Buckby Flight Closure

[Guest User]

I would assume the repair may come under the heading "Business as usual" but even so I feel a "well done" is in order

 

 

Hear, hear! It's great that CRT have got the lock back into operation in such a short time.

 

LCx

[alan_fincher]

 

Fix complete, 1st boats going through now at 6pm.

 

Yes, now open, and we were something like boat 6 or 7, I think it what may well now be a long Southbound queue.

 

All CRT staff gone, so no supervision.

 

Northbound however it is now clear - only about 5 came up.

 

I'm not sure how long this temporary fix is expected to last? The gates currently are leaking quite badly, but not disastrously. Biggest hazard now is that continual running of the back-pump is bringing so much water over the gates, that at one point 8 or 9 people trying to open bottom gates on bottom lock could not get them open with lock nominally empty and paddles still fully drawn.

 

Sadly we will now be spending a night in this luxury location sanwiched between the M1 and the West Coast main Line!

Edited September 4, 2015 by alan_fincher

[MtB]

Looks like an excellent bit of 'on the hoof' design and fabrication.

 

Congrats to whoever at CRT did that!

[alan_fincher]

Better signal now, so my pictures from earlier.

 

Note especially the pictures of the parts of the failed post - does it look like boaters caused it? (Remember folks, you get all the "facts" from NarrowbBoatWorld )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jenlyn]

Someone had a look at it last week, and we're adamant that it was well rotted. Boat hitting it or not, it would have failed. The trouble is, constant overpainting tends to hide problems, and this did not rot to that extent overnight.

I have no doubt we will see many more of this nature next season.

[David Mack]

Someone had a look at it last week, and we're adamant that it was well rotted. Boat hitting it or not, it would have failed. The trouble is, constant overpainting tends to hide problems, and this did not rot to that extent overnight.

I have no doubt we will see many more of this nature next season.

CRT are however alive to the issue.

 

From https://careers-canalrivertrust.icims.com/jobs/1848/lock-gate-technician/job?mobile=false&width=636&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=330&jun1offset=330

 

Lock Gate Technician

 

Overview:

There are 1569 lock gates which are key to maintaining the navigation across the whole 2000 miles of Canal & River Trust network. Typically these gates have a 25 year life expectancy, however, it is important that this deterioration is managed through rigorous asset management, which will document any damage or defects, to inform when intervention should be planned.

 

The two inspectors will undertake a national role and work as part of the engineering teams within the Asset Management and Performance teams.

Responsibilities:

 

The role is required to prioritise the lockgate replacement programme ensuring that we maximise the operational lifespan of the gates, through good inspection, knowledge and understanding of the gates.

 

This knowledge will be used to determine which gates can be repaired, replaced, or, allowed to remain in use.

 

The responsibility for programming inspections, reinspections and arranging any support for access will remain with the inspectors.

 

These roles will be seen as technical experts in lock gate asset management, encompassing inspection knowledge on defects and performance, to enable the risks to be understood and recommendations made.

In order to do this there must be a detailed understanding on how the gates are constructed and installed as well as an ability to observe defects which affect operational performance.

Qualifications:

Individual Skills and Training required for the post.

The anticipated skill set for this role would be to have a technician or engineer who has a good engineering background at HND / HNC / degree level, who is willing to learn new skills regarding lock gate construction, manufacture, installation and performance in service, such that they can recognise the true defects and rate of deterioration of the gates, which will ensure that longevity is maximised.

It is important for the post holder to be able to apply their knowledge and experience, to make business recommendations regarding this critical component of CRT infrastructure.

 

The post holder will become an expert in Canal & River Trust and support all of the waterways.

Driving Licence Required:

Yes

Working with Children:

No

[jenlyn]

CRT are however alive to the issue.

 

From https://careers-canalrivertrust.icims.com/jobs/1848/lock-gate-technician/job?mobile=false&width=636&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=330&jun1offset=330

 

Lock Gate Technician

 

Overview:

There are 1569 lock gates which are key to maintaining the navigation across the whole 2000 miles of Canal & River Trust network. Typically these gates have a 25 year life expectancy, however, it is important that this deterioration is managed through rigorous asset management, which will document any damage or defects, to inform when intervention should be planned.

 

The two inspectors will undertake a national role and work as part of the engineering teams within the Asset Management and Performance teams.

Responsibilities:

 

The role is required to prioritise the lockgate replacement programme ensuring that we maximise the operational lifespan of the gates, through good inspection, knowledge and understanding of the gates.

 

This knowledge will be used to determine which gates can be repaired, replaced, or, allowed to remain in use.

