> On Wed, 28 Oct 2015 21:15:15 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" > <G6JPG@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote: > > >I've always thought of canal traffic as goods rather than passengers ... > > Flyboats were udsed on canals, for e.g. See > http://www.ma.hw.ac.uk/solitons/HISTORY_OF_EXPRESS_CANAL_BOATS.pdf > Fly boats only operated in the vicinity of large cities - since you can't 'fly' all that fast, They were the equivalent of the London tube/Metropolitan railway, for suburban dwellers commuting into the office. I've done the journey in from Worsley right into central Manchester, but uit took a fair old time. Long distance journeys were feasible on the canals, but not if you were in a hurry, with a 4MPH limit. They were cheap, since they were not exactly comfortable over a distance, and -as with carriers' carts, if it rained, the goods got protection first and human passengers got wet. Tere was also a problem with canal transport for females - the canal bopat men were a randy lot and females were expected to provide 'entertainment' on the way. EVE Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society