Black Country 1965, interesting video

[tree monkey]

It's not changed all that much

 

 

[David Schweizer]

An interesting film. The unkempt infrastructure reminded me of what it was like when we took Pisces through the West Midlands in the 1960's,  even the horse, although I think the one we saw was hauling a T &S Elements Day boat.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Stewards Aqueduct where the film ends is one of me favourite bits on the BCN.

The canals cross each other, the motorway is above and the train goes over too. 

 

 

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, Goliath said:

Stewards Aqueduct where the film ends is one of me favourite bits on the BCN.

The canals cross each other, the motorway is above and the train goes over too. 

 

 

Be interesting to see what happens to the area if the Chance Brothers site ever gets restored and developed.  Doesn't seem to have made much progress yet.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 minute ago, Rob-M said:

Be interesting to see what happens to the area if the Chance Brothers site ever gets restored and developed.  Doesn't seem to have made much progress yet.

Your gonna have to tell me about that.

What’s the consequences of that then?

[Rob-M]

2 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Your gonna have to tell me about that.

What’s the consequences of that then?

Take a look at https://www.chanceht.org/.  The first phase is to restore the big building alongside the main line and then quite a bit of development including reopening one of the basins off the old line.

[doratheexplorer]

13 hours ago, Rob-M said:

Take a look at https://www.chanceht.org/.  The first phase is to restore the big building alongside the main line and then quite a bit of development including reopening one of the basins off the old line.

I doubt it'll ever happen.  The costs to restore would be considerably higher than to knock down and start again, and even if it were restored, the noise from the M5 flyover would make it a pretty unpopular place for housing or offices.  In that area, there's plenty of empty industrial land, so why would any developer bother with this?

 

Also, I think it's listed so even knocking it down is a non-starter unless it got de-listed. 

[Heartland]

The interesting shots include the Cadbury locomotive awaiting scrap at Wednesbury,  the disused interchange basin at Great Bridge, the Synthite Chemical work s near Ryders Green Top Lock and the Atkinsons pub 8 locks, and near the end a view looking towards Spon Lane and the disused former entrance under the bridge that was the site of lock 8 

[Athy]

I enjoyed that: a flashback to proper canals serving grim factories, as they did for so many years.

I was surprised to see a horse still in service as late as 1965, and to see two boats passing each other on the left.

[David Schweizer]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

I enjoyed that: a flashback to proper canals serving grim factories, as they did for so many years.

I was surprised to see a horse still in service as late as 1965, and to see two boats passing each other on the left.

 

Horses and Mules seem to have hung on for a while in Birmingham, possibly because there were quite a lot of short haul trips between factories etc. I remember seeing several in the 1960's, often towing cabinless joey boats.  The most interesting thing to watch was how a horse used it't weight to take the strain on the towing rope before starting to move, I have found that the same technique seems to work well when moving heavy lock gates.

[tree monkey]

6 minutes ago, David Schweizer said:

 

Horses and Mules seem to have hung on for a while in Birmingham, possibly because there were quite a lot of short haul trips between factories etc. I remember seeing several in the 1960's, often towing cabinless joey boats.  The most interesting thing to watch was how a horse used it't weight to take the strain on the towing rope before starting to move, I have found that the same technique seems to work well when moving heavy lock gates.

What amused me was seeing the lock wheeler having to get a jog on to the next lock as the horse had already made a start, I wonder if the horse knew to stop at the lock

[David Schweizer]

27 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

What amused me was seeing the lock wheeler having to get a jog on to the next lock as the horse had already made a start, I wonder if the horse knew to stop at the lock

 

My recollection is that the horses seemed to know when to stop and start. It was the same when I was a lad and our milk was delivered by a horse drawn milk float, Gertie (the horse) knew the round and where to stop and start.

[Rob-M]

1 hour ago, tree monkey said:

What amused me was seeing the lock wheeler having to get a jog on to the next lock as the horse had already made a start, I wonder if the horse knew to stop at the lock

I wondered why it looked like he was lifting the bottom paddles before the boat had left the lock on some of the locks.

[tree monkey]

1 minute ago, Rob-M said:

I wondered why it looked like he was lifting the bottom paddles before the boat had left the lock on some of the locks.

I did spot some weirdness but I assumed that was the editing.

I wonder if the steerer was reluctant to get off the boat to close the gates on leaving the lock in case the horse wandered off because the lockwheeler was really earning his money

[Stroudwater1]

In one scene (6.39)  I thought the top paddles were opened before closing the bottom gates, but I was left wondering if he was using the water flow to slow the boat down as he had overcooked its speed into the lock?

 

I would assume he had done the gentle dismount as the boat entered the lock countless times before and got the speed in just right so I wasnt sure my theory held water. Ive seen a few boaters do this these days with almost identical speeds into each lock. 

 

 

 

[Rob-M]

5 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

In one scene (6.39)  I thought the top paddles were opened before closing the bottom gates, but I was left wondering if he was using the water flow to slow the boat down as he had overcooked its speed into the lock?

 

I would assume he had done the gentle dismount as the boat entered the lock countless times before and got the speed in just right so I wasnt sure my theory held water. Ive seen a few boaters do this these days with almost identical speeds into each lock. 

 

 

 

Using the top paddles to slow an unpowered boat is standard practice, as the boat comes in raise the paddle and then lower it again at the right moment so the boat clears the bottom gates but doesn't smack the top cilll.

[ditchcrawler]

On 14/02/2022 at 17:46, David Schweizer said:

 

My recollection is that the horses seemed to know when to stop and start. It was the same when I was a lad and our milk was delivered by a horse drawn milk float, Gertie (the horse) knew the round and where to stop and start.

In the late 60s I was doing some electrical work on a farm where they kept cattle, they still had a horse and cart used to feed the cattle. it would walk all the way round the outside of the cattle shed while the horseman walked behind offloading feed to the cattle. it never so much as clipped a cart wheel on anything, when they finished the round the horse would take the cart back to where it was kept and wait until the chap arrived to put him back in his stable, again the cart would never touch any obstacle. Horses aren't daft by a long stretch

On 14/02/2022 at 18:45, Rob-M said:

I wondered why it looked like he was lifting the bottom paddles before the boat had left the lock on some of the locks.

Joe always lifted the top paddles, to help the bottom gate close, he said. I am surprised the lockwheeler is closing up behind the boat leaving

[Rob-M]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Joe always lifted the top paddles, to help the bottom gate close, he said. I am surprised the lockwheeler is closing up behind the boat leaving

I can understand lifting a top paddle to flush a boat out and close the gates but in that film it looked like the bottom paddle was being drawn before the boat was out of the lock so could pull the boat back in to the lock.  If the boat was out of the lock then I could see the benefit as I also will start lifting a paddle as someone is closing a gate to help pull it round.

[BEngo]

There was at least one horse still working in Birmingham as late as 1974.  We were well stemmed up with Willow Wren's ex-josherTern on about the second bridgehole  above the Garrison flight when 'Caggy' Stevens and Mac emerged from the top lock with a Joey, part full of rubbish.  Mac  proceeded to drag us through the bridgehole enough to get the Joey by, but not enough to get us going again!  When what must have been a good ton of horse lays into the harness, it is amazing what will give. 

 

We eventually  battered our way off the reef by using an Anglo Wesh boat as a ram.  Did not do Tern's rams head much good either.

 

N