Napton Flight Closed - 05/05/14

[Proper Job]

There's nothing wrong with grout injection and I'm surprised that it's not used routinely.

 

Any lock wall that lets water out when being emptied could be cured before the cavity gets to big.

 

I think this job may be a bit beyond grouting though

[alan_fincher]

I think we risk being arm chair experts about something we know little about.

 

Unless someone knows otherwise, there can be no automatic assumption that the failure of a lower wing wall is compromising the whole lock structure.

 

If you think back, a wing wall started to fall away on one of the Calcutt locks, (which just happens to be not that far away from Napton, although that's not relevant).

 

AFAIK the repair required there, although a big one, was just to that wall, and not to any part of the lock chamber itself.

[ditchcrawler]

This is the lock where the hire boat rudder became trapped. Whilst the water was going down, there were a lot of waterfalls from the offside lock wall. I would think the water has been filling behind the lock wall and along to the lower (now collapsed wall) for some time, making it increasingly unstable.

So unstable that a small bump from a boat has finally knocked the bricks in.

I didn't report as there are lock keepers on there every day, and the orange netting and other stuff showed me that CRT were aware of something wrong already.

As I said there has been problems with the bywash for years. so no easy flow of water round the lock but seeping into the ground.

[Oliver]

News from Napton Flight this afternoon. More of the wall fell down when the lock & pound were drained - a bit you can't see in my photo. There appears to be a gap between the wing(?) of the lock and the bank and I think there are concerns about it widening and spreading back into the lock chamber. (Not sure what the correct terms are).

 

CRT are hoping to get machinery in across the fields either Wednesday or Thursday; clear the lock exit and put some kind of propping across the exit as a temporary measure to get the boats stuck in the flight down and probably to last the summer. Apparently there is a16 week winter stoppage planned already for the flight so they will do the full scale repairs then.

[Mike Todd]

IMO this is another case of poor maintenance and where a stitch in time could have saved nine. If you look at the photo you will see the galvernised fencing in the background. this is protecting the collapsed bypass culvert around the lock. If the water cant flow freely through this then it just ends up saturating the ground and putting pressure on the wall. This is not the only lock with this problem on the flight.

I've looked back at my photos for this lock and the galvanised fence was thyere in April last year but in 2010 there was orange netting in place! So not a new problem . . .

[jim and pat dalton]

Will it remain in this state for the summer? or will there be a further closure before the holiday season gets in full swing

 

Just need to have an idea whether to turn left or right when I come out of the Paddington arm next week, as we had originally planned to go through the third week of May

I have phoned CRT South East and the answerphone couldn't answer my question, I have left a message and also an e mail, I just wondered if anyone on CWDF had any info or knew how they normally deal with these things as we don't want to set off and then find its closed again for full repairs for a while, or given that its the Oxford is the temp repair a permanent one? :-)

Edited May 9, 2014 by jim and pat dalton

[luctor et emergo]

Will it remain in this state for the summer? or will there be a further closure before the holiday season gets in full swing

 

Just need to have an idea whether to turn left or right when I come out of the Paddington arm next week, as we plan to go through the third week of May

 

 

I have phoned CRT South East and the answerphone couldn't answer my question, I have left a message and also an e mail, I just wondered if anyone on CWDF had any info or knew how they normally deal with these things as we don't want to set off and then find its closed again for full repairs for a while, or given that its the Oxford is the temp repair a permanent one:-)

CRT are waiting for some orange netting to arrive.

[alan_fincher]

My takes is that it is hard to say.

I read it that they hope they can stabilise things enough, and work around it enough, that they don't have to do a major closure in the summer season, but I could easily be wrong.

 

These things do have a habit of "developing", and maybe getting worse, so I think it would be dangerous to assume there is no possibility of further things happening, and them needing to take more drastic action.

 

EDITED TO ADD:

 

Being where it ids there will be HUGE pressure from hire boat companies to keep navigation going unless closure is totally unavoidable.

 

In other areas of the country I think there would be far greater possibility they would just close it, but at these locks I think they will do everything they can to keep boats moving, if possible.

