Harecastle Tunnel closed till further notice

[haggis]

I seem to remember that the boat was a trad stern and there was a "suicide seat" but I may be getting mixed up with another accident. 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

2 hours ago, BEngo said:

Having once shafted myself out of Gorsty Hill after an engine stopping bladeful I can say it was bloody hard work.

no, I never thought it’d be easy 😃, well done. 
 

I once pushed Dmr out after he caught a tyre. 
Not sure he’s been back since 😂

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Gosty has a lovely air shaft,

With some proper cut stone making a wonderful finish to it,

 

The tunnel is also short, so not an impossibility to pole the boat out, and/or see another boat blocking the tunnel

 

It wasn't that colour when I went through today. By the way they have replaced the painting, it was missing last time I went through.

 

15 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

The difference is that in Harecastle if you get stuck you’re entirely reliant on the forced ventilation for your safety.

 

If you consider there are three long narrow bored tunnels on the network - Harecastle, Dudley and Standedge - the arrangements for Harecastle are the least onerous by far.

But if you get stuck they know you are stuck and can leave the fans on. if you get stuck in Gosty Hill you could be there all day 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

It wasn't that colour when I went through today. By the way they have replaced the painting, it was missing last time I went through.

 

Price of diesel?

[Captain Pegg]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But if you get stuck they know you are stuck and can leave the fans on. if you get stuck in Gosty Hill you could be there all day 

 
They may not wish to leave the fans on, or rely on a safety critical piece of equipment with no back up should it fail.
 

It would arguably be worse if they knew you were there but had no obvious and simple means of extracting people.

 

Plus what happens in the event of fire? The fans could actually make things worse but without them a means of quick escape is essential.

 

[dmr]

40 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Must have been, otherwise I can't see how he can have gone off - even if you had a heart attack on mine, the rail would keep you on the deck, which, as you say, is a cruiser stern. Are trads really that much higher? I'd have thought they'd be about the same, just shorter.

I dunno, I expect both types vary quite a bit. Most modern boats all look similar but older boats have a lot more variation. On some cruisers there is a side wall and you sort of stand inside, and I have seen some very high trads.

I'll measure mine if you measure yours 😀

15 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

no, I never thought it’d be easy 😃, well done. 
 

I once pushed Dmr out after he caught a tyre. 
Not sure he’s been back since 😂

 

 

Never going there ever again.

The hardest part was spending the evening down the weedhatch while you lot were drinking in the clubhouse?

[ditchcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

Plus what happens in the event of fire? The fans could actually make things worse but without them a means of quick escape is essential.

 

If there is that big a fire you will be a cinder before the team arrives from wherever they are working to man that boa. your only hope is the fire brigade with their inflatable. If a boat is stuck and the engine is switched do they still need forced ventilation. people have canoed through at night and not died.

 

[Captain Pegg]

23 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If there is that big a fire you will be a cinder before the team arrives from wherever they are working to man that boa. your only hope is the fire brigade with their inflatable. If a boat is stuck and the engine is switched do they still need forced ventilation. people have canoed through at night and not died.

 

 

I'm just surmising as to the reasons why after having assessed it and consulted with the Fire & Rescue Service, CRT's conclusion is that Harecastle requires a rescue boat.

 

Personally I'm happy to take the provision of things for my own safety.

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Captain Pegg

[Rob-M]

A working boatman told me how he spent the night in Harecastle tunnel after his boat jammed on the partially removed towpath.  He was in the cabin cooking his tea leaving the boat to steer itself when it happened.  He finished his tea and waited for the first boat to come through in the morning.  Clearly he lived to tell the tale.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

16 minutes ago, dmr said:

I dunno, I expect both types vary quite a bit. Most modern boats all look similar but older boats have a lot more variation. On some cruisers there is a side wall and you sort of stand inside, and I have seen some very high trads.

I'll measure mine if you measure yours 😀

Never going there ever again.

The hardest part was spending the evening down the weedhatch while you lot were drinking in the clubhouse?

😂🤣🤣😂

 

my memory is trying for hours with a hacksaw trying to cut through it before I said fck it and went for a pint. 
 

and the folks next day simply popping it off with a long bar,

after they’d lifted the back end up. 
 

that was the Explorer Trip in June (?) 2013. 
do you remember we ended up at the Pelsall Rally?

good year that. 

[dmr]

27 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

😂🤣🤣😂

 

my memory is trying for hours with a hacksaw trying to cut through it before I said fck it and went for a pint. 
 

and the folks next day simply popping it off with a long bar,

after they’d lifted the back end up. 
 

that was the Explorer Trip in June (?) 2013. 
do you remember we ended up at the Pelsall Rally?

good year that. 

 

ok, ten years ago, lets test the memory.

We started as Merry Hill and went in a pub with Laurie and Alison? Which one?

Next stop was Hawne basin?

Last stop was Pelsall but where else?

I remember the Fountain at Tipton

The Bradley workshops (was that just a lunch time stop? we walked there rather than going down the arm)

I think the Great Western at Wolves

Longwood boat club

and we had an unofficial lunch time stop at Ma Pardoes on the way to Hawne.

Anywhere else?

I know we got a reputation for our drinking 😀

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

No we took boats to Bradley work shop, I’m sure. 
and had an afternoon walking the the old locks and crossed road to have a pint in a pub which I forget the name of. 
 

Tipton we’d had to much to drink the night before so missed the talk at the library, I’ve always regretted missing that. 
 

In fact we were always the last to get going in the morning. 
 

We may have stopped at Ocker Hill too, but perhaps that was just a service stop over.  
 

