Land Slip - Easenhall Cutting, Brinklow, Oxford Canal

[MtB]

21 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have just watched Monsoon Railways on TV, They had 100 mts of track washed away and rebuilt it all in 4 days by hand with it still in flood

 

Send a link to CRT, I'm sure they'll watch it and "lessons will be learned" !

[Stroudwater1]

57 minutes ago, James Owen said:

There's been a fair drop of rain recently, this has resulted in more trees down over the cut now and further slippage spilling over the towing path and into the water.

This weekend I gather I t looked like just one  hawthorn tree thats uncut (quite a large one). This is pretty much over the navigation though it’s still navigable with canoes/small boats to the original slippage. All the rest of the wood in the whole slippage bar roots have been removed.

 

The only possible further slippage is over some of the gabions but not really into the canal. I had thought that occurred when the rest of the slip had taken place? 
 

It doesn’t look like anything much has been done with any of the spoil. I pity the narrowboat hire firms. 

 

[James Owen]

29 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

This weekend I gather I t looked like just one  hawthorn tree thats uncut (quite a large one). This is pretty much over the navigation though it’s still navigable with canoes/small boats to the original slippage. All the rest of the wood in the whole slippage bar roots have been removed.

 

The only possible further slippage is over some of the gabions but not really into the canal. I had thought that occurred when the rest of the slip had taken place? 
 

It doesn’t look like anything much has been done with any of the spoil. I pity the narrowboat hire firms. 

 

You're absolutely right, I must have imagined what I saw earlier.

[Pluto]

14 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have just watched Monsoon Railways on TV, They had 100 mts of track washed away and rebuilt it all in 4 days by hand with it still in flood

It took BW about three weeks to sort this out at Keighley Golf Club:

[Hudds Lad]

16 minutes ago, Pluto said:

It took BW about three weeks to sort this out at Keighley Golf Club:

I hope the skipper of that boat was wearing his brown trousers 😬

[Tony Brooks]

10 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

I hope the skipper of that boat was wearing his brown trousers 😬

 

Might have been put there deliberately when the leak was first noticed. I got the impression this was a sort of first aid measure in the hope of stopping the leak getting worse, which this one obviously did.

[Tracy D'arth]

Faced with unstable cuttings, I cannot understand why the chanel is not dug out and large concrete pipes dropped in to form a tunnel. Tow path not required, one way working but a simple solution. Then the pipe could be covered and the land above sold for development.

 A perfectly serviceable tunnel was made in Stoke-on-Trent whilst the bypass was reconstructed and it worked well.

[Pluto]

5 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

Might have been put there deliberately when the leak was first noticed. I got the impression this was a sort of first aid measure in the hope of stopping the leak getting worse, which this one obviously did.

It was. BW brought maintenance men from around the NW Region to fix the breach. Fortunately, there was a disused quarry opposite, where a large concrete mixing machine was brought for the repair. The second photo is looking up to the towpath from below, in Keighley Golf Club grounds.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Faced with unstable cuttings, I cannot understand why the chanel is not dug out and large concrete pipes dropped in to form a tunnel. Tow path not required, one way working but a simple solution. Then the pipe could be covered and the land above sold for development.

 A perfectly serviceable tunnel was made in Stoke-on-Trent whilst the bypass was reconstructed and it worked well.

I have said that for years, pre cast rings ether Square like used on the Cotswold under the railway or round as used in Blisworth Tunnel, dredge and lay, job done. As for the Stoke on Trent tunnel I remember that, Man each end, one way working with a dog leg

[Mike Tee]

we came through a cutting a couple of days ago - just north of Shrewley tunnel - from the look of it, it must be on the list of 'just about to'

[john6767]

1 hour ago, Mike Tee said:

we came through a cutting a couple of days ago - just north of Shrewley tunnel - from the look of it, it must be on the list of 'just about to'

You mean the one at Rowington? I was studying that when we came through there a couple of weeks ago, and that certainly has very steep sides, and I agree is a good candidate for a slip.  If that happened, the River Soar is the only route North to South and good luck with that at the moment.

[Paul C]

In any cutting with non-vertical trees, the ground is clearly slipping/rotating at a faster rate than the tree is able to grow, so its unstable.

[cuthound]

On 02/04/2024 at 13:47, Tracy D'arth said:

Faced with unstable cuttings, I cannot understand why the chanel is not dug out and large concrete pipes dropped in to form a tunnel. Tow path not required, one way working but a simple solution. Then the pipe could be covered and the land above sold for development.

 A perfectly serviceable tunnel was made in Stoke-on-Trent whilst the bypass was reconstructed and it worked well.

 

BW did this when constructing Galton Tunnel

 

 

https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/bcn-nml-05-690-01/

[tree monkey]

19 hours ago, Paul C said:

In any cutting with non-vertical trees, the ground is clearly slipping/rotating at a faster rate than the tree is able to grow, so its unstable.

Being picky, not all none vertical tree growth implies unstable conditions, trees will grow towards the light if the route to the light is not directly above the tree will grow with a natural lean.

