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Barnton Tunnel closed


Derek Porteous

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Just now, Ryeland said:

The system does rely on boats having a light that can be seen from the far end. I followed one through Preston Brook tunnel yesterday which just had a small bulb on the end of a piece of wire, no proper headlamp. 

Richard 

 

Or clear horn signals!  That's exactly what they are for, after all.

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Just now, Ryeland said:

The system does rely on boats having a light that can be seen from the far end. I followed one through Preston Brook tunnel yesterday which just had a small bulb on the end of a piece of wire, no proper headlamp. 

Richard 

And actually stopping and listening. We met someone who came in full chat when I was over halfway....much horn sounding and yelling saw them reverse out...they then said I wasn’t obeying the times....I pointed out there isn’t any times and they needed common sense.....

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5 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

Fenders down?  Probably!

But it is not a two way tunnel, so they both should not have been there.  This the one that is not timed as you can see through it I think.  If so a guy tried to enter this from the other end when I was half way through, long blasts on the horn and he got the message and reversed out.

Edited by john6767
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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.

 

 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Actually, isn't Barnton a timed access tunnel?  One of the skippers is likely to be judged at fault ...

 

Edited: No, it's the odd one out.

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. 

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1 minute 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. 

You can see through the tunnel so no need for time slots. 
It’s a relatively short tunnel. 
I guess either one or both boats had no head lamp or horn. 

...or the dog was steering

 

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8 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

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

 

They have the necessary powers in the old BW byelaws.  They simply choose not use them - it was a regular complaint from the late Nigel Moore.

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I'm amazed that they didn't notice each other. We met a boat coming the other way in Saltersford tunnel (We were in the right: we entered right at the end of the time window, but the boats going our way before us had told the boats waiting the other way that "there's no one behind" and they'd set off early. Sadly there were three of them and one of me, so I ended up reversing out). There was no way we'd have got close enough to collide without being well aware of what was going on.

 

MP.

 

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2 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

I'm amazed that they didn't notice each other. We met a boat coming the other way in Saltersford tunnel (We were in the right: we entered right at the end of the time window, but the boats going our way before us had told the boats waiting the other way that "there's no one behind" and they'd set off early. Sadly there were three of them and one of me, so I ended up reversing out). There was no way we'd have got close enough to collide without being well aware of what was going on.

 

MP.

 

Of course they noticed each other, but they both knew their rights...

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An increasing number of boaters are "care in the community" cases, non recovering alcoholics and druggies, and owners of personality disorders, surprised it don't happen more often.

 

I think that tunnel has a nasty kink in the middle and if you look at the exact wrong moment you can fail to spot the headlight of an oncoming boat, especially those that have the headlight right over on one side. A blast of horn is a good idea, and you should be able to see right through the tunnel, but only a slim crescent.  A lfew boaters go through late in the day and assume its all clear, including the timed tunnels.

 

As semi wide tunnels there is likely potential to get well wedged.

 

................Dave

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2 minutes ago, dmr said:

An increasing number of boaters are "care in the community" cases, non recovering alcoholics and druggies, and owners of personality disorders, surprised it don't happen more often.

 

Some are, but I'm not sure it's an increasing number, from observation.

 

MP.

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9 minutes ago, dmr said:

An increasing number of boaters are "care in the community" cases, non recovering alcoholics and druggies, and owners of personality disorders, surprised it don't happen more often.

 

I think that tunnel has a nasty kink in the middle and if you look at the exact wrong moment you can fail to spot the headlight of an oncoming boat, especially those that have the headlight right over on one side. A blast of horn is a good idea, and you should be able to see right through the tunnel, but only a slim crescent.  A lfew boaters go through late in the day and assume its all clear, including the timed tunnels.

 

As semi wide tunnels there is likely potential to get well wedged.

 

................Dave

Saltersford tunnel (which is timed) has a kink in the middle  although at certain angles you used to be able to see right through. Barnton tunnel is comparatively straight  although the canal has a bend at each end of the tunnel which means that you can't see right through till you are almost at the tunnel mouth and you are better approaching slowish in case a quick reverse is needed. 

haggis

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Barnton is not timed entry, and is straight enough to see through clearly. Saltersford is timed entry, kinked, and has a wide-ish bit in the middle which looks wide enough to pass, but isn’t. It is possible to see through Saltersford in both directions, but still fail to see a boat coming the other way! It’s the main reason I have an antisocially bright headlight and a big klaxon...

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I will check again next year, but almost certain that the untimed one has a kink so that you can only see a crescent of light and can "loose" a boat in the kink. I know Saltersford has a big kink, its quite tricky in a full length boat. Came through Hebden Bridge tunnel again day before yesterday, I hate it, really short but very difficult, black corrugated steel reflects no light and you hit the kink just before the night vision kicks in.

 

Hope to do Standedge next week in a friends boat so will almost have the full compliment of tunnels done. Don't like any of them ?

 

.................Dave

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2 hours ago, Derek Porteous said:

Barnton Tunnel is closed to navigation from 3pm this afternoon. Two narrowboats wedged inside blocking passage. Both single handers (and one dog) rescued by Fire Brigade but boats are still inside as of 7pm. Tunnel taped off, so guess nothing is going to happen until tomorrow.

Maybe they need to take both of them out of forward gear?

Or even just one

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46 minutes ago, StephenA said:

doesn't seem to be showing as a stoppage... and given that C&RT send stoppage notices out whenever a tree falls down you'd have thought something like this would have made them send something out.

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. 

Edited by bagginz
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