It was a rich n chips evening at Longwood. 
 

and yes we first met Laurie and Alison on this trip. 
 

oh!! Walsall Basin!! Of course. 
Don’t forget Walsall and the trip to the big pub where they asked what dog you had before letting it in. 
 

[Tracy D'arth]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

If there is that big a fire you will be a cinder before the team arrives from wherever they are working to man that boa. your only hope is the fire brigade with their inflatable. If a boat is stuck and the engine is switched do they still need forced ventilation. people have canoed through at night and not died.

 

Last I heard was that the inflatable fire boat had to come from Warrington.

I cannot understand how that rescue boat would work rescuing anyone in the tunnel.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Tracy D'arth

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Seeing as CRT can’t even make up their minds when Standedge Cafè is open, I’m not sure I’d trust CRT’s offer of any sort of tunnel rescue service. 

I understand there are always plans in place with the Fire Service for any emergency. 

 

 

[dmr]

5 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

No we took boats to Bradley work shop, I’m sure. 
and had an afternoon walking the the old locks and crossed road to have a pint in a pub which I forget the name of. 
 

Tipton we’d had to much to drink the night before so missed the talk at the library, I’ve always regretted missing that. 
 

In fact we were always the last to get going in the morning. 
 

We may have stopped at Ocker Hill too, but perhaps that was just a service stop over.  
 

It was a rich n chips evening at Longwood. 
 

and yes we first met Laurie and Alison on this trip. 
 

oh!! Walsall Basin!! Of course. 
Don’t forget Walsall and the trip to the big pub where they asked what dog you had before letting it in. 
 

 

How could I forget that night in Walsall?

I think we stopped somewhere near Ocker Hill and walked to Bradley along the route of the old canal, and then moved on later. Thats where we had the steel wedges to drive in between the bricks because there were no mooring rings.

It was the BCN challenge where we took the boat (your boat) down the arm.

[magnetman]

11 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Last I heard was that the inflatable fire boat had to come from Warrington.

I cannot understand how that rescue boat would work rescuing anyone in the tunnel.

Inflatable fire boat? 

 

Is that like a chocolate teapot? 

 

Actually we have one on the River sometimes but I doubt they ever put it near an actual fire. 

 

Rubber dinghy with big petrol can. Hmmm.  

[Tacet]

4 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Is the fan really necessary though I wonder? I suspect it isn’t but neither I nor my canary would like to test it. 

Presumably pollution assessments have improved since the 1950s, when I think they were installed and the tunnel has had towpath removal too which slightly increases ventilation. 

 

Seems like the fans began just as canal usage dropped leaving 40 or so years of powered working boats going through before installation, or were boats pulled through with special tugs? 
 

 

If a safety something is necessary in case the fan breaks, it might be worth considering a stand-by fan rather than a boat!

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

2 minutes ago, dmr said:

It was the BCN challenge where we took the boat (your boat) down the arm.

Yes we did in 2015(?) but I’m sure that weren’t our first trip down the arm,

but maybe you’re right,

and we walked there?

 

only Laurie and Alison can help us now with our lost memories ☹️

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Yes we did in 2015(?) but I’m sure that weren’t our first trip down the arm,

but maybe you’re right,

and we walked there?

 

only Laurie and Alison can help us now with our lost memories ☹️

 

I remember walking along the route of an old canal and then over some open ground or maybe through a park. Its gypsy land and I think a horse and trap went past?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

13 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

I remember walking along the route of an old canal and then over some open ground or maybe through a park. Its gypsy land and I think a horse and trap went past?

Yes,

but we’re too lazy to walk from Ocker Hill to the Workshops (and back!)

I’ll have to look at the the maps and work it out. 😃
 

ETA Sorry ‘I’m’ too lazy

Edited November 12, 2023 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[Tracy D'arth]

59 minutes ago, Tacet said:

If a safety something is necessary in case the fan breaks, it might be worth considering a stand-by fan rather than a boat!

There are 2 I believe.

[Mike Tee]

U

 

they need one of these, reduce the fan to fit the tunnel profile and it doesn’t matter if the tunnel fan fails

[agg221]

6 hours ago, BEngo said:

 

Having once shafted myself out of Gorsty Hill after an engine stopping bladeful I can say it was bloody hard work.

 

The low roof stretch was a real pain, because there isn't really room for a long  shaft.

 

N

Oates really doesn't like Gorsty Hill, which is ironic because its former working route was Bumble Hole to Hawne Basin. It is just the wrong length without straight sides so now that it is motorised it crabs through narrow tunnels and is inexorably drawn to wedging itself within the bore. It then pretty much stops. We first found this out in the 2022 BCN Challenge. On the way down it took us about 1hr20mins to get through the tunnel (much to the annoyance of the other competitors trying to get back!) but on the way back we pretty much pushed/pulled it through hand over hand against the brick wall and using the boathook against the metal rail at water level. That cut the time down to around 40mins I think. It should be Oates again for the 2024 BCN challenge so I note with joy that the finish is at Hawne Basin...

 

Alec

[Cheshire cat]

I think it was two years ago that we had to wait at the northern portal while Fire and Rescue practised deploying their inflatable. I'm sure we were told that they were from Newcastle under Lyme Fire Service. The rescue boat was completely ignored. One of the volounteer keepers told us that if we got stuck we should do the blasts on the horn but we could probably shaft ourselves out by the time any kind of rescue team had been assembled.

 

Well known phrase about a brewery springs to mind. 

[MtB]

When was the rescue boat last used in a rescue? Does anyone know?