Lock Bollards - Again....

[howardang]

The new wooden ones are actually Anti-Bollards. They have all the features you don't want in a bollard and none that you do.

 

Imagine trying to strap a boat to a halt on those square edges! Which would break first, the rope or the bollard? And what would be the second thing to break, the boater's leg as the bollard or rope go airborne or the lock gate as the now unchecked boat crashes into it?

During a recent trip on the Staffs & Worcs. we saw some acivity at Rodbaston Lock. There was a gang of contractors setting up to install 3 of these wooden posts. They had 3 transit vans, one further vehicle towing a cement mixer and 6 men, together with all the usual kit - spades, sand cement etc. Even on the conservative side this must have cost a couple of thousand ponds for this one lock. Multiply this sort of expenditure by all the various locks around the system and the sum must be quite staggering.

 

 

Howard

[carlt]

Multiply this sort of expenditure by all the various locks around the system and the sum must be quite staggering.

 

And, now they're realising what a stupid idea they were....add the cost of taking them all out.

[sociable_hermit]

Anti-Bollards: I like it!

 

To be fair I think some strapping posts were square, in fact I'm sure someone posted photographic evidence on the previous thread on this topic. But the way in which posts / bollards would be used by boaters today is different - it's useful if you can wind a rope around and pass it back to the skipper, or take it with you when single-manning. The square posts are useless for this, as the ropes snag or lift off so you have to stand by the post to attend to them, which rather defeats the whole object of using the ropes in the first place.

[Rick-n-Jo]

This issue goes far beyond whether or not these things are necessary or useful. I think we're pretty much agreed on that!

What really appals me is that they could take it on themselves to change the appearance and function of the entire canal system without apparently having to consult or agree with anyone. Since they're supposed to be custodians of OUR national heritage, that's like whitewashing the Mona Lisa or putting UPVC windows in Windsor Castle.

[Liam]

That's not a bollard thats a fishing peg marker!

[sociable_hermit]

This issue goes far beyond whether or not these things are necessary or useful. I think we're pretty much agreed on that!

What really appals me is that they could take it on themselves to change the appearance and function of the entire canal system without apparently having to consult or agree with anyone. Since they're supposed to be custodians of OUR national heritage, that's like whitewashing the Mona Lisa or putting UPVC windows in Windsor Castle.

 

Well, the "good" news, I suppose, is that they've added something worthless rather than destroying something valuable. At least this work can be undone. The point THEN, though, is the cost and the mismanagement that caused this money to be spent, especially when BW are busy complaining that they are skint. Perhaps they are short of funds because they're wasting it all on pointless schemes led by hare-brained standards and procedures written by f@ckwit civil servants and H&S consultants who haven't got a bloody clue.

 

Can you imagine the budget talks for next year?

 

- Err, Defra, could we possibly have another couple of million?

- Possibly. What do you need it for?

- Well, we wasted the last lot on lots of little wooden posts that nobody wanted. Hope you don't mind.

 

More annoyingly, think of all the GOOD things that could have been done with the money instead. I know a million or so isn't much in engineering terms these days, but if nothing else all of the Forum members could have got drunk for a month on that cash and still had change for a packet of peanuts. It would have achieved more than those silly wooden posts ever will in terms of improving BW's popularity, and that's probably the least useful thing I can think of spending it on. So much more that could be done, or done better...

[Timleech]

To be fair I think some strapping posts were square, in fact I'm sure someone posted photographic evidence on the previous thread on this topic.

 

I think that's probably only where the ends of scrapped balance beams have been pressed into service, and they did at least usually have a decent chamfer on the corners.

 

Tim

[exboater]

I remember chugging south through Preston Brook tunnel in the early nineties, emerged into the daylight to be confronted with a fancy black and white BW "welcome to the Trent & Mersey canal" sign. I was thinking, OK, there's been a perfectly adequate old blue T & M sign on the north portal for years, why are they wasting money telling folk what they know anyway?

 

Things have been going steadily downhill ever since.

[Bones]

These bollards are pointless in my opinion, but when I saw this on the rochdale I realised that BW realise this too - they aren't bollards, but sign posts. They just haven't put the signs on them. They are working from the north to the south on these, so they will arrive at Dukes Cut in no time!

 

[magnetman]

These bollards are pointless in my opinion, but when I saw this on the rochdale I realised that BW realise this too - they aren't bollards, but sign posts. They just haven't put the signs on them. They are working from the north to the south on these, so they will arrive at Dukes Cut in no time!

 

 

good photo

 

so they put up what appears to be a mooring bollard just so they can then put a 'no mooring' sign on it

[carlt]

A sign to say "This bollard is not suitable for use as a bollard!".

 

New depths are continually plumbed.

[magnetman]

if there were enough of these it would be perhaps possible to have a raised flyover type arrangement for the cyclists. They'd have to be a bit higher but they could be extended upwards gradually so people don't notice.

[Jason Wilson and Family]

So what the heck are they supposed to be then?

[fender]

So what the heck are they supposed to be then?

 

the smooth flat tops are there to help boaters compose their balance and perfect their pirouetting skills

[grahoom]

the smooth flat tops are there to help boaters compose their balance and perfect their pirouetting skills

 

 

this is what they are for...

 

 

[magnetman]

So what the heck are they supposed to be then?

The main support posts for a health and safety inspired safety picket fence to be erected around locks perhaps?

 

somewhere to put up advertisments?

[Jason Wilson and Family]

The main support posts for a health and safety inspired safety picket fence to be erected around locks perhaps?

 

somewhere to put up advertisments?

Hrm... nope.... so far the only thing that fits is 'waste of money'

[Sir Nibble]

I know a million or so isn't much in engineering terms these days, but if nothing else all of the Forum members could have got drunk for a month on that cash and still had change for a packet of peanuts.

This is an excellent idea and should be progressed forthwith.