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Most photogenic stretches of The Rochdale?


larrysanders

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I'm wanting to film with a drone from the best vantage points along the Rochdale.  It's a canal I've never cruised. 

 

Could you suggest the best bits with dramatic landscapes?  Lock or bridge numbers would be really helpful.   It's for a new BBC4 series called 'Narrowboat Diaries' which will be on later in the year. 

 

Many thanks ! 

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Perhaps not quite what you're looking for but I love this site there is a massive amount of content, info, and pictures. Once you work out how the format works you can use it to help you plan where you want to go. I'm not suggesting you borrow the content for your tv program but that you use it for research. 

 

http://penninewaterways.co.uk/rochdale/index.htm

 

Good luck with your project. 

Edited by Tumshie
forgot to add the link
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21 minutes ago, larrysanders said:

I'm wanting to film with a drone from the best vantage points along the Rochdale.  It's a canal I've never cruised. 

 

Could you suggest the best bits with dramatic landscapes?  Lock or bridge numbers would be really helpful.   It's for a new BBC4 series called 'Narrowboat Diaries' which will be on later in the year. 

 

Many thanks ! 

All of it from Sowerby Bridge to Summit.

 

Just a taster:

 

2006_1220Rochdale_Canal10181.JPG

2006_1220Rochdale_Canal10174.JPG

Edited by Ray T
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Rochdale and westwards of there are pretty yuck. Eastwards is much nicer.

First thoughts would be the summit level where it runs between hills (locks 37 to 36. Flying along the great wall of Tod. There is an impressive railway bridge crossing the canal with locks coming in to Todmordon (bridge 30B?).

 

Jen

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Just now, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Rochdale and westwards of there are pretty yuck. Eastwards is much nicer.

First thoughts would be the summit level where it runs between hills (locks 37 to 36. Flying along the great wall of Tod. There is an impressive railway bridge crossing the canal with locks coming in to Todmordon (bridge 30B?).

 

Jen

Gauxholme:

2006_1223Rochdale_Canal20054.JPG

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

All of it from Sowerby Bridge to Summit.

 

Just a taster:

 

2006_1220Rochdale_Canal10181.JPG

 

Moored here overnight a couple of weeks ago .View out the back cabin in the morning with the mist and rain it was easy to imagine we were on a Scottish Loch, just missing the lone piper and a few stag *. Over the towpath wall is the railway's eastern approach to Summit tunnel, requiring all  train horns to be sounded, so the illusion is somewhat spoiled. The Rochdale Canal is a sleeping beauty, sadly neglected by the authority charged with its maintenance.

 

* There were some  highland cattle  somewhere near Mytholmroyd!

Edited by billh
spellin
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Here's what a drone's eye view of Gauxholme viaduct might look like:

413_image_1.jpg

 

There's another interesting railway bridge below lock 61. 

roc1487.jpg

 

West of here the canal takes a great loop around around the Irk valley and over the Irk aqueduct, then almost back to the railway near Mills Mill station while the railway takes the direct route. That might look good from the air.

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The two motorway crossings would be good from the air. At both locations the canal route was diverted. At the M62 the canal was diverted via an existing underpass, and the old route is still in water. At the M60 the canal route was diverted as part of the M60 construction.

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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

Gauxholme:

2006_1223Rochdale_Canal20054.JPG

It’s half redundant. It’s essentially two bridges. The lower plate girders - a later addition - do all the work and the upper cast iron structure is probably only there as a facade these days.

 

JP

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1 minute ago, David Mack said:

Here's what a drone's eye view of Gauxholme viaduct might look like:

413_image_1.jpg

 

There's another interesting railway bridge below lock 61. 

roc1487.jpg

 

West of here the canal takes a great loop around around the Irk valley and over the Irk aqueduct, then almost back to the railway near Mills Mill station while the railway takes the direct route. That might look good from the air.

The bridge in the lower pic is known locally as "th'Iron Donger"  If you would pardon the expression!

 

 

 

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14 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Here's what a drone's eye view of Gauxholme viaduct might look like:

413_image_1.jpg

 

There's another interesting railway bridge below lock 61. 

roc1487.jpg

 

West of here the canal takes a great loop around around the Irk valley and over the Irk aqueduct, then almost back to the railway near Mills Mill station while the railway takes the direct route. That might look good from the air.

No track on that bridge though, probably why it still survives as a cast iron structure. Very nice all the same. The railway was deviated onto a less inspiring structure built alongside which is surprisingly well hidden in that view.

 

It’s also west of Rochdale which is supposedly yuck but I noted when up there last there are some distinctly rural bits of canal once clear of Manchester.

