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Macclesfield Canal at Macclesfield


Bugsworth Tippler

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Here we go again ...

Notice Alert

Macclesfield Canal
Location: Bridge 38 to Bridge 39, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Canal
Starts At: Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge
Ends At: Bridge 39, Hollands Br

Wednesday 24 March 2021 11:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair


 

Original message:

 

Please be advised navigation is closed between Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge and Bridge 39, Hollands Bridge on the Macclesfield Canal due an issue with a culvert.

Our teams are investigating the issue to be able to create a suitable method of repair.

An update will be provided Monday 29 March.  

You can view this notice and its map online here:
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/19357/bridge-38-to-bridge-39-macclesfield-macclesfield-canal

 

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On 24/03/2021 at 12:23, Bugsworth Tippler said:

Here we go again ...

Notice Alert

Macclesfield Canal
Location: Bridge 38 to Bridge 39, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Canal
Starts At: Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge
Ends At: Bridge 39, Hollands Br

Wednesday 24 March 2021 11:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair

 

 

 

Same spot as in 2018 when it was supposed to have had an extensive repair during the winter closures.

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I'm aware of the notice and obviously CRT can only officially say the same as the notice. Some photos on Facebook and suggestions it might be a couple of weeks to fix...for anyone interested/also weighing up alternatives to getting north (manchester ship canal or the Trent)

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Notice Alert

Macclesfield Canal
Location: Bridge 38 to Bridge 39, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Canal
Starts At: Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge
Ends At: Bridge 39, Hollands Br

Wednesday 24 March 2021 11:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair


 

Update on 07/04/2021:

 

Investigations are now complete between Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge and Bridge 39, Hollands Bridge on the Macclesfield Canal and our teams have found the culvert has failed and requires replacement.  

Our contractors have already started onsite carrying out a fish rescue and removing a third party owned wall to allow access to the site.

Over the next coming weeks, we will be establishing a safe, controlled working environment to create a dry working area and managing water flows by installing pumps over the culvert to be able to remove the existing culvert.

Our contractors have committed to working seven days a week to be able to re-open navigation as soon as safely possible. Whilst there is a considerable amount of work that is required for navigation to resume, we anticipate works will be complete by the end of June.

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Just now, Arthur Marshall said:

Anyway, by the time they've fixed that one, there'll be another breach at Bollington, and they will have run out of water anyway and closed Marple and Bosley locks.

It is difficult not to be pessimistic in the present situation or closed and closing canals.

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15 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Anyway, by the time they've fixed that one, there'll be another breach at Bollington, and they will have run out of water anyway and closed Marple and Bosley locks.

I do love the stretch above Bosley and Marple locks and barely every go down them but it would be nice to feel that I could if I wanted and be confident of getting back up again before lockdown #37

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20 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

I do love the stretch above Bosley and Marple locks and barely every go down them but it would be nice to feel that I could if I wanted and be confident of getting back up again before lockdown #37

The upper Macc and the Peak Forest are a lovely stretch. I'm glad I got up there last autumn. There again, I like the lower Macc too, luckily.

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9 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The upper Macc and the Peak Forest are a lovely stretch. I'm glad I got up there last autumn. There again, I like the lower Macc too, luckily.

It's a lovely part of the canal network all the way down and beyond. We used to go down and up Bosley usually twice a year when I was a kid on holidays. It would be a real pain though for me to have a boat stranded south of Rode Heath for a prolonged period of time nowadays, just because it's further away from home. My first CaRT mooring was in Nantwich but I just shuffled Whaley to Bosley for six months until a suitable one came up on the upper Macc. An hour in each direction to the boat is okay but any more and it starts getting difficult to just pop to it and still have a productive day in other respects.

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5 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

We spent 11 years on the Macc, fed up with its muddy ditch, the constant failures due to poor maintenance and the frequent closures trapping us.

That's why I moved below Bosley. I spent fifteen years between Chester and Ellesmere Port, moved the boat here when I moved house to Macclesfield.

