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Long life lock gates to be trialled on Kennet & Avon Canal


Ray T

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PRESS RELEASE

 

12 December 2019  

 

LONG LIFE LOCK GATES TO BE TRIALLED ON KENNET & AVON CANAL

 

The Canal & River Trust, the charity that looks after 2,000 miles of waterways across England and Wales, is to trial a set of new ‘long life’ lock gates on the Kennet & Avon Canal.  Currently being installed at Picketsfield Lock near Hungerford in Berkshire, the innovative new gates are intended to bring efficiencies and long term environmental benefits.

 

The new ‘long life’ lock gates are an evolution of the composite gates – made out of steel and timber – that are used in some places on the Canal & River Trust’s waterways.  In developing the gates the Canal & River Trust has been consulting with the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust about the design and construction.

 

Made predominantly out of steel, the innovative new gate design is intended to last at least twice as long as a standard lock gate, with an anticipated life span of over 50 years.

 

The robustness of the metal construction will reduce the need for repairs saving the Canal & River Trust time and money and reducing disruption for boaters.  The gates have been designed with sacrificial parts such as the sections where the gates meet to be watertight. But by being sacrificial they can be easily removed and replaced without draining the canal or removing the gates; bringing environmental benefits by reducing the need to mobilise heavy plant and materials at often remote locations.

 

The gates at Picketsfield Lock retain the same paddle gearing, the same fixings and the same steel balance beam and so the proposed gate will resemble the gate that it is to replace giving boaters and visitors the look and feel of a ‘classic’ lock gate.

 

Richard Wakelen, head of asset management at the Canal & River Trust, said: “The canals were built over 200 years ago and it’s a testament to the original engineers that their designs have stood the test of time.  Now, with modern technology, we can trial some improvements that could make things better for boaters while making the best use of our resources.  It’s exciting to be trialling something new and innovative on the canals and imagining that, in generations to come, engineers could be looking at our designs and building on them

                                                                                                                    

“As the charity that looks after 2,000 miles of waterways across England & Wales, we are always searching for innovative ways to look after the locks, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure in our care and welcome the support of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust.”

 

Chris Sims, chair of the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust said: “Timber lock gates are renewed every 20 to 25 years, however we can see that these newly designed trial gates lasting over 50 years. 

 

“The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust has been looking at innovative new designs for some while now and we see this exciting trial as a first step of change that we are undertaking in partnership as two canal charities.”

 

ENDS

 

For further media requests please contact:

Fran Read, national press officer, Canal & River Trust

m 07796 610 427 e fran.read@canalrivertrust.org.uk 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Err I think we have had these type of lockgate for for many years on the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation! Big steel ones on the next lock down

The one of the pair of the bottom locks at Hillmorton have a set of steel gates as well.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Ray T
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58 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Err I think we have had these type of lockgate for for many years on the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation! Big steel ones on the next lock down

Stop spoiling the chance for a press release......

 

 

Theres steel gates all over, I wonder if they are as forgiving to the stone structures holding them up??

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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

The one of the pair of the bottom locks at Hillmorton have a set of steel gates as well.

 

 

 

 

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30 minutes ago, matty40s said:

Stop spoiling the chance for a press release......

 

 

Theres steel gates all over, I wonder if they are as forgiving to the stone structures holding them up??

 

Those at Hillmorton are surely just bog standard all steel gates?

In fairness the ones in the press release are of a composite construction., which I can't think of too many existing examples of.

I can well imagine that by retaining some wooden parts the stresses placed on the lock structure may be less than is the usual criticism made of all steel gates.

I'm prepared to give them a provisional endorsement as a potentially good compromise between all wood and all steel.

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1 hour ago, Ray T said:

The one of the pair of the bottom locks at Hillmorton have a set of steel gates as well.

 

 

 

 

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Cast iron actually, and considerably more than 50 years old. All of three the "new" locks at Hillmorton were built with cast iron gates

 

They are believed to only been removed once (in the 1960's) to have the faces re-machined since they were put in.

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2 minutes ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

Cast iron actually, and considerably more than 50 years old. All of three the "new" locks at Hillmorton were built with cast iron gates

 

They are believed to only been removed once (in the 1960's) to have the faces re-machined since they were put in.

Just to be clear, I though it was being suggested the left hand pair were steel.  I do know the right hand ones are a surviving pair of cast iron ones.

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1 minute ago, alan_fincher said:

Just to be clear, I though it was being suggested the left hand pair were steel.  I do know the right hand ones are a surviving pair of cast iron ones.

The offside (original lock) has always had wooden gates - I'd have thought you of all people would have remembered those particular gates ;)

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1 minute ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

The offside (original lock) has always had wooden gates - I'd have thought you of all people would have remembered those particular gates ;)

They are just like any other pair of gates now the rubbing plates are bolted through with the dome heads of the bolts on the inside, and the nut and washer on the outside.

With the bolts facing the other way, they were more memorable! ?

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14 minutes ago, Rose Narrowboats said:

Cast iron actually, and considerably more than 50 years old. All of three the "new" locks at Hillmorton were built with cast iron gates

 

They are believed to only been removed once (in the 1960's) to have the faces re-machined since they were put in.

One of them lays on the bank just below the bottom lock

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There are still a number of composite gates on  the Southern GU.  They have lasted well but folk like Ian Tyler have in the past said that if they are distorted by an excessive bashing they are very hard to get watertight again.  They are also more expensive in first cost, and nothing like so carbon friendly as timber.

N

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9 hours ago, BEngo said:

There are still a number of composite gates on  the Southern GU.  They have lasted well but folk like Ian Tyler have in the past said that if they are distorted by an excessive bashing they are very hard to get watertight again.  They are also more expensive in first cost, and nothing like so carbon friendly as timber.

N

All steel gates that look like wooden gates have been trialed on the Monmouth Canal in Cwmbran** - they survive better with little use and have a forecast design life in excess of 120 years. I was staggered by how many trees a narrow lock worth of gates needs - about 12, which is why the quality of wood used is going downhill, we can't grow them fast enough, and indeed, trying to grow them fast makes for poor quality wood.

 

**Just for clarity this is a restoration scheme and not a CRT waterway, it's owned by Torfaen

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/12/2019 at 18:12, ditchcrawler said:

One of them lays on the bank just below the bottom lock

The iron gates on the Hillmorton near side lock and the removed cracked gates, I can't remember which lock they came from on the bank as a display item. One lock on the Claydon Flight also has Iron gates

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4 hours ago, Detling said:

I would like to see them trying to use recycled plastic as they are now using for park benches.

I doesn't seem to have much strength/ rigidity to it, there is a pontoon made out of it on the Ashby and some around the pond at Fradley 

On 12/12/2019 at 18:07, alan_fincher said:

They are just like any other pair of gates now the rubbing plates are bolted through with the dome heads of the bolts on the inside, and the nut and washer on the outside.

With the bolts facing the other way, they were more memorable! ?

They are lined with plywood and expanding foam now.

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"I doesn't seem to have much strength/ rigidity to it, there is a pontoon made out of it on the Ashby and some around the pond at Fradley"

 

Guess it must depend on the type(s) of recycled plastic used because some of the preserved railways at least are using recycled plastic sleepers and are looking at a lifespan double that of wooden sleepers, (around 40 years I understand).

 

There is no reason why it could not be reinforced if needed, à la 'rebar' in concrete structures, and the surface could be textured to resemble wood if thought desireable.

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