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Mooring near Dudley Canal Trust/Black Country Living Museum


Iceni_exporer

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12 hours ago, Lancshoppy said:

 

 

 I don't know anywhere else that effectively locks you in outside office hours. 

Eanam wharf blackburn if you  get in between the towpath gates they lock at night. Not a CRT key either.

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1 hour ago, Rob-M said:

In fairly certain when we stopped on the towpath side a couple of years ago there was a boat on the services side and it was a 24hr visitor mooring.

That's what I thought.  Which means that a boat could moor there.  Then the owners could go out the top gate while the visitor centre is open, or over the swing bridge, and return to find themselves locked out all night.  Not good at all.

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4 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

The services side is just that, not for overnight mooring. Hence the combination lock to stop access other than by boat. It has been like that for years, certainly before the visitors centre was built.

I am 99% certain that between the bridge and the service block on the tunnel visitor center side it is 24 hour mooring as when its occupied you are hard pushed  to moor for the services. I don't moor there but have used the services which is how I noted the problem. For me its John the Lock or the towpath opposite.

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6 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Well technically it is a CRT key, but it's a handcuff key not a watermate key

There is a hand cuff lock but thats not the one they lock.it with. It was as a ruddy great padlock when we there. 

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Ok - correction and clarification. Adjacent to the services,  on the non tow path side, it is signed 48hr mooring by CRT. All the gates that access that side of the moorings are locked by BCLM with heavy duty combination padlocks,  which suggests they own,  or think they own,  it. If they do CRT should not sign it as 48hr moorings.

The tow path side is also signed 48 hr mooring, and access is via a gate locked with a water point key. There's no issue with this side, but there's no way to access the services side on foot.

What is like to see is a CRT locked gate from the road to the services side moorings, but failing that, at least signage explaining the situation so no one gets trapped away from their boat. 

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11 hours ago, Lancshoppy said:

Ok - correction and clarification. Adjacent to the services,  on the non tow path side, it is signed 48hr mooring by CRT. All the gates that access that side of the moorings are locked by BCLM with heavy duty combination padlocks,  which suggests they own,  or think they own,  it. If they do CRT should not sign it as 48hr moorings.

The tow path side is also signed 48 hr mooring, and access is via a gate locked with a water point key. There's no issue with this side, but there's no way to access the services side on foot.

What is like to see is a CRT locked gate from the road to the services side moorings, but failing that, at least signage explaining the situation so no one gets trapped away from their boat. 

Have you had a response from CRT or DCT yet?

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1 hour ago, Lancshoppy said:

Just emailed CRT today. They say I should see a response within 5 working days. Thought I'd give them a chance for their say before contacting BCLM


I doubt the BCLM have anything to do with the offside. It’s more likely the DCT you need to contact.

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We are moored at the BCLM tonight. We set off mooring on the off side on the overnight moorings just before the services - there is plenty of room for one moored boat and another using the services. My son had moored there a few years ago and said that the gate directly above had a CRT key.

 

Later on I tried to get out and saw it had a combination lock. I saw a DCT staff member at the bins and she came across to help, but she couldn’t remember the combination and couldn’t raise anyone on the phone who knew. But she undertook to find out by 4pm when we had booked on the trip boat into the tunnel. In the meantime a space came free on the towpath side and that’s where we are now.

 

At 4 I was given the code - there seems to be no problem in boaters getting the code if you ask the DCT. The reason they changed from a CRT lock to a combination lock was that they kept getting the CRT locks stolen at £80 a go.

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3 hours ago, John Wareing said:

The reason they changed from a CRT lock to a combination lock was that they kept getting the CRT locks stolen at £80 a go.

Elsewhere I have come across padlocks that use a CRT key, which remain attached to the gate by a chain. 

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I have moored more than once on the services side, but with no intention of leaving the boat.  There is room for 2 boats between the services and the bridge, although it in not unusual for there to be a work boat there.  There are also I think rings further back towards the tunnel on the services side.

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3 hours ago, John Wareing said:

We are moored at the BCLM tonight. We set off mooring on the off side on the overnight moorings just before the services - there is plenty of room for one moored boat and another using the services. My son had moored there a few years ago and said that the gate directly above had a CRT key.

 

Later on I tried to get out and saw it had a combination lock. I saw a DCT staff member at the bins and she came across to help, but she couldn’t remember the combination and couldn’t raise anyone on the phone who knew. But she undertook to find out by 4pm when we had booked on the trip boat into the tunnel. In the meantime a space came free on the towpath side and that’s where we are now.

 

At 4 I was given the code - there seems to be no problem in boaters getting the code if you ask the DCT. The reason they changed from a CRT lock to a combination lock was that they kept getting the CRT locks stolen at £80 a go.

I've always assumed that those who steal CRT padlocks are lacking a little somewhere. 

Why nick a lock that thousands of others can open?

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40 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Perhaps CRT ought to change lock supplier? 

Each one of those locks will be hand assembled, in very small numbers, hence the cost.  The base chassis of that type of padlock is not cheap either.

