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Barnton Tunnel closed


Derek Porteous

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2 hours ago, Derek Porteous said:

I was told yesterday evening by a CRT employee that they would try and free the two boats first thing this morning. Currently 7.30hrs and no one around yet.

They would be better trying sooner rather than later, today should be warm again and it was cooler in the night when they should of tried.

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Well it is now 10am and not a CRT presence in sight. Even the boat owners of the two boats in the tunnel are now wandering around a bit aimlessly. Information seems to be entirely lacking. Several hire boats in the queue have phoned CRT and got  a stock answer that they are aware of the problem!

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Are these boats really so tightly wedged in that the fire service couldn't separate them when they first attended? At least one of the boats must have been going at some speed when they hit! And it will take a long tirfor cable out to beyond the portal to unstick them.

Edited by David Mack
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21 minutes ago, Derek Porteous said:

Well it is now 10am and not a CRT presence in sight. Even the boat owners of the two boats in the tunnel are now wandering around a bit aimlessly. Information seems to be entirely lacking. Several hire boats in the queue have phoned CRT and got  a stock answer that they are aware of the problem!

Have you asked the boat owners why they made such a cock up?

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12 hours ago, bagginz said:

Yes, I noticed that it wasn't listed as a stoppage on the CRT website when I last looked.   But it's definitely blocked. I was travelling in that direction but had to moor nearby Anderton's Lift because it was still unpassable at 7.00pm

   

I asked the 2 hire boats coming back from that direction around 7.30pm for news.  They said it was still blocked and they'd been called by the hire company and asked to wind and travel in the opposite direction.  Apparently they CRT will resume the work of freeing the boats tomorrow. 

There is now and I saw it there before here! (Just happened that way around . . . )

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14 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

I must admit I thought it used to be timed, and was very surprised to find out that it wasn't when I last came through it. 

Preston Brook has been timed for many years (forty??). When this idea was extended (2011 ??), both Saltisford and Barnton had timed access, but being so close together, craft coming through one found themselves waiting for the other, and there were complicated imbroglios between the two. The Barnton timing lasted for a year, maybe two? More precision needs more research in the picture archive.

 

Have we information on how the wedging occurred? One boat following another which had broken down and not showing a rear light?

 

This is inside Barnton from last week, showing the kink. A northbound journey looking back towards southern portal.

 

P9037885s.jpg.78ff780f371ac7d83145dff56b72a427.jpg

 

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How did the protaganists get off their boats?

I remember once getting jammed on the way back from LLangollen when a hire boat kept coming when we had already stopped. Much shoving and pulling came to naught, until everyone got off the boats and miraculously they floated free.

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5 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

How did the protaganists get off their boats?

I remember once getting jammed on the way back from LLangollen when a hire boat kept coming when we had already stopped. Much shoving and pulling came to naught, until everyone got off the boats and miraculously they floated free.

Fire and rescue service were called to rescue the boat owners from the tunnel

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15 hours ago, OldGoat said:

Perhaps I've been boating too  long , but time was that most boaters had a bit of grey matter up top (and not just hair) and applied SOME common sense when approaching / using restricted navigations.

On a road which is essentially a single track with passing places don't drivers exercise a bit of "common" when deciding whether to proceedd (or not)?? Thus why not on a waterway?? If in doubt STOP and WAIT (put 't kttle on)...

 

Must be something to do with today's mores (sp: doen't look right) - Me, Me, Me  and not 'we're all in it together'.

 

SOLUTION - make CRT a proper navigation authority with powers as in the EA (hahahahahaha) to castigate offenders.

(Mebe a bit of castigation might be a general solution)...

 

Just because folks have been under some restriction for a while doesn't mean that when let out of the cage, they can go beserrk.

 

 

 

 

This is assuming they were young boaters? Equally likely both boaters involved have both been boating so long they are always in the right (and possibly lost a bit of grey matter up top too ?)

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15 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

I must admit I thought it used to be timed, and was very surprised to find out that it wasn't when I last came through it. 

 

Certainly wasn't in the mid 90's when our then shareboat was moored at Acton Bridge. It is a short tunnel, about one and a half boats wide,  with a kink in it so you cannot see all the way through. Despite always sounding my horn before entering, I had to reverse out a couple of times because the boat in there didn't respond.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Derek Porteous said:

Well it is now 10am and not a CRT presence in sight. Even the boat owners of the two boats in the tunnel are now wandering around a bit aimlessly. Information seems to be entirely lacking. Several hire boats in the queue have phoned CRT and got  a stock answer that they are aware of the problem!

Please ask them what on earth happened?

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Hopefully our reporter/‘man on the ground’ Derek Porteous will keep feeding the info. 


 

4 minutes ago, Derek Porteous said:

Apparently they didn’t see each other until it was too late. Slammed into reverse which slewed the bows to one side, hence the jamming. Hear noises from the tunnel, so someone is working on it from the other end (the end furthest away from the blockage). 

Surely means neither boat had lamps?

 

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5 minutes ago, Derek Porteous said:

All quiet in the tunnel again (12.30hrs). Still no one from CRT to say what the plan is. Three hire boats in the queue turn around and headed south again.

I can recommend some nice walks in the area to help pass the time. ?

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1 minute ago, Derek Porteous said:

Trouble is, with absolutely no information from CRT, we have no idea whether we are good to go in 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days. We are on the tunnel holding moorings.

How are they expected to know if it will take 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days to separate the boats?

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Just now, Captain Pegg said:

How are they expected to know if it will take 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days to separate the boats?

 

I'm going for 10 days if they have to keep coming out of the Western end of the tunnel and walking over the top to give reports to the waiting boats at the Eastern end ...

  • Greenie 1
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18 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

How are they expected to know if it will take 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days to separate the boats?

Well, I guess they know when then are going to assess the situation, and after that the possibility of a solution. That information surely should be passed to the boaters. We only got an almost total vacuum of our information and, today, a total absence of personnel to ask. Phoning only gave “we are aware there is a problem”.

Having had a rant, it seems from the tunnel noises that things are happening!

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