The Story of Eileen: Birthplace?

There are so few images of the Toll End Communication Canal – where Eileen, then an open, iron day boat, was constructed in 1903.

This rare image, credited to D. Wilson, appeared in the December 2010 issue of Waterways World and WW have kindly provided me with a copy.

The caption reads, ‘An evocative photo of Lock 4 on the Tipton Toll End Communication Canal in the 1960s. The canal was filled in c. 1976.’

The canal seems already to be a semi-derelict condition in the image, however it still hints at a harsh industrial environment criss-crossed by railway lines.

If this image is looking from Watery Lane Junction on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (Main Line) toward the LNWR lines then this is as close as I’ve come to finding an image of the environs of Eli Aston’s Iron Boat Dock where Eileen was built. The dock would have been beyond the railway bridge on the left hand side.