The iconic coal laden “Tom Pudding” compartment boats moving coal between West Yorkshire’s pits and the numerous colliers docked in Goole are the first thing that many of us think about when reflecting on Yorkshire’s canal heritage. That coal was shipped out of Yorkshire to customers around the coast or in Europe. Easily overlooked is the fact that predating the Tom Pudding traffic by nearly 50 years, a significant market for coal for power generation in Yorkshire itself had emerged. The first gasworks opened in Leeds and Sheffield in 1818, Hull in 1820,  and before long even the smaller towns had their own gas works. These depended on large volumes of coal delivered by canal. 

Later in the century, electricity was generated from coal fired power stations, with Halifax leading the way in 1891. Leeds and Sheffield quickly followed and by the mid 1890s most Yorkshire towns had their own power stations. Town gas and electricity both required large volumes of coal and the canal trade responded by moving bulk loads from the pits direct to the gas works and power stations. 

This collection of photographs shows the evolution of the craft used to carry coal for power. You will see many conventional keels and barges which carried the bulk of the traffic before the arrival of the pusher tugs and their modern large  compartment boats, often mistakenly referred to as “Tom Puddings”, which they are not. Between 1967 and December 2002 these nine tugs and 35 compartment boats delivered 43 million tons of coal to Ferrybridge Power Station.

Where possible we have described what you see in the photographs and when they were taken. If you can add to that knowledge please get in touch using the form below. 

Hover your cursor over the photograph and you will see a short title. Click on the photograph and you should see a larger version and more information.