Stratford canal bridge height.

[Dazjadam]

Hi 

Can anyone tell me if I can get bridge height information on the 

North section from Kingswood junction to lapworth , I know the height on CRT it is 6ft but I think this is due to the bottom section going into the Stratford basin . Is there a more specific source for bridge heights or is it suck it and see . I recently done the Ashby which is stated at 6.6ft and had a couple of inches to spare on there lowest bridge. Would be Grateful if anyone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[nicknorman]

The last bridge into the basin is slightly higher than the second last one at the last lock. We came through a couple of days ago and didn’t have to take the flower pots and troughs off the roof, but then the water level was about 6” down. Sorry i don’t know what that equates in ft and ins but it does illustrate the point that bridge air draft is not a fixed thing, it varies with water level and this is especially so on a short pound and with a narrow lock feeding it and a wide lock draining from it.

[Dazjadam]

Thanks for the response . I don't think I'm going to risk going south into Stratford I was wondering if there are any such low bridge's going north from Kingswood  junction through lapworth.

Cheers.

[Rick-n-Jo]

3 minutes ago, Dazjadam said:

Thanks for the response . I don't think I'm going to risk going south into Stratford I was wondering if there are any such low bridge's going north from Kingswood  junction through lapworth.

Cheers.

No there aren't, the bridges on the northern section are generous, as if they were planning it to be a broad canal.

[Dazjadam]

Brill thanks for that , the wider the better.

[john6767]

The lowest two on the South Stratford are the one going into the basin in Stratford, and the road bridge on the tail on the last lock before Stratford.  I think the latter is the lower of the two.  It is as low as anything you will get on the main part of the network but any normal narrowboat should not have an issue.  I wound be surprised if it is as low at 6ft though.

 

17 minutes ago, Rick-n-Jo said:

No there aren't, the bridges on the northern section are generous, as if they were planning it to be a broad canal.

I believe like the W&B the intention was for a wide canal, but when they got to locks, in both cases, finances dictated that they build narrow locks.

Edited July 15, 2020 by john6767

[Dazjadam]

Hi 

That's my problem I'm not normal my solar panels came with the narrow boat which is great but the way there set up  not so much. I'm going to have to do some alterations I think to be able to do the whole network.

Thanks

[Tracy D'arth]

33 minutes ago, Dazjadam said:

Hi 

That's my problem I'm not normal my solar panels came with the narrow boat which is great but the way there set up  not so much. I'm going to have to do some alterations I think to be able to do the whole network.

Thanks

There are often lots of gongoozlers around, take on a lot of passengers whilst negotiating low bridges. 

TD'

[Detling]

there is the guillotine lock at the junction but I can't remember are problems, into the basin you do need care but the northern section is pretty normal.

[roland elsdon]

We once had to have all the drinkers in the pub garden on the front of the boat to get it into the basin, but that was before they lifted the road bridge..

Apart from that bridge you can get an unballasted town class motor with top planks up all the way down the stratford. 
That is if you can get through Wilmcote and the bridge before it, which I have in the past had to modify to get through with the bows up. 

[matty40s]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

There are often lots of gongoozlers around, take on a lot of passengers whilst negotiating low bridges. 

TD'

I was moving a boat up the Avon and towards Northamptonshire when I got stuck in Stratford. 

The chimney was rusted solid to the collar and wouldnt move, even with a mallet.

I had to wait for the broker to get permission from the owner to destroy the chimney. 

As it was, I managed to get many tourists on the starboard side through the first bridge and the chimney just scraped through.

 

Unfortunately, there were no tourists available at the next (lower) bridge.

Bye bye chimney

 

[Tracy D'arth]

5 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I was moving a boat up the Avon and towards Northamptonshire when I got stuck in Stratford. 

The chimney was rusted solid to the collar and wouldnt move, even with a mallet.

I had to wait for the broker to get permission from the owner to destroy the chimney. 

As it was, I managed to get many tourists on the starboard side through the first bridge and the chimney just scraped through.

 

Unfortunately, there were no tourists available at the next (lower) bridge.

Bye bye chimney

 

Well, if all else fails........................The immovable object versus the immovable bridge and the bridge wins everytime!

TD'

[john6767]

51 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Well, if all else fails........................The immovable object versus the immovable bridge and the bridge wins everytime!

TD'

But by the look of the lumps out of some bridges, it is sometimes a close fight.

[roland elsdon]

Back in 1995 we went down the Stratford, into the last bridge before Wilmcote and just stopped dead. The walls had come in and the bows caught 5feet up from the water.

Close inspection evidenced Bwb had ‘fixed’ the brickwork by rendering over it with concrete.

A following hire boat and an oncoming hire boat both pulled and  ram pushed us back out, and once they were gone, about an hour later we ‘ repaired’ the bridge with appropriate tools.

Even now we go into it very gingerly and with full tanks in the bow and everything moved forward, to bring the front down. Mrs S stands on the bow and we walk the boat in.