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Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.


DandV

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2 hours ago, jake_crew said:

Those two tunnels on Peter Scotts map would have been quite something. Too expensive to build perhaps ? Not much info on google as far as I can see.

There are three articles in NarrowBoat by Richard Dean, in the Canals That Never Were series, (all behind WaterwaysWorld's paywall).

The Peak District, Winter 2008; Derbyshire Connections Spring 2009; Sheffield & Manchester Junction Canal, Autumn 2016.

All the proposals have canals at high levels with various extreme tunnels. This is the the proposed Sheffield & Manchester Junction Canal from Telford’s report of January 1825 that “the summit is unavoidably much elevated” and the line over 39 miles long with 80 locks rising 800ft to a summit tunnel at Woodhead, and falling 652ft by another 66 locks to join the Peak Forest Canal at Hyde. As You Do.spacer.png

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On this day in 2007

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West India Docks entrance lock off tidal River Thames. Fulbourne and other boats assembling for a protest cruise the next day. (David Mack's pictures) having joined the river, downriver, at King George V lock, already occupied by HMS St Albans ...

 

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and a close-ish encounter with the Woolich Ferry

 

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Edited by PeterScott
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On this day in 2007

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Looking back along South Dock, West India Dock for a cruise protesting about government cuts in waterways funding.

(David Mack's pictures from Fulbourne)

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passing the Limehouse entance Regents Canal

 

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The flotilla had been accompanied by the river police, and each of the boats was boarded in turn and the crew interviewed. The water was a bit choppy and the officer who boarded Fulbourne had to leap back onto the Police launch. Compare #603

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In Sheffield it was a cold morning at 6am, and the need was to board the Master Cutler (a train with breakfast) to be in London for an interview to hopefully become a volunteer with the Inland Waterways Amenity Advisory Council (IWAAC) which the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) had helpully organised for the same day as the Waterways Protest. Sadly they didn't give me the job. On the way it was possible to fit in a visit to the upper tier of Tower Bridge to see the flotilla on its way upriver to parliament. I thought about the entrance fee as an essential part of the trip for the travel-claim to DEFRA ... but they had paid for breakfast.

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58 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

On this day in 2007

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Looking back along South Dock, West India Dock for a cruise protesting about government cuts in waterways funding.

(David Mack's pictures from Fulbourne)

spacer.png

passing the Limehouse entance Regents Canal

 

spacer.png

The flotilla had been accompanied by the river police, and each of the boats was boarded in turn and the crew interviewed. The water was a bit choppy and the officer who boarded Fulbourne had to leap back onto the Police launch. Compare #603

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In Sheffield it was a cold morning at 6am, and the need was to board the Master Cutler (a train with breakfast).

In an earlier era, I remember seeing The Master Cutler several times at Sheffield Victoria station. It was at that time a most prestigious train comprising Pullman coaches and hauled by a Britannia class engine. I didn't know that it was still operating as late as 2007.

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24 minutes ago, Athy said:

In an earlier era, I remember seeing The Master Cutler several times at Sheffield Victoria station. It was at that time a most prestigious train comprising Pullman coaches and hauled by a Britannia class engine. I didn't know that it was still operating as late as 2007.

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The nice Mr Google found the above.

 

 

From the last timetable before the Accursed Virus, The Master Cutler was still leaving Sheffield (Midland) for St Pancras each weekday morning around half-past-seven.

 

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20 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Nearly all the early class 40's from D200 began life on the Great Eastern region, Liverpool st-Norwich taking over from the Britannia's and then the Brush type 4, class 47 took over from them and then in the mid 1980's electric class 86 took over from them and then class 90, stil la few of these running but the services are now largely taken over by boring multiple units.

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3 minutes ago, Athy said:

I'm surprised to see the London Eye - I thought it was installed in 2012 for the Olympic Games.

Been around for longer than that. Built around the Millennienniennium, along with the Dome and the Bridge. Originally called the Millennium Wheel.

Jen

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4 hours ago, PeterScott said:

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Looking back along South Dock, West India Dock for a cruise protesting about government cuts in waterways funding.

(David Mack's pictures from Fulbourne)

 

And how does the level of BW funding which we were protesting about being cut 14 years ago compare with the current government support to CRT?

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3 hours ago, David Mack said:

And how does the level of BW funding which we were protesting about being cut 14 years ago compare with the current government support to CRT?

374472621_CRTAnnualReport2020.jpg.d8abc03b9b440f844b5ecd0fb9f17a8c.jpgThe piechart from the C&RT Annual report for the year ended March 2020 shows direct government grant of £51.9m which compares with £76.1m to BW for the year ending March 2006  and £72.1m for the year ending March 2007

 

The small print under those numbers has lots of bits-and-pieces that make them apples compared to oranges. For example BW then included Scotland which accounted for somewhere between £8m and £10m of grant. The change to a charity has a different taxation regime, and hence public support is provided in different ways, the full effect of which is above my paygrade to understand or assess. Then there is the so-called non-operational property (offices not necessarily near waterways which pay rent, used as income) which the legacy of BW structure had them (and hence the Government) owning. Control of that (careful words here) was passed to C&RT in 2012 and the value of these things has pretty-much doubled in the intervening time. That income is all under 'Investments' of £51.7m in the piechart and maybe just under £30m in year ending 2007; accountants will probably find more pears and tangerines in that too and the Accursed Virus will have had is say this year.

 

As to the protest, we (the waterway users and volunteers) were particularly incensed by the in-year 5% cut: the year had started, the work commissioned, and around three-months into the year the Department said to limit the end-year outcome. It had something to do with the grant system for agriculture (counting sheep??) going awry. This was the start (my observation) of BW's total disillusion with the government-funding model, and having done the research into alternatives, taking the opportunities of the so-called Big Society (whatever that was) of the coalition government to extract itself. This could only have worked (it didn't with the forests) with the fullhearted support of the voluntary movement, and our particular contibution was to extract from government for the charity a fifteen-year commitment to a contract, to replace the not-even-one-year commitment that we were complaining about in 2007. (Sadly) I could go on ... ?

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