Runcorn Old Quay Yard Number 2 Slipway

This build is of a small vessel maintenance facility in my home town.

I built this in homage to my relatives that worked at Old Quay Yard and at other shipyards in Runcorn and elsewhere, as well as in honour of those family members who worked on the tugs based at Old Quay (including my grandfather).  The yard was home to the tug fleet of the Manchester Ship Canal, and other vessels, and was the maintenance base for the waterway.

The two real-life photographs were taken by me in the early 2000s when my father and I went to look at his father's old work place.  This is partly in honour of my father, a ship's engineer and later shipbuilder, as he passed away on the 26th April.

The model is of the second slipway, known as Town Slip: The Public Slipway that was, for many years, rented by the Stubbs family, and thus also known as Stubbs' Slip.  On it is a small tug of the "D" Class.  The yard itself had another slipway, a huge lock gate repair shop, and many smaller workshops, as well as an office complex.

My photographs of the actual slipway show what the build should, I hope (!): Namely, a control shack to operate 7 wooden trolleys that could be independently raised and lowered on the concrete ways of the slip (or "marine railway" as it is known in some countries).

It is not so much that this particular set that might interest people, but that smaller local landmarks, and representations of what towns and cities were all about, might make some great LEGO City or Architecture sets, alongside the more famous and iconic Big Ben and others.