Pluto

I seem to remember reading something recently which suggested that this is incorrect, and the GCR was built to the normal loading gauge of the time. Someone published it as a fact years ago, and it had never been challenged by research.

Successful canals were built by and for local businesses and communities, to solve local transport problems. This idea was continued by early railways, but soon they sought to create a network, and the problem with networks is that they don't solve local problems. It is also difficult to control their expansion, as there is always someone who wants to add an extra link. Politicians, businesses and transport planners need to get back to basics and look at what transport is really required. Our society relies too heavily upon transport in all its forms, as the disruption due to the recent weather shows. High speed rail is just one facet of this. Transport is expensive and does not add value, so should be looked at as something to be avoided where possible. Can't see that happening unfortunately...

If you are interested in 1930s conversions, there were three on the L&LC. In 1933, IOTA was given to canal director Mr Willink for conversion to a boys club moored at one of Manchester Collieries sites. I don't know what happened to this. A second boat was converted by Wigan Boys Club in 1936/7. I have the original name somewhere, but the converted named was DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, the Duke coming to Wigan to perform the renaming. A few years later it was derelict, or at least in very poor condition, and was broken up. Finally, a Wigan doctor, Dr Portman, had a boat converted around the same time which he renamed WHIM. This became an LDV boat during the war, and was broken up in 1944 because of its then poor condition. There are photos of the two Wigan boats, including news cine film taken of the Duke of Gloucester at Wigan.

The Wigan Pier George Formby senior made famous is not the one which now goes under that name today. The real Wigan Pier was the wooden railway viaduct used by trains heading to Liverpool from Wigan Wallgate Station. The line was built by the East Lancashire Railway who built several wooden viaducts to keep costs down, the last one to survive being across the L&LC and the Aspen Valley, near Oswaldtwistle. The viaducts were all converted to embankments, usually by dumping pit shale and the like around the viaduct. A wooden railway viaduct would look much more like a pier that the coal tip which goes by the name today. I think the name was transferred after Orwell wrote his book, by which time the original viaduct had disappeared -presumably and early marketing ploy for Wigan's tourist trade.

My favourite is High Horse Riderless, though Sonia says it was a young man's book. It has something of Priestley's English Journey in it, and reflects Tom's great interest in craft skills and how they fit into society. He thought that Winterstoke was his best book, and it was probably the one which took most time to write.

Perhaps the problem is that we live in a society where many seem to think money supply is unlimited. Why do footballers and bankers get paid so much when there is obviously too little money for social services, and things which add value to society like museums? Politicians aggravate the problem with their excessive expenses - they just don't take any notice of the most important feature of economics, money supply is limited. With regard to The Boat Museum, I probably have more to complain about than most as the boat I gave to them was burnt by vandals. However, that sad fact did ensure that the local authority did finally give some money for site security. Looking at what the museum could do, given that money supply is limited, I would certainly have preferred that they had concentrated on wooden wide boats, as those are the boats which are really too large for individuals to finance. But then who would go to a museum of wide boats? Not many, given the way that canal history has been biased towards narrowboats - nice and ethnic as they are, historically narrow canals were never as influential on the economy as those with wide boats. In terms of tons carried per mile of waterway, the Weaver is probably the most important, though if you looked at the country's economy as a whole, those serving the textile areas of Lancashire and West Yorkshire were the most influential. In economic terms, textiles were way more important than any of the metal industries. Getting back to The Boat Museum, letters to your MPs complaining about the museum's lack of funding would be much more influential than posting here.

Two terrace houses were destroyed in Accrington. You can still see the gap in the terrace on Whalley Road. Now if the bomb had dropped on Stanley's ground, that would have shaken local morale.

It would be a large job as I have around 200 historic canal-related pdfs of books sitting on my hard disk, many of which are available on the internet, though some are ones which I have created from archive material. I keep wondering whether to put more onto my website http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/Downloads.html - not listed by you Hugh!!! - though there is the problem of reproduction fees. Does putting things on-line for free exclude the need for payment under distribution for research in copyright law, though as most items are out of conventional copyright, that might not be the correct legal terminology.

What about the Gloucester and Sharpness, the world's largest waterway when built, and the Aire & Calder today is similar in size to many European waterways. Out of over 3000 miles of inland waterway in Britain, only 1200 have locks seven feet wide. If you want to lump British inland waterways together, you are better calling them small rather than narrow, and as mentioned above, not all are small by international standards.

Bingley 3-rise top used to be the narrowest, though those on the 5-rise and Dowley Gap are also pretty narrow. Is there any other canal than the Leeds & Liverpool????

I think that Worsley Drydock will be the oldest canal dock still in regular use, though there may be earlier ones on river navigations.

It is difficult to compare British canals with those elsewhere in Europe because their usage is very different. In Holland, not only are they heavily used for transport, but land drainage and flood prevention are much more important than over here. That said, I notice that nothing has been said in all the bumf about conversion to charitable status about the importance of our canals for land drainage. French canals do have some similarities with the British system, and there they seem to be trying to get local authorities to take on responsibility for leisure waterways.

At one time, there were at least six lock gate producing workshops on the L&LC, and each one seems to have had a slightly different type of paddle gear. Add to this the changes that were introduced over time, such as the introduction of upper gate paddles around 1850 to speed operation and thus compete with railways, and you can understand why there are so many different types. Unfortunately, some have now disappeared as a variety of BW standard types have been introduced. Just a thought, how many businesses have a variety of standard types?

