Desperately Urgent Lock Repair.

[Tracy D'arth]

You could not make it up! more comedy from C&RT.

 

Notice Alert

Trent & Mersey Canal
Location: Lock 20, Woodend Lock, Trent & Mersey Canal
Starts At: Lock 20, Woodend Lock
Ends At: Lock 20, Woodend Lock
Up Stream Winding Hole: Handsacre
Down Stream Winding Hole: Fradley Junction

Tuesday 10 October 2023 08:00 until Tuesday 10 October 2023 16:00

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair

---

 

Original message:

 

We're having to carry out emergency repairs at Woodend Lock 7, to repair the offside ground paddle which has been damaged and is currently inoperable.

We believe the issue is caused by the paddle coming off the rod, or possibly a problem with the paddle grooves. This is causing the lock to be very slow to drain, meaning boats are having to queue for a considerable amount of time. An urgent repair is therefore required. The stoppage will take place Tuesday 10th October from 8am to 4pm.

Thank you for your patience while we carry out this vital repair.

 

 

So what would be a non urgent repair? 2025?

 

 

 

 

[Rob-M]

Worse is I can't recall ever seeing an offside ground paddle at woodend lock.  It only has a towpath side ground paddle and a gate paddle.

[pearley]

55 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Worse is I can't recall ever seeing an offside ground paddle at woodend lock.  It only has a towpath side ground paddle and a gate paddle.

My recollection too.

[PaulD]

Anyone been in the queue ? How long is it?  Was planning to go through there next week.

[Jonny P]

As the notice talks about the amount of time it takes to drain the lock I can only assume it’s the offside gate paddle that is defective.

 

The shouldn’t make the lock take unduly long to operate unless the top gate leaks profusely.

 

As for it being urgent and an emergency stoppage I suspect that’s standard language for anything that isn’t in the pre-published list of ‘winter’ stoppages. Seems reasonable to me.

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[magnetman]

Maybe the gate paddle is jammed open slightly making the lock difficult to fill. 

 

 

It said something about the "paddle grooves" so it could be getting wedged at some stage on the way down and not completely closing. 

 

 

Doh ! 

 

Should have read the stoppage notice! 

 

Mind you if they don't know the difference between ground paddles and gate paddles do they know the difference between filling and 'draining' a lock

 

 

Maybe it was a car driver describing it as offside and they were going down the lock in a right hand drive boat. 

 

Its the ground paddle innit. 

 

 

[PaulD]

Only 10 days since the next upstream Colwick (Cowpat) lock was out of action. Fixed quickly. Pity the same contractors can’t fix Woodend lock. 

[Midnight]

I thought gate paddle but if the ground paddle leaks a lot it will cause the lock to drain very slowly

5 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

You could not make it up! more comedy from C&RT.

 

Notice Alert

Trent & Mersey Canal
Location: Lock 20, Woodend Lock, Trent & Mersey Canal
Starts At: Lock 20, Woodend Lock
Ends At: Lock 20, Woodend Lock
Up Stream Winding Hole: Handsacre
Down Stream Winding Hole: Fradley Junction

Tuesday 10 October 2023 08:00 until Tuesday 10 October 2023 16:00

Type: Navigation Closure
Reason: Repair

---

 

Original message:

 

We're having to carry out emergency repairs at Woodend Lock 7, to repair the offside ground paddle which has been damaged and is currently inoperable.

We believe the issue is caused by the paddle coming off the rod, or possibly a problem with the paddle grooves. This is causing the lock to be very slow to drain, meaning boats are having to queue for a considerable amount of time. An urgent repair is therefore required. The stoppage will take place Tuesday 10th October from 8am to 4pm.

Thank you for your patience while we carry out this vital repair.

 

 

So what would be a non urgent repair? 2025?

 

 

 

 

Oh boy (shakes head in disbelief at C&RT dimwit officer)

[Stroudwater1]

2 hours ago, PaulD said:

Only 10 days since the next upstream Colwick (Cowpat) lock was out of action. Fixed quickly. Pity the same contractors can’t fix Woodend lock. 

Perfectly sensible but That gate was for woodworking contractors and this is metal (usually) contractors. 😕 I believe this is correct even  though the wood turned out to need a repair with metal bits 🤣

[nicknorman]

We came through last Thursday, just after the problem arose. The top ground paddle (there is only one!) rack has dropped down below the gear so it can't be raised. But worse, the actual paddle has obviously come out of its guide or is otherwise in the wrong place, because a lot of  water is leaking through it, like it's half open. Maybe the blade is resting partially over the culvert but it certainly isn't fully blocking it.

 

CRT men appeared and said they would try to fix it after the 4 boats in the queue had gone through - us included. But it would seem they were unable to fix it.

 

With the top paddle leaking a lot, going down the boat tends to get pulled back to the top gate so be careful of the cill! And you end up with a few inches of level difference at the bottom which requires 2 or 3 strong people to open the bottom gate. Of course the gate beams are short and cranked which doesn't help. Best to leave the bottom paddles open until after you have shut the gates, so they don't slam quite so hard. A lot of water gets wasted.

 

Going up is no problem at all.

 

 

7 hours ago, Rob-M said:

Worse is I can't recall ever seeing an offside ground paddle at woodend lock.  It only has a towpath side ground paddle and a gate paddle.

