MoominPapa Posted September 7, 2020 Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 Stourport Narrow Lock 1, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Detail From Date: 05/10/2020 09:00 To Date: 27/11/2020 18:00 inclusive Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Repair Is the towpath closed? No Location Closest waterway: Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Starts at: Stourport Narrow Lock No 1 Ends at: Stourport Narrow Lock No 1 Description Stourport Lock 1 will be closed for planned stoppage works. Works to be undertaken include top and bottom gate replacements, ladder and brickwork repairs. This seems a bit off, to start planned closures a month early, UNLESS the wide locks are going to be made available as an alternative. Does anyone know? MP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Dog Posted September 7, 2020 Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, MoominPapa said: Stourport Narrow Lock 1, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Detail From Date: 05/10/2020 09:00 To Date: 27/11/2020 18:00 inclusive Type: Navigation Closure Reason: Repair Is the towpath closed? No Location Closest waterway: Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Starts at: Stourport Narrow Lock No 1 Ends at: Stourport Narrow Lock No 1 Description Stourport Lock 1 will be closed for planned stoppage works. Works to be undertaken include top and bottom gate replacements, ladder and brickwork repairs. This seems a bit off, to start planned closures a month early, UNLESS the wide locks are going to be made available as an alternative. Does anyone know? MP. I don't know the answer to your question, but I believe Lock No 1 off the Severn at Diglis is also closed for an extended period so it looks like a double whammy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiscuits Posted September 7, 2020 Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 10 minutes ago, MoominPapa said: This seems a bit off, to start planned closures a month early, UNLESS the wide locks are going to be made available as an alternative. Does anyone know? Oddly the map shows both barge locks as being closed, despite clearly stating it's the narrow locks. The map also shows the stoppage running from the river to past bridge 6! It might be worth a phonecall if it's affecting your plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pegg Posted September 7, 2020 Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 Diglis bottom lock was also scheduled to be closed today but an hour after I received a notice this morning to say so another arrived to say it had been put back to 28th September. So it does seem there is - or at least was - some co-ordination but it is a strange time for scheduled closures. I’m not sure how long they have been scheduled for though. I’d normally be aware through receiving the notices but perhaps because I knew my boat would be away from home I hadn’t paid much attention. It’s timed around school terms for hire boats it seems as Diglis reopens on 23rd October. Unfortunately this next six weeks are probably not going to be as quiet as might have been expected. JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinV Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Hi I've messaged CaRT to confirm whether the double lock at Stourport was going to remain open. I had a call back today and they've said they think so from initial information but they were unable to contact the project manager so they wouldn't be able to say for definite until they'd spoken to him. I'll update this post when I hear back from them unless someone finds out first. Thanks for the info about Worcester - we hadn't picked up on that one for some reason so very much appreciated. Cheers Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty40s Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 On 07/09/2020 at 15:33, Captain Pegg said: It’s timed around school terms for hire boats it seems as Diglis reopens on 23rd October. Unfortunately this next six weeks are probably not going to be as quiet as might have been expected. JP This six weeks is not usually quiet anyway in my experience as the silver surfers break out as soon as the kids go back to school. Coupled with the fact that the number of countries you can go to without having to quarantine on return is fast dropping to single figures, it doesnt take a genius to work out that the canals may remain busy. Unfortunately, I dont think genius and CRT planning go hand in hand, the press release section obviously havnt told the maintenance section that this year may be slightly different. 56 minutes ago, MartinV said: Hi I've messaged CaRT to confirm whether the double lock at Stourport was going to remain open. I had a call back today and they've said they think so from initial information but they were unable to contact the project manager so they wouldn't be able to say for definite until they'd spoken to him. I'll update this post when I hear back from them unless someone finds out first. Well done Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Fairhurst Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 On 07/09/2020 at 15:33, Captain Pegg said: So it does seem there is - or at least was - some co-ordination but it is a strange time for scheduled closures. I’m not sure how long they have been scheduled for though. I’d normally be aware through receiving the notices but perhaps because I knew my boat would be away from home I hadn’t paid much attention. Severn stoppages are often early autumn, because the river gets more unpredictable as it approaches winter. Both Diglis and Stourport bottom locks (obviously) have gates opening onto the Severn, so I can understand CRT wanting to get them sorted before the river rises too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Pegg Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, matty40s said: This six weeks is not usually quiet anyway in my experience as the silver surfers break out as soon as the kids go back to school. Coupled with the fact that the number of countries you can go to without having to quarantine on return is fast dropping to single figures, it doesnt take a genius to work out that the canals may remain busy. Unfortunately, I dont think genius and CRT planning go hand in hand, the press release section obviously havnt told the maintenance section that this year may be slightly different. It was just the logic of reopening for the last week of October that seemed to align with the increased hire boat activity associated with school holidays. 17 minutes ago, Richard Fairhurst said: Severn stoppages are often early autumn, because the river gets more unpredictable as it approaches winter. Both Diglis and Stourport bottom locks (obviously) have gates opening onto the Severn, so I can understand CRT wanting to get them sorted before the river rises too much. That makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterF Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 Stoppage emails received saying the wide locks will be open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9.00am to 3.00pm with lockies / vollies present during the narrow lock stoppage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinV Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 Yep - I just received this today as well from CaRT: "The wide lock will remain open for boaters during the repairs to the narrow lock but they will only operate on certain days and between certain hours as they will be manned. All details will be uploaded to the web site once they have been decided before the stoppage begins in October, I would expect the new information to be available by the end of this week at the latest." Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Dog Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 49 minutes ago, MartinV said: Yep - I just received this today as well from CaRT: "The wide lock will remain open for boaters during the repairs to the narrow lock but they will only operate on certain days and between certain hours as they will be manned. All details will be uploaded to the web site once they have been decided before the stoppage begins in October, I would expect the new information to be available by the end of this week at the latest." Martin Having never been through the wide locks at Stourport, but been through the others from the Severn many a time, is there anything special about these locks that means the average boater (who can presumably be trusted with the adjacent narrow staircase and also the wide locks up to the canal at Diglis) can't manage these unaided? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob-M Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, Sea Dog said: Having never been through the wide locks at Stourport, but been through the others from the Severn many a time, is there anything special about these locks that means the average boater (who can presumably be trusted with the adjacent narrow staircase and also the wide locks up to the canal at Diglis) can't manage these unaided? Nothing special that I remember from the last time I went through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Dog Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 6 minutes ago, Rob-M said: Nothing special that I remember from the last time I went through them. Then 3 short days and only with help, seems an odd restriction to apply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesthenuke Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 Given that the narrow locks at Stourport are somewhat awkwardly arranged, I tried to use the wide locks last year when we were there with ours and our friends boat, so that we would have gone through as a pair. This seemed reasonable to me but the CRT staff were adamant that we must not do it, but no reason was given. Then a coal boat (Roach IIRC) arrived about an hour later and went straight through the wide locks with no complaint by CRT. The logic of this escapes me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchcrawler Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 It would make a lot more sense to use the broad locks more often. We locked out of Stourport a couple of weeks ago, one of four or five boats, going out one at a time and arriving at the first river lock one at a time and locking down through that. If we had gone out two by two then we would have arrived at the river lock in pairs so having the number of lockings, half the electric power turning those locks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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