Which Way?

[fender.]

We moor just a couple of boat-lengths below a lock. When the lock is emptied, the main flow of water goes straight past us with just a small pull in the direction away from the lock. Then a few minutes later, just as the lock is nearly empty. the initial surge of water comes running back again at the full width of the canal and very strongly pushes us towards the lock. So from a casual observation from our boat, the water clearly flows mainly upstream.

 

Allan

 

I agree with the above. Often when mooring ABOVE a lock, I observe water going towards the lock when someone fills it. The when it is about full the water always bounces back up the canal, so upstream/downstream are little misdemanors in trying to describe the situation.

 

I would suggest 'up' or 'down' the canal as in mode of direction rather than water flow (up towards the top of the locks or the summit or down the locks and away from the summit) any other description simply induces a linguistic circularity that never resolves what it is meant to describe.

[John Orentas]

Makes you wonder why the canal builders bothered to build all those reservoirs up in the hills, if they could have read this site and had the benefit of the instinctive engineering skills and incisive thinking of some of the members they could have saved a great deal of trouble and expense.

[DHutch]

Makes you wonder why the canal builders bothered to build all those reservoirs up in the hills, if they could have read this site and had the benefit of the instinctive engineering skills and incisive thinking of some of the members they could have saved a great deal of trouble and expense.

lol

 

At tarleton during the bursco-bridge break they where letting water into the canal when tide came up the douglas.

- They put and extra plan over the spilway, and let the water in untill the leval was about a foot about what normaly was, then shut the gates.

- Took well over half an hour for the water leval to setle along the whole lenght back to the next lock!

 

Dont want to thing what all that saltwater did to the rivers wildlife.

 

 

Daniel

[fender.]

Makes you wonder why the canal builders bothered to build all those reservoirs up in the hills, if they could have read this site and had the benefit of the instinctive engineering skills and incisive thinking of some of the members they could have saved a great deal of trouble and expense.

 

some canals didnt have ANY reservoirs!

 

H.E.T

[John Orentas]

some canals didnt have ANY reservoirs!

 

H.E.T

 

 

All canals have reservoirs, but occasionally they may take the form of another canal or even a river.

[fender.]

All canals have reservoirs, but occasionally they may take the form of another canal or even a river.

 

At least one I know dont have any reservoirs - thats the Basingstoke - its a good example. It relies soley on rainwater and a number of springs. The Bridgewater, to my knowledge, didnt have a reservoir (at least at the time it was built - I dont know about now) Worsley mines probably provided a good enough source of water. The fact that it had locks built at Runcorn later was of no importance because by then other canals had been built and were feeding it.

[bottle]

At least one I know dont have any reservoirs - thats the Basingstoke - its a good example. It relies soley on rainwater and a number of springs. The Bridgewater, to my knowledge, didnt have a reservoir (at least at the time it was built - I dont know about now) Worsley mines probably provided a good enough source of water. The fact that it had locks built at Runcorn later was of no importance because by then other canals had been built and were feeding it.

 

 

Natural resevoirs, ............................................allready going

[John Orentas]

At least one I know dont have any reservoirs - thats the Basingstoke - its a good example. It relies soley on rainwater and a number of springs. The Bridgewater, to my knowledge, didnt have a reservoir (at least at the time it was built - I dont know about now) Worsley mines probably provided a good enough source of water. The fact that it had locks built at Runcorn later was of no importance because by then other canals had been built and were feeding it.

 

 

I believe I am right in thinking the Basingstoke takes it's water directly from the River Wey. The Bridgewater when originally built used only the water the the mines around Worsley but soon after it was built the River Medlock acted as it's feeder, the reason being that surrounding industries polluted it so badly it needed a fresh source of water, not that the Medlock would have been that good.

 

Streams and land drainage that casually flow into canals rarely make a worthwhile contribution unless they are on the summit level.

[fender.]

I believe I am right in thinking the Basingstoke takes it's water directly from the River Wey. The Bridgewater when originally built used only the water the the mines around Worsley but soon after it was built the River Medlock acted as it's feeder, the reason being that surrounding industries polluted it so badly it needed a fresh source of water, not that the Medlock would have been that good.

 

Streams and land drainage that casually flow into canals rarely make a worthwhile contribution unless they are on the summit level.

 

The Basingstoke takes water from the Wey Navigation (not the River Wey) in a back pumping scheme for the bottom flight of six locks at Woodham. The remainder of the canal relies totally on springs at the end of the 15 mile long Hampshire summit. This spring water (and any rain water) feeds the remaining locks.

 

Another canal that didnt have a single reservoir was the Thames and Severn. It relied too on springs around the summit level.

 

Thats three canals now on the list that dont have reservoirs.

[John Orentas]

The Basingstoke takes water from the Wey Navigation (not the River Wey) in a back pumping scheme for the bottom flight of six locks at Woodham. The remainder of the canal relies totally on springs at the end of the 15 mile long Hampshire summit. This spring water (and any rain water) feeds the remaining locks.

 

Another canal that didnt have a single reservoir was the Thames and Severn. It relied too on springs around the summit level.

 

Thats three canals now on the list that dont have reservoirs.

 

 

Considering all that is not in my area I am not too far out. A reservoir does not have to be a D shaped lake with a dam at the front.

[fender.]

Considering all that is not in my area I am not too far out. A reservoir does not have to be a D shaped lake with a dam at the front.

 

No it doesnt, a deeper channel on a canal's summit level is a 'reservoir' but no-one ever speaks of them as such.

[John Orentas]

No it doesnt, a deeper channel on a canal's summit level is a 'reservoir' but no-one ever speaks of them as such.

 

 

The Rochdale summit level was built like that, in fact they have just completed a lot of work on the two summit locks, the bottom gates are a full six feet depth above the sill. Mind you there were once six good size reservoirs in the hills above.