What is this?

[NickF]

I know the answer to this must be really simple but I have often noticed these white pegs above locks, this one I saw at Bosley when walking last week ....what are they for?

 

Sorry I seem to have started the same topic twice .. I don't know how to delete one!

[howardang]

I know the answer to this must be really simple but I have often noticed these white pegs above locks, this one I saw at Bosley when walking last week ....what are they for?

 

Sorry I seem to have started the same topic twice .. I don't know how to delete one!

I think they were used to start a loaded boat moving out of a lock. The tow rope was looped around it in such a way that the pull was doubled and a horse then pulled. As the boat passed the peg the rope came clear and then the boat procedded on its way. In other words it provided a form of "low gear" to get the boat moving.

 

Howard

[bigcol]

Another thing learned today

 

Thankyou

[Martin Megson]

I think they were used to start a loaded boat moving out of a lock. The tow rope was looped around it in such a way that the pull was doubled and a horse then pulled. As the boat passed the peg the rope came clear and then the boat procedded on its way. In other words it provided a form of "low gear" to get the boat moving.

 

Howard

 

 

That seems to be it according to the Macclesfield canal society - link below

 

http://www.macclesfieldcanal.org.uk/bosley.htm

[NickF]

That's interesting, I had guessed it was to slow the boats down on entry not speed them up on exit.

Thanks!

[DHutch]

Indeed.

 

 

Pulley on the mast, loop on the tow line.

- Loop in tow line pulled out and placed one said artefact.

- Boat sets off with a 2:1 on the tow line.

- As boat passes, loop comes off, and your back to 1:1

 

 

The top lock is in this case is presumably just of to the right the image?

 

 

 

Daniel

[furnessvale]

Indeed.

 

 

Pulley on the mast, loop on the tow line.

- Loop in tow line pulled out and placed one said artefact.

- Boat sets off with a 2:1 on the tow line.

- As boat passes, loop comes off, and your back to 1:1

 

 

The top lock is in this case is presumably just of to the right the image?

 

 

 

Daniel

Just one small point missing from the explanation.

 

There is a wooden peg spliced into the tow line between the end loop and the pulley. As the peg reaches the pulley it jams against the pulley and stops the rope passing through, neatly converting 2:1 into 1:1.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[Alf27]

Similar pegs on the Tardebigge flight. Have used them when bow hauling a Hotel boat butty.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Alf27

[NickF]

 

 

 

The top lock is in this case is presumably just of to the right the image?

 

 

 

Daniel

The top of this lock is indeed just to the right of the image, it is not in fact the top lock, I think it is the second from the top of the flight.

[Pluto]

I am not too sure about the one illustrated previously being a starter pin, which seem to be much smaller, perhaps just two or three inches high, so that the rope end will fall off them easily without catching or human intervention. Video Active have made an excellent film of them in use on the Worcester & Birmingham. This is a starter pin on Johnsons Hillock locks:

 

 

Below is a 'holding hook' as found on Yorkshire waterways, this example being on Bank Newton locks. I suspect that they were used for holding a boat away from the top gates whilst the lock was being filled, and thus making it quicker and easier to open the gates. Similar hooks are found on the Calder & Hebble, with three or four to each lock, suggesting they were more probably used for holding boats in position, rather than as starting pins.

 

[furnessvale]

I am not too sure about the one illustrated previously being a starter pin, which seem to be much smaller, perhaps just two or three inches high, so that the rope end will fall off them easily without catching or human intervention.

It is a starter pin and most, if not all, Bosley locks have them.

 

I have no doubt the regular horse boaters knew exactly where in the line to splice the stop peg so the line lifted cleanly off the starter pin.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

Edited January 29, 2015 by furnessvale

[DHutch]

The top of this lock is indeed just to the right of the image, it is not in fact the top lock, I think it is the second from the top of the flight.

Sorry, yes.

[DHutch]

I am not too sure about the one illustrated previously being a starter pin, which seem to be much smaller...,

 

 

Below is a 'holding hook' as found on Yorkshire waterways, this example being on Bank Newton locks. I suspect that they were used for holding a boat away from the top gates whilst the lock was being filled, and thus making it quicker and easier to open the gates.

Interesting point, it's certainly what I have been told they are, but I have also seen them used (in modern day, by historic boats/owners) for slowing the butty down.

 

I guess of the right size/design they could double up the purpose, although clear its important if your baseing you actions on being able to stop of on a pin to be able to get onto it, and really fairly imperative that the loop comes off the starting pin cleanly.

 

 

Daniel

[Timleech]

A bit of a thread hijack here -

some wide Yorkshire waterways have rectangular cast iron sockets sunk into the walls, either in the lock chamber or in the wall below the bottom gates. They look to me as though they are there for use by loaded boats/men, who would have a line with a bar of just the right size spiced into the end, which cold be put into the socket at an angle and then sraightened so that it would hold, thus allowing the boat to be strapped without needing access to the top of the wall.

Am I right, and was there a standard size of 'peg' or did they vary between waterways?

Sorry, no pics.

 

Tim

[Pluto]

 

Is this what you are thinking about, Tim? They were open cast iron boxes with a lip either end, the boatman hooking the end of a rope to one of the lips before using it to slow the boat. I don't seem to remember them being used for holding the boat in the lock, only for slowing it. Bear in mind that most boats were towed on the A&CN, so control entering the lock was more important than where a single boat or pair were using a lock. The photo dates from 1973 when the Co-op coal boats were still working up to Leeds carrying household coal. I was living on Pluto at the time, which the Co-op captain called a 'white boat', Canal Transport's livery being black and white, with the side decks painted white so you could see where you were standing whilst working at night.

[Timleech]

 

Is this what you are thinking about, Tim? They were open cast iron boxes with a lip either end, the boatman hooking the end of a rope to one of the lips before using it to slow the boat. I don't seem to remember them being used for holding the boat in the lock, only for slowing it. Bear in mind that most boats were towed on the A&CN, so control entering the lock was more important than where a single boat or pair were using a lock. The photo dates from 1973 when the Co-op coal boats were still working up to Leeds carrying household coal. I was living on Pluto at the time, which the Co-op captain called a 'white boat', Canal Transport's livery being black and white, with the side decks painted white so you could see where you were standing whilst working at night.

Yes, that's the sort of thing.

I suppose it would work with a hook rope, I hadn't really considered that. Easier to remove than a peg which would have to be entered and removed diagonally, but liable to drop out without continuous tension in the one direction.

 

Tim

[Pluto]

This is Knostrop Lock showing that there were hooks fitted to the lock walls originally, to be augmented later by the cast iron box system.