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Can't argue with the muddy ditch description.vOne bit of silver lining about starting at the bottom again with a tiny GRP cruiser after years of a leisure narrowboat on that stretch is that the 19' GRP's draft is negligible and it can turn anywhere, so it's easier to cover the miles without repeated grounding, and if all else fails it's small enough to pull out up the slipway on a trailer.

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The constant stoppages on the Macc makes me wonder if maintenance budget was assigned by canal/region simply on a lock/mile basis or did more heavily engineered canals like the Macc with so many embankment and cuttings get a greater share of budget per mile, as they should?

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9 hours ago, Dave123 said:

The constant stoppages on the Macc makes me wonder if maintenance budget was assigned by canal/region simply on a lock/mile basis or did more heavily engineered canals like the Macc with so many embankment and cuttings get a greater share of budget per mile, as they should?

I don't remember there being stopppages like this when I moved here fifteen years ago, nor reading about them before that. No doubt one of the locals will advise. But neither do I think there were that many unexpected major stoppages in my first few years of boating, in fact I only recall one, when the locks at Ellesmere Port failed.

You can't run either a major transport or leisure system without investment and maintenance. That's why people get killed on roller coasters, and why there aren't many circuses left. Take the money away, and it falls to bits. And there's no money, and after this year there will be less. It also got grants from the EU, as shown in signs all round the system, and obviously that's gone.

So it doesn't matter much how the available resources are allocated. They just aren't enough. The future belongs to widebeams in marinas, and linear liveaboard moorings in towns - ie a housing estate. That just might keep enough of it in water for the hire boats and the holiday boater.

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10 hours ago, Dave123 said:

The constant stoppages on the Macc makes me wonder if maintenance budget was assigned by canal/region simply on a lock/mile basis or did more heavily engineered canals like the Macc with so many embankment and cuttings get a greater share of budget per mile, as they should?

I question as to whether there is a maintenance budget foe each canal. At present it seems as though its just throw money at it when it fails completely, in the meantime ignore all the reports of pending failures that boater send in.

 

I suppose reels of yellow tape are cheap compared with new gates, spades, and staff.

  • Greenie 1
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A few years ago I took a handling course with Top Lock training at the northern end of the Macc. At that time the owners of Top Lock training were of the opinion that the Macc was suffering from lack of funds due to them being diverted to the western side of the Huddersfield. No idea if they knew this for certain.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oh dear.  So to quote the current CRT Stoppage notice, anyone know if "by the end of June" seems realistic? We've only just got onto the Trent and Mersey from Trent Lock now, so if they stick to that, it'd probably do us.  But if it looks likely the date will slip, might need to rethink.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Notice Alert

Macclesfield Canal
Location: Bridge 38 to Bridge 39, Macclesfield, Macclesfield Canal
Starts At: Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge
Ends At: Bridge 39, Hollands Br
Up Stream Winding Hole: Hurdsfield Winding Hole, close to Bridge 33, Higherfold Bridge
Down Stream Winding Hole: Lyme Green Winding Hole, close to Bridge 45, Leek New Road Bridge

Wednesday 24 March 2021 11:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair


 

Update on 05/05/2021:

 

Since investigations revealed the failed culvert between Bridge 38, Black Road Bridge and Bridge 39, Hollands Bridge on the Macclesfield Canal, works on site have progressed well. Stop planks have been installed, with water flow managed by over-pumping to maintain levels along the canal. Additional bunds to allow a safe working environment have been installed and the existing failed culvert has been removed.

Further inspections have resulted in a simpler method of repair, a new section of plastic pipe has replaced the section of failed culvert, connecting into the pipework that was found within the old masonry culvert, significantly reducing the works and time required. Works are now underway to protect this with a surround of concrete.

We will then remove the safety bunds and reinstate the clay canal bed over the coming weeks with a view to re-water this section and resume navigation, following a successful testing period.

A further update on progress made onsite will be provided by Wednesday 19 May.

Further works onsite will then need to take place to complete the connections and the towpath may need to remain closed during these works. Our teams and contractors remain committed, and we endeavour to minimise the requirement for this closure.

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