Twelve years ago I wrote a report for the Yorkshire Waterways Museum on options for their compartment tug Wheldale. The following glossary is taken from the report: Preservation: The maintainance of an object in its original or ‘as worked’ condition, and/or restoring it under controlled conditions to record, maintain or rediscover associated skills. Conservation: The stabilisation of an object so that its condition is less likely to deteriorate. Restoration: The improvement of the condition of an object under controlled conditions, ensuring that all actions are recorded and, as far as possible, reversible. Replication: The use of old methods to build a new object, similar in design to an old one, under controlled conditions, such that the techniques and craft associated with these methods can be recorded. Reproduction: The use of modern methods and materials to produce an object, similar in basic design to an old one, which can be routinely operated safely, and which will enable the techniques and craft of operating such an object to be recorded. I then went on to discuss various possibilities of how to look after Wheldale: When preserving an industrial object, there are three main possibilities which should be considered. The adoption of one of these criteria will then dictate the methods to be used in preservation. I: To conserve the object as an example of its type. Today, this would mean keeping the object in its ‘as worked’ condition, just as it had finished working. Previously the object may have been returned to its original, ‘as built’ condition. 2: To maintain the object, using traditional materials and methods, in order to preserve and record the traditional skills used in maintenance and operation, as well as preserving the object itself in a condition similar to that when in use. 3: To maintain the object, using modern methods and materials, in such a way as to be able to operate the object regularly and safely, and thus to be able to reserve the traditional skills of operation. With any restoration/conservation/replication project, it is important to decide exactly what your aim is before starting work, and thus to be able to justify what you are doing. In my time as an engineer involved in restoring a wide variety of industrial machinery, I developed the Three Rs; work had to be recorded, reversible - and right!

At the other end of BW's property portfolio are/were all the small buildings associated with canal operation, such as lock keepers cottages. These could have formed the basis for development - such as interpretation centres or holiday lets to charity members - if BW become a charity, providing an identifiable benefit for those joining the charity which is unavailable to them now. Pity that BW have sold off most of them.

Patrick, There are two reports in the Proceedings of the Inst Civil Engineers about reconstruction of the lower sections of the Lee dated 1854 and 1857/8, and in John Smeaton's Reports, dated 1767-81, there are reports on the river. Edward Paget-Tomlinson's book also has a useful outline. I did some research for BW on the lock gates in the London area a few years ago, so have quite a bit of other material as well in digital format. PM me for exactly what you require.

When working single-handed, just tie your boat to the bridge rather than the bank and you should have much less of a problem. I never found working bridges on my own that much of a problem when I lived on short boat Pluto in the 1970s, though with a higher bow than a narrow boat, there was less of a risk of damage to the boat when moving the bridge. As always, you are best with a boat built for the canal in question.

You can find a few more details in the book I translated on Canal Lifts and Inclines of the World. A friend in Russia worked on the project as a student. The caisson is 90 metres by 18 metres, total weight 6720 tons and can take boats up to 2000 tons. The rise is around 100 metres, depending on the flood conditions in the river.

Some of the old L&LC boatmen I knew regarded fenders as the sign of a bad steerer. Fenders, and then only white cotton, were for decoration when you were tied up.

The BBC had some sort of problem with putting the tickets on-line, so now you just have to turn up. The problem was only sorted out yesterday pm, which is why the L&LCS site has not yet been altered. I would suggest getting there early as there is limited seating.

Between 11 and 1 on Monday 18th October, there will be a discussion on Radio Lancashire about canals on the Sally Naden Show, followed in the evening, at 7-30 pm, by one of my talks on the history of the L&LC. Both events are open to the public and take place in the entrance area of Radio Lancashire in the centre of Blackburn. The L&LC Society will also have a display in the exhibition area for at least two weeks, which includes panels showing details about the boats which worked on the canal, the history of the canal, and its effect on Blackburn. There are also details of what the heritage boat Kennet, operated by the society, has done this year, such as commemorating the 200th anniversary of the canal opening to Blackburn and visiting Goole for the 100th anniversary of the keel Sobriety. Over the last year, we have opened Kennet for visitors on 12 days and had over 2500 people on board. This winter we are putting together a Heritage Lottery bid to pay for hull repairs and improvements for visitors. We hope it will finance much of a five year plan for taking Kennet to places along the canal, culminating in sailing the full length in 2016 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the canal opening throughout. Volunteers are always welcome to help with maintenance and moving Kennet. More details at http://www.llcs.org.uk

Just received a reply from DEFRA which doesn't give any specific answers to questions about BW's management etc. Only the usual verbiage which civil servants put out on their politicians behalf. On the cost of waterways, the £70 million government grant works out at less than £30,000 per mile of waterway per annum. Given that, when in use commercially, waterways required one man per mile of canal for maintenance ignoring any other support staff, they are underfunded today, which leads to my statement that I consider that government funding only covers the land drainage aspect of inland waterways. They provide no funding for boaters, money for their services coming from licenses and mooring, while they pay lip service to heritage and conservation, with no designated funding for those aspects of waterways.

AFAIC the government grant just covers the land drainage aspect of BW, and boaters pay for additional infrastructure required for boats. All the other benefits waterways bring cost the country nowt. At the end of August, I asked the Waterways Minister for the DEFRA view of the land drainage aspect of BW's work. Still no response as I think they are frightened by new EU policies on land drainage which could result in DEFRA having to pay further fines for non-compliance. Thus they don't want to commit anything to paper, let alone tell the public.