 

JP

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12 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

It’s half redundant. It’s essentially two bridges. The lower plate girders - a later addition - do all the work and the upper cast iron structure is probably only there as a facade these days.

 

JP

Whiteley Arches west of Hebden Bridge used to have a similar cast iron arch. Now it only has a plate girder. Photos from 1907 and 2008:

dg2207.jpg

 

April+2008+339+Whitley+Arches+B.jpg

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9 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Whiteley Arches west of Hebden Bridge used to have a similar cast iron arch. Now it only has a plate girder. Photos from 1907 and 2008:

dg2207.jpg

 

April+2008+339+Whitley+Arches+B.jpg

Both notable for the significant skew angle which would have been a challenge and explains the scale of construction. Gauxholme clearly has some aesthetic considerations judging by those castellated piers. Might explain why the original structure was left in situ. Of course there was also plenty of construction depth available to work with. It’s impressive but it ain’t necessarily pretty.

 

One day I’ll get to inspect it from underneath.

 

JP

Edited by Captain Pegg
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9 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

There's another interesting railway bridge below lock 61. 

roc1487.jpg

 

This bridge almost beggars belief on close inspection.

All the lower part of the metalwork on the right hand side, (where that chap is about to walk under), is broken away, and is tied to the girders above it by a significant number of heavy duty straps.  there really does seem to be nothing else holding up what must be many tons of ironwork.  It really does look like one of the most Mickey Mouse ways of dealing with a failed structure that I have ever witnessed on the canals.

Fortunately that is actually a pair of bridges, and the failed one is actually disused.  It is a different bridge just behind that is carrying the trains.

Lock 61 itself is also a major problem as the left hand bottom gate is completely immoveable by any method tried, and the one on the right doesn't go fully into the recess.  We were totally jammed in it for some considerable time, despite lots of available muscle to tug on ropes.  We only eventually dragged the boat in using a "Spanish Windlass" to one of the lock-side bollards.

I hate lock 61 with a vengeance.  The Rochdale is supposed to be a broad canal, but the relevant stoppage notice doesn't detail any plans to fix this problem.

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8 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

You don't need a drone to get aerial views of the Rochdale.    Yes, that tiny thing is Cygnet.

Gauxholm.jpg

Taken a while ago, 2002. I believe that the tree growth makes taking this photo problemetic now!

 

145b Rochdale Canal Gauxholme 15th September 0145.jpg

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11 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

It’s half redundant. It’s essentially two bridges. The lower plate girders - a later addition - do all the work and the upper cast iron structure is probably only there as a facade these days.

 

JP

Interesting bridge. Most of the Tod houses are lovely old stone terraces but somebody decided to build a pig ugly 1960's style monstrosity right next to this bridge so you can only get a good photo from certain directions. Stonework looks big and solid from below, but viewed from above (don't need a drone, there are good hills) the stone towers are a slender facade.

 

I believe (not sure) that its an original Stevenson bridge in cast and wrought iron. A similar design was used for the Dee bridge in Chester that failed and caused a train to fall into the river, hence this was one has a new bridge structure below it to add strength.

 

.............Dave

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1 hour ago, dmr said:

Interesting bridge. Most of the Tod houses are lovely old stone terraces but somebody decided to build a pig ugly 1960's style monstrosity right next to this bridge so you can only get a good photo from certain directions. Stonework looks big and solid from below, but viewed from above (don't need a drone, there are good hills) the stone towers are a slender facade.

 

I believe (not sure) that its an original Stevenson bridge in cast and wrought iron. A similar design was used for the Dee bridge in Chester that failed and caused a train to fall into the river, hence this was one has a new bridge structure below it to add strength.

 

.............Dave

Are you sure?

 

The design isn’t particularly unusual; an arched beam that acts in compression with its ends tied together. The strengthening at Gauxholme post-dates the Dee collapse by over 50 years. More likely the consequence of increasing loads and fatigue. There are very few surviving cast iron railway bridges in the structural sense although many retain cast iron elements for decorative purposes.

 

JP

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19 hours ago, Tumshie said:

Perhaps not quite what you're looking for but I love this site there is a massive amount of content, info, and pictures. Once you work out how the format works you can use it to help you plan where you want to go. I'm not suggesting you borrow the content for your tv program but that you use it for research. 

 

http://penninewaterways.co.uk/rochdale/index.htm

 

Good luck with your project. 

thanks - it's a really great website ! 

 

6 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

Taken a while ago, 2002. I believe that the tree growth makes taking this photo problemetic now!

 

145b Rochdale Canal Gauxholme 15th September 0145.jpg

thanks for this shot it's a great tip ! 

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