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Barton Swing Aquaduct


john6767

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We got here a couple of hours ago and the aqueduct was open, and some activity on the road bridge by guys in hivis.  They swing the road bridge and a big ship comes through.  They close the road bridge, ang it will not fully shut, presumably it has expanded in the heat.  At this point there is nothing going on on the road bridge, possibly they are waiting for the fire brigade to come and pour water on it.  But is there a reason the the aquaduct has to remain open, is it interlocked with the road bridge perhaps?

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1 hour ago, john6767 said:

Well obviously they are not interlocked as for no apparent reason they eventually decided they could swing it back and we were on out way.

It's good to see that the old technology works well where the newer fails. The Victorian engineers knew what they were doing even without computers.

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1 minute ago, Flyboy said:

It's good to see that the old technology works well where the newer fails. The Victorian engineers knew what they were doing even without computers.

I guess the aqueduct being full of water it is not going to expand like the road bridge.

 

I was surprised the when the came to open the gates that they were manually had wound though.

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A few years ago we arrived at the canal swing bridge to find it open for the ship canal. No big ships in sight and then the hi vis mob swarmed and the bridge started to close but didn’t quite. Lots of hi vis guys scratching heads then two appeared with big sledge hammers brayed the Life out of something. 

 

Bridge then swung to open to the ship canal and back again this time all the way so we dashed across whilst the going was good. Seemed to be a fairly practiced operation but I didn’t fancy being stuck

so didn’t wait to see what happened next...

 

also didn’t want swmbo going back into the Trafford centre with the credit card - won’t make that mistake again....

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2 hours ago, AndrewIC said:

Hydraulic. All the locks and bridges were hydraulic, there are still hydraulic towers at some of them.

I am sure that it was hydraulic operated, but where did the hydraulic power come from, steam presumably?

 

But the important thing is that in today’s heat the aquaduct worked fine, but the road bridge did not.  What I don’t understand why it took so long to swing the aquaduct back after they had found the road bridge would not shut.  

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10 minutes ago, john6767 said:

I am sure that it was hydraulic operated, but where did the hydraulic power come from, steam presumably?

 

But the important thing is that in today’s heat the aquaduct worked fine, but the road bridge did not.  What I don’t understand why it took so long to swing the aquaduct back after they had found the road bridge would not shut.  

It was hydraulic and worked by steam.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barton_Swing_Aqueduct

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4 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

Why is that then?  The turntable at York railway museum can be hand turned, no?

I think at 1450 tons it was a lot heavier than a railway turntable, so a bit much for hand cranking.

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6 hours ago, Flyboy said:

I think at 1450 tons it was a lot heavier than a railway turntable, so a bit much for hand cranking.

With a 100 ton loco on it, a turntable weight is not insignificant.  But maybe, even if perfectly balanced, the gearing required for 1450 tons might have taken a while!

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8 hours ago, john6767 said:

But the important thing is that in today’s heat the aquaduct worked fine, but the road bridge did not.  What I don’t understand why it took so long to swing the aquaduct back after they had found the road bridge would not shut.  

Probably a bit busy trying to sort out the road bridge and didn’t think the aqueduct a priority? The MSC swing bridges are in a terrible state, the ones in Warrington break down frequently, especially when it’s hot, and cause traffic chaos.

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19 minutes ago, AndrewIC said:

Probably a bit busy trying to sort out the road bridge and didn’t think the aqueduct a priority? The MSC swing bridges are in a terrible state, the ones in Warrington break down frequently, especially when it’s hot, and cause traffic chaos.

Clearly, but once they had come to the point that it was not going to close, had put up barriers at the gaps and let people on foot through, there was nothing else to do on the road bridge.  My concern was if there was also an issue with the aquaduct, we were not in a place that you could stay overnight, but it did not come that that so all good in the end.

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4 hours ago, john6767 said:

Clearly, but once they had come to the point that it was not going to close, had put up barriers at the gaps and let people on foot through, there was nothing else to do on the road bridge.  My concern was if there was also an issue with the aquaduct, we were not in a place that you could stay overnight, but it did not come that that so all good in the end.

werent you on the Trafford Centre side? I often see boats moored overnight on the long straight bit where you pass the Trafford Centre. Not heard of any issues.

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23 hours ago, john6767 said:

They close the road bridge, ang it will not fully shut, presumably it has expanded in the heat. 

Proper prior planning prevents poor performance!

 

This is Bridge 1 at Sharpness Docks this morning ... CRT are making sure it works later.

 

IMG_20190726_102848515.jpg.dec2b5e0c887b485d32c0408a908b2af.jpg

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When I woz a sailor in 't Navy the ship I woz on woz due to go to Manchester via this Ship Canal. We were all looking forward to the run ashore. We even had the top of the mast removed in Pompey to allow passage under them there bridges that don't move. 

 

Anyway, we were in the Mersey awaiting our turn but senior naval magagement decided they didn't want us to go, they wanted us to chase Icelantic gun boats in the cold water off Iceland, not the one down the road from Tesco either. 

 

So, our top of the mast was loaded onto a lorry for a jolly for the dockie, and it appeared as if by magic in Faslane. It was put back on and off we went.

 

This is not off topic, as we woukd have gone through said swing bridge.

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3 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

werent you on the Trafford Centre side? I often see boats moored overnight on the long straight bit where you pass the Trafford Centre. Not heard of any issues.

We were at the south side, or at least we were coming from the south.  By the aqueduct was not nice, perhaps a bit further back it feels ok.  Luckily I did not have to make that decision.

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