BCN

[haggis]

We came up Garrison and Camps locks this morning and I was pleasantly surprised 

My memory of these locks wasn't good - leaky gates  paddles falling off their supports, broken beams and rubbish in the canal and on the towpath. We found nice well maintained locks with no more than the level of rubbish your find in many places and it was a pleasure to use the locks 

OK a couple of beams showed signs of fires having been lit on them but that didn't affect their use 

 

Well done to C&RT 

Haggis 

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by haggis

[john6767]

Being picky, neither of those lock flights are on the BCN, the are on the Grand Union

Good to hear they were OK though, I don;t really like Garrison mainly because of all the railway lines, and Camp Hill normally has empty pounds. 

[nicknorman]

Just now, john6767 said:

Being picky, neither of those lock flights are on the BCN, the are on the Grand Union

Good to hear they were OK though, I don;t really like Garrison mainly because of all the railway lines, and Camp Hill normally has empty pounds. 

After the rain yesterday, there was a lot of water everywhere - towpaths / lock sides flooded on Farmers Bridge and Aston, overflows doing a roaring trade! Hence Camp Hill pounds probably full to bursting!

Anyway, lovely to see you haggis and Ian, next time we will have whisky in!

[haggis]

We look forward to that!  Mind you it was a rather nice red wine we had 

Great to catch up with you and Jeff yesterday and I think between us we put the world to rights 

I was impressed this morning that not only were most locks for us but I didn't have to let any water out to open the gates 

Not many locks you can say that about 

Haggis 

 

[nicknorman]

Just now, haggis said:

We look forward to that!  Mind you it was a rather nice red wine we had 

Great to catch up with you and Jeff yesterday and I think between us we put the world to rights 

I was impressed this morning that not only were most locks for us but I didn't have to let any water out to open the gates 

Not many locks you can say that about 

Haggis 

 

I quite like the Garrison locks because they have multiple outlets for the top paddles, front, middle and back of lock I think - don't know if you noticed? Some other BCN locks are the same eg Perry Barr. Going up hill this means that the boat tends to stay where it is in the lock - no tendency to move forwards or backwards. But also the aft outlet is behind the bottom gate so with the bottom gates fully open, if you open the top paddles the bottom gates are blown closed. It's obviously a bit wasteful of water but at the moment with cascades going over the overflows, it probably doesn't matter. Also I try not to fully open the paddle to avoid slamming the gate.

The only problem with all that is that quite a few of the paddle culverts are blocked so it only works on some sides of some of the locks - in other words it is just a gimmick really, but I find it interesting!

[David Mack]

The Warwick and Birmimgham Junction Canal, Tame Valley and Rushall Canals were built as single project to provide an alternative route between the coalfields of the northern BCN and the Warwick and Birmimgham, avoiding the pinch point of Farmers Bridge locks, with the first being built by the W&B and the latter two by the BCN. They were built for efficient operation, so the top paddle culverts have outlets behind the bottom gates to save the need to take time shutting the bottom gates.  In more recent times these outlets have been blocked off to prevent the risk of accidents to unsuspecting bystanders of a moving balance beam.

[nicknorman]

Just now, David Mack said:

The Warwick and Birmimgham Junction Canal, Tame Valley and Rushall Canals were built as single project to provide an alternative route between the coalfields of the northern BCN and the Warwick and Birmimgham, avoiding the pinch point of Farmers Bridge locks, with the first being built by the W&B and the latter two by the BCN. They were built for efficient operation, so the top paddle culverts have outlets behind the bottom gates to save the need to take time shutting the bottom gates.  In more recent times these outlets have been blocked off to prevent the risk of accidents to unsuspecting bystanders of a moving balance beam.

Oh was it deliberate? That is annoying. But some of them do still work.

[Captain Pegg]

2 hours ago, john6767 said:

Being picky, neither of those lock flights are on the BCN, the are on the Grand Union

Good to hear they were OK though, I don;t really like Garrison mainly because of all the railway lines, and Camp Hill normally has empty pounds. 

 

I used to think that when the old line about there being more canals in Birmingham than Venice was trotted out it really meant the BCN. However it turns out there are more canals in the City of Birmingham than in Venice. Perhaps not surprising when you consider the relative scale of the two places. In total there is over 30 miles but only about half of that is part of the BCN.

 

Within the city boundary on the BCN are;-

- Birmingham Canal (Main Line) and associated branches and loops from Gas Street to Winson Green Junction

- Birmingham & Fazeley Canal from Farmer's Bridge to beyond Wiggins Hill Bridge (between Minworth and Curdworth)

- Digbeth Branch from Aston Junction to Typhoo basin

- Tame Valley Canal from Salford Junction to Piercy Aqueduct (includes all of Perry Barr flight)

 

Not on the BCN but in Birmingham are;-

- Grand Union from Bridge 85 to Proof House Junction

- Warwick & Birmingham Junction Canal from Bordesley Junction to Salford Junction

- Worcester & Birmingham Canal from halfway inside Wast Hills Tunnel to Worcester Bar

- Stratford Canal from King's Norton to between Bridges 6 and 7 (Shirley drawbridge is Bridge 8 and is in Solihull)

 

That also means that as much as 85% of the BCN isn't in Birmingham.

 

JP

 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Captain Pegg

[haggis]

That's interesting thank you I tend to think of everything in and around Birmingham as the BCN 

I noticed that the boat didn't move in the lock and saw the water coming up under the bows which were a few feet back from the top gate 

Nice to learn a bit more about canals 

Haggis 

 

[David Mack]

Just now, Captain Pegg said:

That also means that as much as 85% of the BCN isn't in Birmingham.

The BCN is not so named because it is the canals of Birmingham, it is the canals to Birmingham.

The Birmingham Canal was originally built to connect the Staffs and Worcs at Aldersley Junction to Birmingham with a branch to the mines at Wednesbury. With its success, a rival company was set up to build a more direct route towards London, running from Birmingham to join the Coventry Canal at Fazeley.   The Birmingham Canal Company, aware of the impact of a shorter route to London on their trade, bought out their younger rival and combined the two company names to form the Birmingham and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company. This mouthful of a company name was subsequently shortened to The Birmingham Canal Navigations.

It was only later that the BCN took over the Wyrley and Essington and Dudley Canal Companies, and built more connecting lines and branches across the Black Country, that led to the current BCN network being mainly to the north and west of Birmingham.