 

The responsibility for programming inspections, reinspections and arranging any support for access will remain with the inspectors.

 

These roles will be seen as technical experts in lock gate asset management, encompassing inspection knowledge on defects and performance, to enable the risks to be understood and recommendations made.

In order to do this there must be a detailed understanding on how the gates are constructed and installed as well as an ability to observe defects which affect operational performance.

Qualifications:

Individual Skills and Training required for the post.

The anticipated skill set for this role would be to have a technician or engineer who has a good engineering background at HND / HNC / degree level, who is willing to learn new skills regarding lock gate construction, manufacture, installation and performance in service, such that they can recognise the true defects and rate of deterioration of the gates, which will ensure that longevity is maximised.

It is important for the post holder to be able to apply their knowledge and experience, to make business recommendations regarding this critical component of CRT infrastructure.

 

The post holder will become an expert in Canal & River Trust and support all of the waterways.

Driving Licence Required:

Yes

Working with Children:

No

Will probably be a call centre technical analysis something or other. Or else a track layer from LU.

[cariad]

Myself and quite a few others are grateful for the repair being carried out in time to allow us down the flight tonight.

The guys working on the lock looked very efficient and a big thanks to them.

[matty40s]

The Finchers making lots of smoke below Buckby.

 

 

Down flight in just over an hour and a half, all working well.

Edited September 5, 2015 by matty40s

[Cathjt]

Hoping to go up the flight on Monday, then back down a few days later, I guess there are still restrictions, i.e. one at a time and being pulled through, as it was when we last tried to go up at the end of August. Can anyone update me?

 

I notice on the CR&T website that it is due to be repaired and closed during that time but not till November 2nd.

 

Thanks

[jenlyn]

Hoping to go up the flight on Monday, then back down a few days later, I guess there are still restrictions, i.e. one at a time and being pulled through, as it was when we last tried to go up at the end of August. Can anyone update me?

 

I notice on the CR&T website that it is due to be repaired and closed during that time but not till November 2nd.

 

Thanks

I came through last week, with a widebeam. All was fine. It's actually quite a good repair.

[Cathjt]

Thanks.

 

[johnmck]

Report on Facebook that at lock 10, a top gate has parted from its mounting. Any local knowledge? Plan was to descend them tomorrow after leaving Crick...

[bigste]

Won't be long before another one fails. It's all down to Whilton Marina I have it on good authority that they sell boats in poor condition and are known to have sold boats without brakes. LOL

[matty40s]

Report on Facebook that at lock 10, a top gate has parted from its mounting. Any local knowledge? Plan was to descend them tomorrow after leaving Crick...

That gate has been lifted off its mount several times this year. The protective wooden strip sits proud of the gate and lock wall and is lifted as boat with sticky out front rubbing strakes exit lock.

[tree monkey]

Rot in wood can very often happen from the inside and not be externally visible. I have no knowledge of CRT in this area but BT has many many wooden poles, as do the Electricity companies.

 

I can only speak from my time at BT. BT has a regular cycle of pole testing looking for decay. Often this starts internally as the "ruping" process doesn't always reach the core of the poles.

 

Ruping is where the cut wood for the poles is put in a big vat, the vat is then evacuated of all air, hopefully pulling out all moisture, sap etc. Wood preservative is then injected at high pressure, the intention being to saturate the poles. They are no longer left to season first as time is money. BT poles have a nominal life of 25 years.

 

I would be interested to learn how CRT treat their wooden lock gates.

The difference being the lock gates are made of Oak and BT poles are softwood, Oak is not normally treated as it's robust enough to survive without and it doesn't take treatment very well anyway

I worked in a wood yard for a while where they still had the old boiling tanks for cresote treatment, now that was real wood preserving

[Farey]

That gate has been lifted off its mount several times this year. The protective wooden strip sits proud of the gate and lock wall and is lifted as boat with sticky out front rubbing strakes exit lock.

We arrived at 6.30 yesterday evening, and the gate had been lifted out of its mount an hour before. CRT arrived just as it was getting dark, and said they'd be back with jacks at 8am this morning. They had the gate back in position by 8.30am - I was impressed!

[johnmck]

We arrived at lunch time and all was good... Apart from the poor chaps on the hire boat who had filled their boat!

 

Moored near Matty40s for extra security! It be wild down sawth.

[ditchcrawler]

Won't be long before another one fails. It's all down to Whilton Marina I have it on good authority that they sell boats in poor condition and are known to have sold boats without brakes. LOL

They don't go that way, they all go South