Kennet and Avon Stoppages

[Dave123]

K&A has had multiple stoppages over the last few months that never appear on here. Guessing not many forum members in this area...heard rumours of too many scruffy boats😂 but just wanted to post this as it was the fastest repair I've encountered in about 20 years! Was preparing for a long wait after the balance beam snapped off Copse lock 80, but two working days later it was fixed with this....

 

[booke23]

Yes the number of stoppages on the K&A is getting beyond a joke. For those that don't know the summit at Crofton has basically been closed since last autumn, firstly for a planned winter stoppage that then significantly overran, then after briefly opening a series of unfortunate events have kept it closed......pump failures, lock gate failures etc. 

 

Of course the CMers are loving it.....there are few better excuses for not fulfilling the annual cruising requirements than CRT stoppages!

[Dave123]

Crofton was open for a couple of months at least...but I am generally encouraged that CRT are investing in big projects like the work at Crofton. It isn't meant to be shut this coming winter

[Steilsteven]

On 22/06/2023 at 14:31, booke23 said:

Yes the number of stoppages on the K&A is getting beyond a joke. For those that don't know the summit at Crofton has basically been closed since last autumn, firstly for a planned winter stoppage that then significantly overran, then after briefly opening a series of unfortunate events have kept it closed......pump failures, lock gate failures etc. 

 

Of course the CMers are loving it.....there are few better excuses for not fulfilling the annual cruising requirements than CRT stoppages!

BWHM is the correct term if you don't mind.

 

Keith

[booke23]

45 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

BWHM

 

What does that stand for? 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, booke23 said:

 

What does that stand for? 

 

It stands for CCers.

 

"Boats Without a Home Mooring", I would guess. 

[booke23]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

It stands for CCers.

 

"Boats Without a Home Mooring", I would guess. 

 

Ah ok. I was thinking it was 'Boats with a home mooring' 

 

Careful using the term CCers....you might get told off by @Steilsteven 😅

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

Ah ok. I was thinking it was 'Boats with a home mooring' 

 

Careful using the term CCers....you might get told off by @Steilsteven 😅

 

I think it's the term "CMers" he objects too. 

 

Completely different mindsets, CCers and CMers.

 

Mind you, one gets the impression he supports CMing by objecting to its use. Maybe this is a wrong impression. 

[booke23]

5 hours ago, MtB said:

Mind you, one gets the impression he supports CMing by objecting to its use. Maybe this is a wrong impression. 

 

You could be right, I can't quite tell. 

And for the avoidance of doubt for anyone reading, when I refer to CMers in my earlier post, I was referring to the K & A variety who actually properly CM, for months at a time on the towpath or even on 48hr visitor moorings. 

[Bargebuilder]

On 25/06/2023 at 17:17, booke23 said:

 

You could be right, I can't quite tell. 

And for the avoidance of doubt for anyone reading, when I refer to CMers in my earlier post, I was referring to the K & A variety who actually properly CM, for months at a time on the towpath or even on 48hr visitor moorings. 

Are they licensed?

[booke23]

1 hour ago, Bargebuilder said:

Are they licensed?

 

I don't know. Some don't display an index number so presumably at least some are not. 

[Garethh]

Oh crap I'm docked in newbury at the moment, was hoping to get to Reading over the weekend, then up to Oxford in the next few months, what happens do u just have to wait for repairs? Sorry very new to this world.

[booke23]

On 03/08/2023 at 15:43, Garethh said:

Oh crap I'm docked in newbury at the moment, was hoping to get to Reading over the weekend, then up to Oxford in the next few months, what happens do u just have to wait for repairs? Sorry very new to this world.

 

Most of the stoppages were west of you so you should have no trouble. 

[TunnelDodger]

Aren't the hire boat companies up in arms?

I've hired twice out of Bath, headed east.

Never had any trouble apart from the constant long term moorers.

Surely the hire companies would kick some backsides? 😯

[Cas446]

Summit closed and Cobblers lock now failed. At least 30% of the locks on the east side are in a poor state and could fail at any time, most of the locks on the fox hangers flight only have one paddle.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Cas446

[TunnelDodger]

WOW! 

You'd think there was money in that area, not to mention, important people. 

Well, ones who think they are...... 😁

Careful as you go.

Steve 👍 

[Simon Pooley]

I've just seen today's CRT update about the k&A summit closure which includes:

 

Quote

 

Update on 18/08/2023:

Please be advised that water levels remain very low on the summit pound, so unfortunately the summit pound which includes Wootton Rivers Lock 51 to Crossing Lock 61 will remain closed.

All pumps are now working at maximum capacity, including the steam pumps at Crofton.

 

 

 

Does that really mean the Crofton boilers have been fired-up and the steam pumping engines are operating? 

If so, congratulations and appreciation for the Crofton volunteers.

 

Can the steam pumps operate simultaneously with the electric pumps, without overloading the capacity of the leat feeding the top lock?

[BEngo]

BW paid for the coal for the Crofton team to pump for an extra week or so, after an electrical pump failure  some years back. Fortunately they timed it so it extended a planned steaming.  Looks like this time the Trust may have had to warm through early, but they were probably planning to steam next weekend any way.

I would expect they will only run one engine at a time, so, as the leat has the capacity for both steam pumps to run simultaneously,  there should be capacity for the electric pumps.  In any event, when the Trust is steaming, normal operation  includes running both engines at changeover period. The electric pumps also run normally so I guess that capacity is not an issue.

More likely to be a problem is the flow rate into Wilton Water.

N

[MtB]

I’m sitting by the outlet of the leat now and I don't think it is flowing much faster than any other time i’ve seen it, if at all. 

[Simon Pooley]

Crofton's website says this weekend (19/20 Aug) is planned to be "no-steaming", so the suggestion CRT have arranged for them to be pumping today seems even more surprising. Maybe the CRT update was posted by someone unfamiliar with Crofton who merely assumed that all the pumps there were steam, rather than the elecrtric successors.

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, Simon Pooley said:

Crofton's website says this weekend (19/20 Aug) is planned to be "no-steaming", so the suggestion CRT have arranged for them to be pumping today seems even more surprising. Maybe the CRT update was posted by someone unfamiliar with Crofton who merely assumed that all the pumps there were steam, rather than the elecrtric successors.

There was smoke coming from the tall chimney there when i drove past at about 3pm today, so i think it must have been in steam then. 
 

 

[MtB]

 

 

There was about five bricks-depth of water missing from the summit at about 5pm-ish, for what that's worth.

 

 

 

[davidb]

Last week we got to the top at Crofton just as the guy had locked the gates for the night, so we had to spend the night there. We had an interesting walk after the rain stopped. I started wondering why the banks are so high when there is actually plenty of water in the summit pound?

 

Also, there is enormous headroom through the Bruce tunnel. Was this to enable the top pound to be kept very deep in order to create a reservoir?