c c
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Posts posted by c c
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The point that stands out, is the crew told the guy to drop the paddle, he didn't.
He should have.
What to me stands out was the actual cause of the incident. Hanging up a full size historic in a lock. Twice.
If I was in the place of the lock-keeper, I would probably have taken the same view as he did, that I had never ever seen or heard of that before so assume the boat will pop down any second.
If I was the steerer, I would probably have been just as embarrassed as Alan, and wanted to have a jolly good rant.
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I assume from your posts that you know the volocky concerned.
Just as I assumed from your posts that you know him very well and were there at the time of whateveritwas that happened.
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to be scrupulously fair we have only heard one side of it -
Since when did this forum want to give the accused a hearing before passing judgement and rushing in to hurl the first ton of stone?
One reason I have always liked this forum is the knowledge that I am in company with so many other beings who are as perfect in every way as am I.
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Sorry but the captain is in charge! I'm sure there are many well meaning volunteers but it's your boat.
As others have said please report it so the guy can get retrained. Next time it could get serious, people start falling in the cut when panic strikes...
That particular volunteer, who is possibly the most experienced of all the volunteer lock-keepers, was on duty at that particular lock with a certain CRT ChX Mr Parry on 15th August - when you were also there.
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If genuine, I would expect the seller (based in Daventry) to give us more photos. Other than that, the description is not convincing.
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we've both missed a bit out there Ian. There were two steam engines -
We do have mention of the second steam engine and the paraffin one in the full document but if we add your info and the sketches of the engines that were rescued when BW cleared the depot, we have the makings of a very comprehensive history of Hillmorton Duplicate Locks. Lets get together and have it printed up.
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I think the first back pumping at Hillmorton was a beam engine installed in 1831 which could raise over four locks of water per hour. This was later replaced by a large open crank engine in a new engine house (still extant next to the sump lydfordcastle mentions) which is connected to the same culvert which drains the dock. The second engine was replaced by an electric motor and pump (still there in the 90s) which was then superseded in the 1940s by a new electric motor and pump in a utilitarian concrete building on the offside below the bottom lock. That served until the late 80s when the current system was put in on the towingpath side and the feeder through the hill field abandoned.
Can we nick some of that to add to our history info for the event on 15th August
A relevant extract from our collection of facts is:
A windmill was originally proposed as the motive power for a water pump, but the choice was a stately beam engine, of the usual gargantuan proportions. Capable of lifting water the required 18ft l0 ¼ inches, its cylinder was over 2 foot in diameter, with a stroke of 6½ft, and it delivered a leisurely 12 strokes per minute. Fuel consumption was l½cwt of coal for just over 4 locks of water. It was possible for a boat to pass through each lock, even using the additional side ponding paddle in just 80 seconds! The lock chambers were designed to fill in a staggering 29 seconds, and soon an impressive average of 400 working narrow boats a week were passing through the new locks. The Oxford Canal was to remain well in profit until the 20th century. Steam power eventually gave way to oil with a 32bhp paraffin engine, which powered the same l3in belt driven centrifugal pump. Sadly these precious heritage items have been lost. Oil in turn was superseded by electricity, which now drives the pumps on the towing path side. The switch gear and meter are in the little white hut by the bottom lock, usually mistaken for an old toll house but actually the duty lock keeper’s lobby
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Sounds great, but only if you're doing the food.
Do your services still include cess pits cleaned and handmade cakes?
Sorry, that's from an old advert. The Tillie has been painted since.
We're doing the food for the boaters until 2pm but others are then providing the usual show food until 11pm
Bar open all day. DUPLICITY real ale
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Isn't there also a bit of yellow line missing where the Wyken Arm rejoined the main route? I'm pretty sure the arm was originally part of the main line.
Isn't that yellow line Clifton Brook which still flows that route?
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I just got an email telling me my licenses for Badsey and Angel were due. There were a total of 8 errors on the renewal forms, including an overcharge of £499.
I emailed back to receive a reply to say they could not reply due to the high volume of email enquiries.
I telephoned and got straight through and was told "Oh just cross them out and write in the correct information".
If I crossed out the (just a fraction short of) two thousand they want for the two boats and wrote in £1 each, would I get away with it?
