More Mystery BW Cards?
by Trevor Ellis

I did not get any response to Malcolm Luty's appeal for information about two probable early British Waterways published cards in the last issue. However, I did mention that I had seen two similar cards at a postcard fair, and when these were still around at the last Leeds Fair, I bought them. One shows a Water Miss cruiser and the other could be one of the "cut-down" narrowboats that BW used in their early hire fleet - this latter looks to be pictured at Little Venice.

I seem to remember thinking they were very superior in the 1960s as we headed for Llangollen in what amounted to a marine ply box with a point at one end!

1. British Waterways: Water Miss class 2/4 berth cruisers

I think that BW might have had a hand in any series of cards showing their hire boats, and Little Venice strikes me as the sort of place that they could have used for a press launch in the 1950s, so I wonder if these are "official" shots.

However, there are two differences from Malcolm's cards. Firstly, the legend, although very similar wording, is on the front of the cards. Secondly, and here I am hoping for some response from you card experts, there are serial numbers - PN5089 and PN5090. These sound like part of a fairly large run - does anyone recognise them?

2. British Waterways 4/6 berth cruiser with tiller steering

Post-script: Following an e-mail correspondence with Malcolm about these cards, he has sent me another "PN"-series card that he has discovered. This is PN2303 The Locks, Knowle, which has on the reverse, "This is a St. Albans Series Real Photograph."

This does seem to undermine my theory of a BW-published series of their craft. However, it would still be interesting to know who published the "PN" cards and whether anyone has any more of them - are they a waterways series or did they do other cards?

3. The Locks, Knowle