Edited May 9, 2014 by alan_fincher

[bottle]

Will it remain in this state for the summer? or will there be a further closure before the holiday season gets in full swing

 

Yes, no, possibly, maybe but there again, your guess is as good as mine,

 

Whichever way you go there could be unforeseen circumstances, if you had asked the same question 7 days ago then the answer would have been the same, no one knows.

 

if you turn right out of Paddington Arm there will be lot of locks, between you and Napton, that could fail.

 

Take each day as it comes, set-up stoppage notifications from CRT for the canals you will be travelling, assuming you will have the internet whilst travelling.

 

Most of all enjoy yourself..

[Athy]

A sixteen week stoppage? What do they intend to do, build a whole new canal?

[Peter X]

Because my brother's boat was stranded the wrong side of this stoppage on Monday and his wife is unavailable to help, I've been invited as crew to help get the boat back to the marina tomorrow. It's an ill wind that blows no good, and I get to do a day's boating.

 

CRT said the lock would open by noon today; can anyone on the spot confirm that Napton is now open as promised please?

[OldGoat]

A sixteen week stoppage? What do they intend to do, build a whole new canal?

 

Eh? - where do you get that from, or is that what UFN means...

[hvdb]

Latest on this closure:

 

Notice Alert

Oxford Canal
Starts At: Lock 8, Napton Bottom Lock
Ends At: Lock 11, Napton
Up Stream Winding Hole: Engine Arm
Down Stream Winding Hole: North of Lock 8

Friday 9 May 2014 14:00 until further notice

Type: Navigation Restriction
Reason: Structure failure

Original message:

Please be aware that the locks will be closing at 7pm today (Friday 9th May) with the last boat at 6:30pm.

There will be an ongoing restriction to these locks with Canal & River Trust staff being on site to assist boats through.

The opening times are: Monday to Friday 8am-6pm, last boat at 5:30pm and Saturday to Sunday 8am-4:30pm, last boat at 4pm

There will be a review of these opening times and an update will be published on Wednesday 14th May 2014.

You can view this notice and its map online here:
http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notice/1072/napton-lock-8-to-lock-11-oxford-canal

Helen

[Athy]

 

Eh? - where do you get that from, or is that what UFN means...

From post number 29. Didn't you read it?

[matty40s]

A lot of the bank has been dug away and strengthening girders fitted.

 

There have been about 7 boats each way since 12.30 when the first ones came through.

 

 

The lads on the ground think it will stay open unless further problems occur.

[RLWP]

That's bloody quick work

 

Richard

[Proper Job]

 

Hats off to CRT

 

Well done to all concerned

[matty40s]

Apparently they have been working overnight to get it open.

[jim and pat dalton]

That is excellent work by CRT and their Contractors. thanks for the updated info and pictures

 

 

Jim

[Nightwatch]

I'm impressed.

 

Martyn

[matty40s]

One reason for the slow progress is that only the offside paddle is being used to empty the lock, and slowly at that.

This is to prevent further water erosion to the base of the wall.

[Alan de Enfield]

Cheaper to pay to get it done and keep it open now than pay the hire fleets compensation

[Paul C]

Cheaper to pay to get it done and keep it open now than pay the hire fleets compensation

 

Someone else is bound to say it - I don't think there's a valid route for hire fleets to claim compensation. However, they'd certainly have put pressure on CRT, and CRT obviously takes its duty seriously when it comes to keeping the major arteries of the canal network open. And its not just for hirers, its everyone.

[Alan de Enfield]

We were looking at buying a canal business a 'couple' of years ago, and on looking thru the accounts BW had certainly paid 'loss of income' to a considerable sum following (and during) one of the breaches'.

 

It is (or was) apparently common practice for BW to pay compensation rather than it be recharged to BW by the affected business's insurers

 

The company accounts stated :

 

British Waterways made payments to operators for the season.

The rationale behind these payments as stated by BW was that we should be ‘neither better off or worse off than we would have been had we been able to trade’ during the period. The implementation of this policy was put into the hands of the Loss Adjusters who rather struggled to understand the nature of the business an based their evaluation generally on the previous trading period.

 

So -yes there is a route for compensation and it is pursued by the Hire Fleets and others.

 

Where there is blame there is a claim !!!

Edited May 9, 2014 by Alan de Enfield

[b0atman]

Force Majeur, Act of god,etc.

So do hirers get their money back from these companies when they cannot do the cruise they wanted to .