What bottom gates?

[Pluto]

A couple of GU photos for you, on http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/images.html, the butty is STOULTON and, as with the motor, are in GUC livery.

[hughc]

It is I believe Sandiacre lock on the Erewash. If so the steerer was Ike Argent. Regards, HughC.

[Chris J W]

How on earth did they manage that??

[pete harrison]

It is I believe Sandiacre lock on the Erewash. If so the steerer was Ike Argent. Regards, HughC.

 

These two photographs were published in Waterways World magazine October 1979 page 39. The text states that the pairing was PURTON and STOULTON, the location was Sandiacre Lock, Erewash Canal and the date as September 1941. The crew are given as Mr and Mrs Alec Winston but Ike Argent assisted with the text (rather than being the steerer).

 

Apparently Ike Argent had been mate on LUPIN and DEVON six weeks earlier when the same thing had happened to him !

Edited December 10, 2009 by pete harrison

[DHutch]

Prsumably the gates failed under the load of the water?

- Didnt shut sqaurely i presumable, cill suffently damaged, where suffecently bent, etc?

[Derek R.]

Prsumably the gates failed under the load of the water?

- Didnt shut sqaurely i presumable, cill suffently damaged, where suffecently bent, etc?

 

We had a similar experience on the L & L at Gargrave in 1983. Luckily for us the gates did not go through all the way.

 

We had gone in to the full lock and waiting for a hire boat to join us alongside. Our boat touched the top of the bottom gates quite lightly, and the mitre immediately sprung past that of the other gate opening a gap about twelve to fifteen inches tapering down to well below water level. The rush of water from the full lock through this gap dropped the level by six inches in seconds, pulled one top gate firmly closed, and I rushed across the bridge over the tail to shut the other top gate while waving to the hire boaters to stop. The gate slammed shut alright! We locked out tied up and reset the lock, making sure the mitres were squared true to each other. Locked the other boat through and away, while I went off to phone Waterways and tell them of what could have been serious. "Oh, they're often doing that" was the comment. Not a lot else we could do, so carried on.

 

The design, or perhaps the method of building that particular set, was such that there were no supporting baulks of timber at the mitre head to prevent them slipping past each other. Just a touch was all it needed. Gave us a fright.

 

Derek

[Pluto]

We had a similar experience on the L & L at Gargrave in 1983. Luckily for us the gates did not go through all the way.

 

We had gone in to the full lock and waiting for a hire boat to join us alongside. Our boat touched the top of the bottom gates quite lightly, and the mitre immediately sprung past that of the other gate opening a gap about twelve to fifteen inches tapering down to well below water level. The rush of water from the full lock through this gap dropped the level by six inches in seconds, pulled one top gate firmly closed, and I rushed across the bridge over the tail to shut the other top gate while waving to the hire boaters to stop. The gate slammed shut alright! We locked out tied up and reset the lock, making sure the mitres were squared true to each other. Locked the other boat through and away, while I went off to phone Waterways and tell them of what could have been serious. "Oh, they're often doing that" was the comment. Not a lot else we could do, so carried on.

 

The design, or perhaps the method of building that particular set, was such that there were no supporting baulks of timber at the mitre head to prevent them slipping past each other. Just a touch was all it needed. Gave us a fright.

 

Derek

I have a similar set of photos for WHARFE which went through the gates at Lock 9 on the Wigan flight in 1939. The crew said that the strap rope snapped as it crossed a sharp ridge worn into an iron bollard. To get the boat out, they had to cut through the side decks so that the hull could be pulled in enough to drop the boat back into the water and then remove the gates.

 

The photos of the GU boats came from a file I was given of photos collected by Jim Pemberton, who worked on maintenance on the L&LC at Burnley and Apperley Bridge. All his other photos were of the L&LC.

[Timleech]

I have a similar set of photos for WHARFE which went through the gates at Lock 9 on the Wigan flight in 1939. The crew said that the strap rope snapped as it crossed a sharp ridge worn into an iron bollard. To get the boat out, they had to cut through the side decks so that the hull could be pulled in enough to drop the boat back into the water and then remove the gates.

 

The photos of the GU boats came from a file I was given of photos collected by Jim Pemberton, who worked on maintenance on the L&LC at Burnley and Apperley Bridge. All his other photos were of the L&LC.

 

On our first trip on the L&L with the Edith, 1966 I suppose, we arrived at the bottom of Johnson's Hillock to find we couldn't pass, a converted ship's lifeboat had hit the bottom gates a day or two before and 'gone straight through' having folded them back. The boat was intact and floating below the lock with no obvious damage. My memory suggests the gates were being repaired rather than replaced but I can't be sure of that, it was all sorted within a few days though.

 

Edited to say that we took the opportunity to explore the Walton Summit Branch on foot, among other things, I believe there's not much of it left now?

 

Tim

Edited December 11, 2009 by Timleech