Plain sailing for Baggies Barge

The Baggies Barge is back on the water, two months after it was grounded due to problems with silt. The narrowboat carried Albion fans from Birmingham’s Brindleyplace to Smethwick junction on Saturday for the game against Charlton.

The junction is a few hundred yards from The Hawthorns. The barge is run by Baggies fan Richard Healey and was launched at the end of October. Despite huge public interest problems occurred on the first trip due to the levels of silt in the canal, meaning it took 20 minutes to land. 

He had originally planned to run two barges on the initial trip but one of them suffered mechanical problems.

Mr Healey feared he would have to axe the service until the canal was dredged, but instead found a way to bypass the silt and said Saturday’s journey was a dream.

He said: “After all the problems we have had, it was smooth as silk. It took just over an hour to get to the ground from Birmingham, and we had 38 people on board, which means it was full to capacity.

“I had enough inquiries to fill another boat.

“We got around the problem of the silt by stopping on the approach to the lock, which was fine, and there has been a lot of positive feedback.”

Albion fan Brendan Crean, aged 41, used the service from Birmingham to Smethwick. He said: “I had an excellent time. It has all been organised very well, there was good company and good beer, and I would certainly do it again.”

Mr Healey rents the boat and then divides the cost between the number of people aboard.

He said: “We all split the cost, and the Baggies offer us free programmes, which is a great arrangement.

“I’m delighted the service could get up and running again.”