davidg

Because an “engineer” came, took a look and instructed CRT operatives to do so. I put engineer in quotes as that is who one of the CRT operatives involved told me was coming. Of course the quotes could be taken to imply another meaning.

I would refer m'learned friend to post no 590. As of 6pm this evening.

Yes, one wonders if m'learned friends are being consulted. And the owner could just be caught in the crossfire.

Still there and nobody knows what happens next, including the boat owner. If CRT do they're not telling anyone; probably still considering the options. .

So this is OK if you have a historic boat? And if you have a modern boat apparently Unless you have a fairly elastic definition of how much old boat you need to include in a new build to make it historic.

Still there this morning. As to craning out, it might be cheaper than some other solutions I’ve heard were being proposed which involved dewatering and alterations to the walls below water level. Who’s paying? Let’s take a wild guess...

What happened before? Have boats built to similar dimensions passed through this bridge unimpeded? And what are the engineering tolerances on the dimensions? Based on the width reported by the owner - 4m - and the Fraenkel Report* quoted dimensions from Napton to the top of Bordesley - 3.8m - we would appear to have a negative proximity coefficient here. Now the Fraenkel Report dimensions have to be treated with a degree of circumspection, from memory it gives Hillmorton as maximum length 70ft when 71'6" GUCCCo boats had been using the locks for years, but they were presumably based on some sort of survey of pinch points. I'll say it again: The structure of the bridge you can see might be wider than the boat but below water level it's not that the channel isn't maintained, it's the structure of the bridge itself which is narrow because of the batter on the retaining walls. (I've just had a look at some notes on civil engineering structures, 1:8 is typical for brick retaining walls) We were sat down at teatime yesterday with someone who was on the boats when the cement traffic was running from Southam to Sampon Road and asked him if they ever ran through this bridge breasted up,"no it's too narrow" was the reply which would suggest the bridge has been less than 14ft wide since at least the early 60s. *Someone fished it out, also at teatime yesterday - we drink a lot of tea.

Possibly Mike but that’s not what I was saying. The walls have batter* on one or both sides so well below water level the bridge hole is narrower than up top. Anyway the removal of the copings doesn’t seem to have achieved anything as the boat was still there this morning. Several of us would have predicted that outcome; apparently the CRT engineer didn’t. *not the stuff found round fish, or Mars bars.

The precedent appears to have been set by this so fill your boots... Perhaps instead of going to Braunston next weekend the HNBC should despatch boats to every tight lock on the system. Who's for an easy one, fifth lock up Napton, get stuck on Monday, fixed on Wednesday. Hurleston: 30 years - pah, we'll have it sorted by next weekend.

Depends which standard ones. The Speedfit ones go in ok but any other flavour forget it. The wall thicknesses of the various manufacturers' tube varies so Speedfit inserts in a different make of tube fits like the proverbial. Otherwise silicone grease as someone has said. It's a minefield.

That would be in the "Moored like a ****" group on Facebook I assume.

Good grief, sounds like I've had a reptile infestation. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr, is this mission creep. Let the discussion begin....

Correct Roland, Unless things have changed when pairs got stuck here there was ample width at the waterline, it's down below where the bridgehole was tight. The concrete structure above has been on the slide for years and now has steel strapping round the bridge abutments on the towpath side to try and hold it back; whether the towpath wall has moved or not maybe we'll find out. As to how this boat got there, well there is a boatbuilder in Warwick specialising in widebeam boats, there perhaps?

Don't know. I would guess not looking at it. Still tied on the towpath below the bridge this morning.

So, widebeams in inappropriate places part 256: Below Shop Lock, Stockton, won’t go through the flat topped concrete bridge. Anyone who’s hung around there long enough knows the bridge comes in below water level; many have tried to go through breasted despite being warned but they knew better. Oh, how we laughed. Usual mayhem with the pound above dropped off two feet, boats lying at angles on the bottom, water over the offside coping in the pound down to Jones’. Boat still below the bridge awaiting CRT engineer taking a look. And that’s before they try and get through the Blue Lias bridge. Just stop it.

I think these are probably on the offside between Sutton's & Bedworth Hill Cutting. I towed Leopard back from Roger Fuller's for Roy and dropped it off there.

Take a look at old photographs or, for a Big Woolwich, the one on Buckden was as close as Brinklow Boat Services could get to "as original" at the time. They're plug ugly mind, like the original back cabin doors were.

Dusty

I think you'll find that statement is incorrect.

I reached the same conclusion after looking at photos when I last made new doors for the boat about 20 years ago. Or it could be I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to refit the drawer pulls from the previous doors. I'll leave it to the reader to make their own decision....

The Great Central empire went much further west than Manchester, try Wales with the Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway as well as various oddities around Liverpool & south Lancashire.

What you need to do Graham is to make sure your football team poses no threat to the baggies position in the play offs... Oh hang on..

Correct Dave, as usual.

You could look at these, painted by Phil Speight

You'll find it's a village in Lincolnshire where my great great grandfather was born, learnt the saddlery trade and moved to Slaithwaite. There is a hall there which I hope to inherit one day but feel my hopes will ultimately founder. Barrow hasn't been there since the summer Mike.