 

Bod

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10 hours ago, JamesWoolcock said:

I've always assumed that those who steal CRT padlocks are lacking a little somewhere. 

Why nick a lock that thousands of others can open?

Because if you use it somewhere out of context to the canal, it would make for a very good padlock.  On a shed for example.  Of course, if DCT are giving out the combination, then that padlock is easily stolen too.

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10 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Because if you use it somewhere out of context to the canal, it would make for a very good padlock.  On a shed for example.  Of course, if DCT are giving out the combination, then that padlock is easily stolen too.

Worse, what could happen at out old moorings when a farm put a combination lock on the gate, some of the moorers found it hard work having to unlock before they could drive in and out and then lock again afterwards, it was only a few weeks before someone unlocked it and changed the combination before locking it again, Battery grinders go through most things.

 

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13 hours ago, john6767 said:

I have moored more than once on the services side, but with no intention of leaving the boat.  There is room for 2 boats between the services and the bridge, although it in not unusual for there to be a work boat there.  There are also I think rings further back towards the tunnel on the services side.

The signage says that the space immediately next to the bridge is reserved for “operational use”, which I guess means the work boat, although there was nothing there when we were. Then, going from the bridge there’s room for two boats, although one would be on the services. Then a gap with no rings opposite the winding hole and then there was another boat hard by the swing bridge. I assumed that was a permanent mooring but it might not be.

 

On the other side you can get around 5 x 60’ or so boats in, 2 on the museum side of the winding hole and 3 on the bridge side.

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17 hours ago, John Wareing said:

We are moored at the BCLM tonight. We set off mooring on the off side on the overnight moorings just before the services - there is plenty of room for one moored boat and another using the services. My son had moored there a few years ago and said that the gate directly above had a CRT key.

 

Later on I tried to get out and saw it had a combination lock. I saw a DCT staff member at the bins and she came across to help, but she couldn’t remember the combination and couldn’t raise anyone on the phone who knew. But she undertook to find out by 4pm when we had booked on the trip boat into the tunnel. In the meantime a space came free on the towpath side and that’s where we are now.

 

At 4 I was given the code - there seems to be no problem in boaters getting the code if you ask the DCT. The reason they changed from a CRT lock to a combination lock was that they kept getting the CRT locks stolen at £80 a go.

Thanks for the update. By the time we realised, the DCT had gone, but it's good to know for the future. I'd still like to see a sign telling you to contact DCT when you moor there. I've had an acknowledgement from CRT saying they are looking into it. 

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Just now, Lancshoppy said:

Thanks for the update. By the time we realised, the DCT had gone, but it's good to know for the future. I'd still like to see a sign telling you to contact DCT when you moor there. I've had an acknowledgement from CRT saying they are looking into it. 

I should be clear that whilst someone from the trust gave me the combination number she was in no way senior management so she might just have been being friendly rather than it was official policy.

 

Anyway, moving across to the towpath side so we could get out to go to Mad O’Rourkes was a complete waste of time as they were shut by the time we got there at 7.45. I say shut but there seemed to be people inside so I assume they decided to shut early as it was quiet, or it could have been the dreaded shortage of staff. And the gate with the CRT lock on it is a right pain - the padlock is enclosed in a metal box with only the bottom open, so seeing what you’re doing is difficult and involves bending down on to the nettles.

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  • 9 months later...

Just resurrecting this topic as it's one of the places I intend to moor soon.

 

I last moored at the BCLM in 2009 so before the DCT building.  I've read the topic but am a bit confused by towpath side and services side and the access to both.

 

Is the towpath side the museum side or the side with the services?  The few times I've moored there before you could get out from the non-museum side with a watermate key.  Is this still the case?

 

Before, you had to pay at the museum to moor for the night.

 

Obviously a lot has changed in the last 13 years so any advice is welcomed!

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1 minute ago, IanM said:

Just resurrecting this topic as it's one of the places I intend to moor soon.

 

I last moored at the BCLM in 2009 so before the DCT building.  I've read the topic but am a bit confused by towpath side and services side and the access to both.

 

Is the towpath side the museum side or the side with the services?  The few times I've moored there before you could get out from the non-museum side with a watermate key.  Is this still the case?

 

Before, you had to pay at the museum to moor for the night.

 

Obviously a lot has changed in the last 13 years so any advice is welcomed!

The services are on the opposite side to the museum.  You do not need to pay to moor on either side.  You can get out from the museum side with a BW key, and I believe there is a gate in the fence on the non towpath side, but not personally used it.

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1 hour ago, john6767 said:

The services are on the opposite side to the museum.  You do not need to pay to moor on either side.  You can get out from the museum side with a BW key, and I believe there is a gate in the fence on the non towpath side, but not personally used it.

I have a feeling the non-museum side used to use a BWB key but it's changed.  You can still get out through the DCT entrance during opening hours, and you can still walk round in front of the tunnel mouth, or over the swing bridge.

No need to pay for any moorings now.

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