The one, the only, Dalmuir drop lock!

[Pluto]

This is how they reduced air draft for the tunnel at Pouilly-en-Auxois on the Canal de Bourgogne. Unloaded boats entered this caisson which was then ballasted down, and the whole towed through the 3.3km long tunnel by an electric tug. I think the service was set up after the canal was enlarged to Frecinet standards, and its use ended in the 1970s. A tug is preserved in this drydock, but I am not sure about the caisson, which I photographed in 1995.

[mayalld]

On ‎26‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 15:20, ronnietucker said:

Having bought myself a new bike (electric no less!) for Chrimbo. I decided to cycle down to my boat to try it out.

As I passed Dalmuir drop lock I thought I'd take some photos for you guys as it's the only one of its kind (apparently). From Wikipedia (so it must be true!):

This is just one side of the bridge. It's the same on the other side.

True?

Wikipedia is just as true as the people writing its content make it.

And I know exactly who added that sentence back in 2007.

[Mac of Cygnet]

14 minutes ago, mayalld said:

True?

Wikipedia is just as true as the people writing its content make it.

 

I think Ronnie knows that - he was just having a little joke, no?

[ronnietucker]

7 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

I think Ronnie knows that - he was just having a little joke, no?

But Wikipedia must be true! Look at the amount of students who get caught copy/pasting off it.  

[Woodsy]

On 27/12/2017 at 00:38, haggis said:

It takes about 40 minutes to navigate the drop lock!

haggis

Not the day we took the Athol Brose through in Ronnies video above, the mechanism was playing up & we had to wait for an engineer to come & sort it out before we could pass through. It was such an extremely hot day (for Scotland anyway) that the swing bridge at Erskines bridge had expanded too much to open, luckily the next day was back to normal Scottish weather.

[ronnietucker]

Anything in double figures is 'taps aff' weather in Glasgow. And I don't mean the boats go 'tops off'...   

[Dave_P]

On 26/12/2017 at 19:25, john6767 said:

Very interesting, I did not know one existed.  A drop Lock is I believe one of the option of Bradley locks ever get restored.  The design of the Dalmuir one seems rather over engineered, and surprised there is no gate between the two sides so the you would only need to fill one side to let the boat exit, I guess there must be no shortage of water.

As soon as I saw this, the low bridge at Bradley immediately sprang to mind.

[Iain_S]

3 hours ago, Woodsy said:

Not the day we took the Athol Brose through in Ronnies video above, the mechanism was playing up & we had to wait for an engineer to come & sort it out before we could pass through. It was such an extremely hot day (for Scotland anyway) that the swing bridge at Erskines bridge had expanded too much to open, luckily the next day was back to normal Scottish weather.

Interesting! The same thing happened to us on our way to the Commonwealth Games Flotilla in 2014.

We had to moor up just west of the drop lock, as there was only room for one boat on the only other available mooring between the lock and Erskine bridge, and it was decided that it was easiest if the plastic cruiser locking with us took that, as they needed vehicle access which could be easily described