 

Although chatting to the CRT bloke, who seemed quite competent and to know what he was talking about, there is evidence of an offside ground paddle having existed at some point. Can't imagine why it would have been completely removed, but it would have been a very long time ago.

Edited September 25, 2023 by nicknorman

[Jonny P]

That makes sense. Perhaps the original had two ground paddles and no gate paddle.

 

Had to smile about the bottom gate comment because I find the bottom gates at Woodend are very reluctant to stay shut at all normally. As are all of the T&M locks with short and/or cranked balance beams.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[Rob-M]

That ground paddle has been problematic over the last few years, for a long period it was taped off and only the gate paddle was in use but at least in that lock you can whack the gate paddle up as it doesn't send a torrent of water in to the bows of the boat.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Rob-M said:

That ground paddle has been problematic over the last few years, for a long period it was taped off and only the gate paddle was in use but at least in that lock you can whack the gate paddle up as it doesn't send a torrent of water in to the bows of the boat.

That was quite interesting because as soon as the ground paddle was repaired, lot of boaters wouldn't lift the gate paddle until the lock was half full with the ground paddle

[Rob-M]

1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:

That was quite interesting because as soon as the ground paddle was repaired, lot of boaters wouldn't lift the gate paddle until the lock was half full with the ground paddle

We made the same observation.  One of the worse for not lifting the gate paddle was the lady volunteer who used to count boats at the lock and would help with the lock.

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

We made the same observation.  One of the worse for not lifting the gate paddle was the lady volunteer who used to count boats at the lock and would help with the lock.

 

Sounds like she was more interfering, than helping.

 

 

[nicknorman]

We came up Middle lock, Fradley on Tuesday. Jeff was locking, I was driving. Jeff said to the volockie “just wind the top paddle right up”. He look aghast and said “are you sure?”. Jeff said “yes” so he did, and guess what … nothing much happened, other than the lock filling as intended. I kept the boat right at the back of the lock with only minor use of reverse. All this dumbing down and one-click-wonder paddle operators leaves me depressed!

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

All this dumbing down and one-click-wonder paddle operators leaves me depressed!

 

Me too. I once shared a lock on the K&A with a one-click evangelist. Thought I was gonna be stuck in there with him all day.

 

 

[IanM]

58 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Me too. I once shared a lock on the K&A with a one-click evangelist. Thought I was gonna be stuck in there with him all day.

 

 

 

When you meet one that insists on doing the same to bottom paddles when going down hill it gets really quite trying!

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, nicknorman said:

We came up Middle lock, Fradley on Tuesday. Jeff was locking, I was driving. Jeff said to the volockie “just wind the top paddle right up”. He look aghast and said “are you sure?”. Jeff said “yes” so he did, and guess what … nothing much happened, other than the lock filling as intended. I kept the boat right at the back of the lock with only minor use of reverse. All this dumbing down and one-click-wonder paddle operators leaves me depressed!

 

Interesting, about 4 or 5  of years ago I entered that lock going up and the volockie and his mate ratcheted the paddles up before Mrs Hound had closed both of the bottom gates and I had stopped the boat!

 

This resulted in me being drawn forward and hitting the cill hard despite using full revs in reverse gear.

 

I told then never to open the paddles until the bottom gates are fully closed and the steerer has given permission, which I must say has always happened since. 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by cuthound
Clarification

[magnetman]

I'd be tempted to put in a claim for the broken Ming dynasty vase. 

 

 

Handy to keep a broken Ming vase about for just this sort of occasion. 

[ditchcrawler]

12 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Handy to keep a broken Ming vase about for just this sort of occasion. 

Can you get them on ebay?

[magnetman]

I got mine from a relative. 

[nicknorman]

47 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Interesting, about 4 or 5  of years ago I entered that lock going up and the volockie and his mate ratcheted the paddles up before Mrs Hound had closed both of the bottom gates and I had stopped the boat!

 

This resulted in me being drawn forward and hitting the cill hard despite using full revs in reverse gear.

 

I told then never to open the paddles until the bottom gates are fully closed and the steerer has given permission, which I must say has always happened since. 

 

Yes once you are a bit forward the suction becomes very strong, especially if you still have forward movement. This is why I dislike seeing volockies as we approach! You don’t know what you are going to get. On the other hand we had Mr Grassman of this parish going down a couple of days later and as you would expect, he just set the lock for us and did all the right things without fuss.

[MtB]

4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Can you get them on ebay?

 

I've got  broken one you can have for £300k. 

 

Well I think it's a Ming anyway. Not sure why it says "Habitat" on the base though. 

 

 

 

 

[Grassman]

We came through Woodend lock both ways yesterday and despite only the gate paddle working it probably took only a few minutes longer.

 

There's now a scheduled stoppage for October 10th from 8am to 4pm in order to try and effect either a proper fix or a more suitable temporary fix. 

 

We're having to carry out emergency repairs at Woodend Lock 7, to repair the offside ground paddle which has been damaged and is currently inoperable.

We believe the issue is caused by the paddle coming off the rod, or possibly a problem with the paddle grooves. This is causing the lock to be very slow to drain, meaning boats are having to queue for a considerable amount of time. An urgent repair is therefore required. The stoppage will take place Tuesday 10th October from 8am to 4pm.

Thank you for your patience while we carry out this vital repair.