any rubbish and the silt removed to improved water flow and retain more water in the side pounds. The culverts were repaired and guard rails placed around the wiers. Generally the towpath was cleared and prepared for a better surface to be laid.

At the pump house the top pound between the locks was drained and the pound and lock filled with scaffolding. The walls to the pound where inspected and repaired as was the chamber walls in the top lock. The ash wharf wall at the side of the pump house was found to be leaning out, so was lowered and then completely rebuilt. At the same time the wharf landing was re bricked and bollards added.

Following the switching on of the pumps earlier in the year and finding that they were pumping up tar, the pumps were switched off. To try and clear the problem a temporary pipe was constructed between the weir and the top lock. The one end of the pipe was attached to the wier outlet so as to bypass the sump. The idea being to flush the tar from the culvert and wier into the top lock, remove the heavy particles and then flush the rest of the chamber with clean water into a nearby drain. Permission from the authories was obtained, but only a lock full at a time, so it was a slow process. The lock was sealed and the process started which appears to have made a difference, but the treatment seemed to work..

A view from Engine Street Bridge in late December 2003. The major work has been completed and the surface of the towpath just needs to be laid. The side pounds have been partially cleared as have the wiers and the whole flight has been transformed with all the brick work and gates having been repaired. Above the Top lock the landing stage for the lock was relaid as part of the general re build. The Society had been given some money left over from the orginal "Titford Project" an off shoot of the Coombeswood Canal Trust. Whilst BW and the contractors where on site this money was used to construct a line of mooring rings from the top lock back to the railway bridge and beyond.The line of rings and the general improvements to the area have already improved the facalities for our Rally gatherings and are also being used by visiting boats to the area. Money well spent on improving the canal corridor, the aims of the "Titford Project" set up all those years ago.

This possible project is in the embro stage with the Society just looking at the problems and solutions and the likely benifits such a project would bring to the BCN, the local community and enviroment.

The Wednesbury Oak Loop known also to modern boaters as the Bradley Arm presently leaves the Main line at Deepfields Junction and terminates at the BW Bradley Work shops at Tup Street Bridge. The bridge carries Bradley Lane and today has no hieght to let a canal pass under, it must have been a steep hump backed bridge in the past. This is really the only main obstacle to a canal restoration project that would create a cruising ring and greatly improve & re generate a section of the BCN. Beyond Tup Bridge is a factory complex with the path of the canal running through its yard into public open land.

After the factory the bed of the canal enters a public area with tethered horses grazing. From the lye of the land today the canal seems to come to a junction where the canal turns in the gentle bend towards the locks, whilst in the other direction it goes into a large loop. This loop appears to re join the main bed near to the position where the top lock once was. At the top lock the top cappings to the walls can just be seen, the entire lock and flight of locks having been in filled with a public path marking the route of the canal. The lock chambers that are buried appear to be intact with no buildings or structures on the route.

The path follows the route between houses, rising and falling indicating where possibly each lock was. Towards the bottom new houses front the route of the canal but don't impede. The path finishs at Great Bridge Road, where the ground today is at the same level as the road. On inspection the bridge has been bricked up and on the lock side filled in, but it would appear that if dug out passage under is possible. On the opposite side of the road the bricked up section of the bridge can be seen, with a culvert maintaining land drainage.

Below the road a different scene can be found. The bottom two locks and their approach walls have been restored by BW and then in filed to protect.The canal corridor ie tow paths etc, from here to Moorcroft Junction have been tidied up and turn into a pleasant walkway. Cycle barriers have been installed the only thing missing being an open ribbon of water. The canal bed consists of a small channel of water that would be impassable even to the smallest boat. Reeds shoulder high along the complete section, fill the canal until Moorcroft junction and the Walsall Canal.

As can be seen the work involved in digging out the line is massive. But no real obstacles compared to other restorations really exist. The bridge problem at Tup could be solved by a lift bridge as it would be impracticle to put back a normal bridge. Bradley Lane is a bit of a rat run, with traffic calming measures that seem to be popular these days being considered. A lift bridge would certainly calm traffic speed, with posible funding coming from that area?. The factory yard is owned by BW the canal could cause the area to be re generated. The rest of the canal is a digging out operation in the first instance with no building or land ownership problems. It would not or could not be achieved by this society alone but the scheme could be viable with the right funding. The pumps at Bradley empty water from the mines below so no water shortage problems exist. The mine water contains high levels of iron, that today are seperated by dilution and settlement in the Bradley Arm. The re instating of the Loop just before the locks could create a large settlement area not used by boats, but full of reeds and wild life. All of these ideas and problems will need much thought and consultation but do not see to be insurmountable. The society will play its part alongside BW, by talking to other interested parties in the funding area, and by creating local interest in the project by pointing out the enviromental value and re generation possiblities. It can be seen that some restoration work has been carried out on the bottom locks by BW who are to be congratulated at getting the project off the ground.