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Doing a current Satellite Map comparison side by side to the 1888 - 1913 OS map for Hillmorton Here.
I was interested to see that below the bottom locks there was what looks like a pier sticking out and to the right a canal arm marked "Basin". No longer in existence yet still visible in the contemporary version.
Any one know anything about it? It doesn't look like a basin, just an arm that curls away to the left at the top. Also curious is that it seems to pass under a large, strange shaped construction. A transshipment warehouse perhaps?
Anyone anything to add?
Come to the Old Mortonians Canal Festival at Hillmorton on the 15th August to celebrate 175years of the duplicate locks and in the marquee you will be able to learn all about the housing development, the road AND the plan to restore the Basin which is the old canal cut off in the 1700s. You can still follow the bend round to where it meets the modern canal. Don't be confused by the line of the Clifton Brook which goes under the modern canal.
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Blue and white Dawncraft? It's now out of the water having some work done on it.
The one blocking the locks is still there, has been for months.
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Today started with the welcome sight of two volunteers on the locks at Hillmorton.
Unfortunately by the end of the morning, one (who had only just started) was sacked and the other (a trainee) sent to another location.
This was apparently due to an alleged complaint from one boat, and the resulting "social" media.
The boaters apparently declined advice to use one of the pair of locks that was ready for them and filled another to "use the water they had bought down with them".
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No - my apologies.
You obviously CAN use this forum to accuse a person of assault AND start their trial on line in their absence.
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Does anyone know of locks where I can volunteer to be 'grabbed'? Sounds enticing.
I'm sure it could be arranged.
Meanwhile it seems you can use this forum to anonymously make an assault allegation against a CRT Volunteer without having to produce a scrap of evidence AND without the thread being deleted.
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Jack James took Guinness from London to Birmingham on Badsey through WWII. The Guinness archive confirms this and a couple of accounts written by the IDLE Women mention "the nice beer man". The run ceased after the Big Freeze in 1947 when Guinness realised there were thousands of cheap ex-military trucks to be had and men to drive them.
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They are definitely at Hillmorton today judging by comments on Facebook. There is a story of one of them physically grabbing boaters and their windlass..... shocking.
Apart from there being a fair amount of chaos when a boater wanted to wind above the bottom lock when all the display boats escaping from Braunston were going through, the one volunteer on duty is the sort of person who is highly unlikely to grab anyone, far more likely to let them get on with it and come back when it all calms down. So has anyone substantiated this alleged incident yet?
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Thankyou people
Ctrl f5 was all it needed.
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Sorry not to respond sooner to your helpful emails but if I can't get on the forum I can't read what you say and can't answer. So I am on via another computer and will try what you suggest just as soon as I find out what clear- the- cashe means and how it is achieved.
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On my ASUS notepad which is usually rubbish at most things, CWDF works very well. If I try to log on with my newer LENOVO desktop, which it used to work on very well, I get "Out of Memory" followed by a line of text at the top of the screen. Both use IE and Windows 8.
Any ideas?
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Is anyone else finding the site very slow this morning.
Not a moan but thought it best to mention it.
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We name our cars.
Ours are "Tilly" and "The Hampster"
The last one used to be "P.got", but Sadly that was only because no one could spell Peugeot.
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Locks open again but one paddle gear on bottom lock is taped up.
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I am whole-heartedly against it and the general trend to contaminate everything with arty-farty bits & pieces. The beauty of the canal system is in part the simple functional order of an old industrial system, it does not need this additional non-functional material.
The same goes for some walks where you go to see unmessed with nature at its best, only now it is cluttered with poetry carved in the rocks and such like.
The same goes for carving poetry on lock gates. It is vandalism, even if orchestrated by institutions and with the highest motives.
I think the artwork is clever and attractive but I do find myself agreeing with the above comment.
Seriously scary moment at Hillmorton - And another volunteer lock-keeper concern.
in General Boating
Posted
But it is just that, considering we have taken Badsey out every year for the last ten years for an average of two solid months each time.
And yes we have of course lost it a number of times.
Difference is that we didn't then get on this forum to call in the wolf pack to get a man sacked.