 

Additionally the tree may have partially failed, reestablished with the new position/lean

[robtheplod]

22 hours ago, Mike Tee said:

we came through a cutting a couple of days ago - just north of Shrewley tunnel - from the look of it, it must be on the list of 'just about to'

The cutting below Tyrley on the Shroppie is like a slalom course!

[Hudds Lad]

32 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

The cutting below Tyrley on the Shroppie is like a slalom course!

Was ever thus, especially if you came across that bloke in his rowing boat  

[Mike Todd]

On 29/03/2024 at 20:09, magnetman said:

Interesting idea. Use canals for landfill then remediate the surface and build on it. win win situation. 

 

 

As has been found elsewhere, filling in canals to be suitable for housing is not as easy as it might seem . . .  A succession of politicians (and others) have had to have the facts put straight to them by their civil servants. 

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

BW did this when constructing Galton Tunnel

 

 

https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/bcn-nml-05-690-01/

BW didn't build that. It and the nearby Summit Tunnel over the Old Main Line were built in the mid 1970s to accommodate the road now named Telford Way, to provide more traffic capacity, and also to remove heavy vehicles from Galton Bridge.

It was said at the time that a bridge of similar span to Galton Bridge had been considered during the design stages, but rejected as more expensive than constructing a tunnel. But by the time it was built, the 1973 oil crisis had put up the cost of transporting the imported fill material so much, that a long span high level bridge would have been cheaper!

It was also rumoured that the road builders had offered to put in twin towpaths, but BW said not necessary. Pathways over the portal each end were built to connect to the two truncated ends of the other towpath, but they don't seem to have been much used, and now the other towpath is completely overgrown and impassable.

[PeterG]

Any update on the Easenhill progress as I see nothing on the CART site?

[Stroudwater1]

3 hours ago, PeterG said:

Any update on the Easenhill progress as I see nothing on the CART site?

 

Easter Monday, no sign of any earth moving equipment nor of any boats to remove it. Didnt see the Coventry end so more boats maybe up there.  No sign of any earth moved at all, bar one channel dug between each side of the canal. All trees removed, and a Rothen boat to shift logs moored by the car park the Rugby side of the slippage. Still a fair amount of tree roots. The actual length of canal filled in is approximately 100-150 foot by  use of a full length and a bit of working narrowboat. However the spoil must be around 15-20 foot or more piled up on the towpath above the usual towpath height.

 

It will be difficult to get a digger in from above, as the drop is a fairly sheer one from the field. 

 

Rumour I heard is that CART are worried that a further landslip may get a boat and boater. It will be astonishing if its opened by Whitsun 2024 , but stranger things have happened. 

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

 

Easter Monday, no sign of any earth moving equipment nor of any boats to remove it. Didnt see the Coventry end so more boats maybe up there.  No sign of any earth moved at all, bar one channel dug between each side of the canal. All trees removed, and a Rothen boat to shift logs moored by the car park the Rugby side of the slippage. Still a fair amount of tree roots. The actual length of canal filled in is approximately 100-150 foot by  use of a full length and a bit of working narrowboat. However the spoil must be around 15-20 foot or more piled up on the towpath above the usual towpath height.

 

It will be difficult to get a digger in from above, as the drop is a fairly sheer one from the field. 

 

Rumour I heard is that CART are worried that a further landslip may get a boat and boater. It will be astonishing if its opened by Whitsun 2024 , but stranger things have happened. 

 

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Frankly, its beginning to sound to me as though it will never be re-opened if you are right about the fears of more landslips. Such a decision would explain the lack of progress so far, and no work going on.

 

 

[James Owen]

The works currently being undertaken involve the building of a new road across the adjacent field, there is slow but steady progress being made.

[Captain Pegg]

They seemed to be still actively involved in vegetation removal ten days ago, using hoppers and tugs to transport it away from site to suitable road access points.

 

I suspect as much spoil as possible will be removed from the top using long reach excavators that may also be able to construct suitable ramps down the slope for other plant if necessary.

 

Not surprised they weren’t working on a bank holiday. That’s very costly in terms of plant and labour.

[Stroudwater1]

2 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

They seemed to be still actively involved in vegetation removal ten days ago, using hoppers and tugs to transport it away from site to suitable road access points.

 

I suspect as much spoil as possible will be removed from the top using long reach excavators that may also be able to construct suitable ramps down the slope for other plant if necessary.

 

Not surprised they weren’t working on a bank holiday. That’s very costly in terms of plant and labour.

I’m sure you are right though it seemed strange to apparently have just the hopper boat near the slippage. The only vegetation around seemed to be one large tree that’s fallen across nearer the bridge, as well as roots. 
 

The distance between the sheer drop and the spoil on the towpath must be nearly 50 foot. 70 to reach the canal offside . Perhaps the plan is to pile along the embankment here and reinstate the spoil behind pilings if that’s feasible Are excavators able to reach that far? 
 

The hopper is rather smart

 

[Mike Tee]

The C&RT guy who was interviewed recently mentioned that the road across the field would allow them to get heavy machinery near the failure point so they could reduce the height of the remaining edge, thus allowing them to get that machinery down nearer the canal line. Then I guess it is just a matter then of clearing the spoil from the canal bed. 

I can only assume that the farmer was way more accommodating than some have been in the past - unless C&RT just threw a huge payoff his way on day one.