'Vollockies' versus Lock Keepers

[pete harrison]

I appreciate there is a relatively new phenomenon with 'volockies' but do full time Lock Keepers still exist in any form 

[mrsmelly]

10 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

I appreciate there is a relatively new phenomenon with 'volockies' but do full time Lock Keepers still exist in any form 

Yes. Quite a few places, to include tidal locks on the Trent as a for instance.

[frangar]

I think the lockies on the Severn and the bridge keepers on the G & S are still paid positions.....for how much longer who knows!!

Edited February 6, 2018 by frangar

[colinwilks]

Thames, River Wey, River Trent, Aire & Calder.

[pete harrison]

Just now, mrsmelly said:

Yes. Quite a few places, to include tidal locks on the Trent as a for instance.

Thanks, but I was thinking more canals than the big locks on Rivers - but I did not make that clear, so my fault 

[frangar]

1 minute ago, colinwilks said:

Thames, River Wey, River Trent, Aire & Calder.

I thought the non tidal locks on the trent were now volockies or self op?? When we did the Aire & Calder only when there was commercial traffic in transit were the locks manned....we self op’ed

[colinwilks]

There is now a mix of professionals and volunteers at Foxton and Watford Locks.

[frangar]

2 minutes ago, pete harrison said:

Thanks, but I was thinking more canals than the big locks on Rivers - but I did not make that clear, so my fault 

Foxton & Watford flights had paid keepers but I think they are all volockies now.....and it shows!! 

[colinwilks]

10 minutes ago, frangar said:

Foxton & Watford flights had paid keepers but I think they are all volockies now.....and it shows!! 

We had a professional (very nice chap with an impressive beard) in 2016 and a volunteer in 2017, so you may well be right. 

As far as the "and it shows" bit is concerned, yes it does, but the volockies at Watford do a pretty thankless job balancing queues top and bottom of the locks and trying to keep everyone sweet, so perhaps we should cut them some slack.

[David Schweizer]

43 minutes ago, colinwilks said:

We had a professional (very nice chap with an impressive beard) in 2016 and a volunteer in 2017, so you may well be right. 

As far as the "and it shows" bit is concerned, yes it does, but the volockies at Watford do a pretty thankless job balancing queues top and bottom of the locks and trying to keep everyone sweet, so perhaps we should cut them some slack.

The problem is that the Paid Lock Keepers were full time employees of BW/C&RT and carried a level of Proffessional Authority, wheras the Voluntary Lock keepers are unpaid and part time, often only one day a week with no weekends, and many of them have less experience than the boaters they are trying to manage. Whilst most of them are good, I have also come across a fair bit of incompetence and lack of knowledge amongs some of them.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, frangar said:

I think the lockies on the Severn and the bridge keepers on the G & S are still paid positions.....for how much longer who knows!!

I though the G&S bridgekeepers were going to be replaced by a system where you phone the bridge and it opens autonomously.

[john6767]

5 minutes ago, David Mack said:

I though the G&S bridgekeepers were going to be replaced by a system where you phone the bridge and it opens autonomously.

That was the theory, but I don't think too much progress has been made.

[Naughty Cal]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Yes. Quite a few places, to include tidal locks on the Trent as a for instance.

Although not for long if the rumours are to be believed. They want to put volunteers on Torksey and West Stockwith!

1 hour ago, frangar said:

I thought the non tidal locks on the trent were now volockies or self op?? When we did the Aire & Calder only when there was commercial traffic in transit were the locks manned....we self op’ed

The non tidal locks on the Trent are volunteers now. 

Only once did we have any lockies on the A&C when a couple of commercials were in the area. 

[Sea Dog]

Am I the only one who saw the title and thought... "fight!!"?

[WotEver]

2 hours ago, colinwilks said:

Thames, River Wey, River Trent, Aire & Calder.

When I were a lad I spent half my school holidays cycling to Teddington Lock to ‘help’ the lockie

 

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

Although not for long if the rumours are to be believed. They want to put volunteers on Torksey and West Stockwith!

The non tidal locks on the Trent are volunteers now. 

Only once did we have any lockies on the A&C when a couple of commercials were in the area. 

Yes a real shame what " Progress " brings us sometimes. We used to love the A and C and got on great with the Lockies. We ran one of pubs at Pollington for a friend for a while in 89/90 and lived there on our boat. Glynn the lockie at whitely was a great character and a pub regular. He kept his lock and surrounding moorings etc immaculate and it was known you could buy just about anything from him and if he didn't have it he could get it. Still plenty of proper commercial stuff around even as recently as that and the locks were manned full length. As we have returned to that area over the years the decline has been marked.

[Rob-M]

The Bratch has a full time paid staff member in attendance plus some volockies. When the volunteer whacked a paddle up on me the full time keeper gave him a right lecture.

As above Foxton and Watford have a mix of staff and volunteer as well.

[Momac]

1 hour ago, Naughty Cal said:

Although not for long if the rumours are to be believed. They want to put volunteers on Torksey and West Stockwith!

The non tidal locks on the Trent are volunteers now. 

Occasionally there will be a full time C&RT person on a non tidal lock.

A lot of the volunteers on the non tidal locks have become more than adequately proficient . The ones that were as much use as chocolate teapot appear to have gone. The full timers that were also as much use  a chocolate teapot have been dispatched  or retired - and there have been at least two that I am pleased not to see any longer.

Up to now I believe  the tidal locks have been manned by full timers - with the exception of volunteers sometimes acting as an assistant.  But some of the full timers on the tidal locks  have been better than others.  Some of the full timers have been allowed to be in charge with insufficient experience. 

 I have witnessed bad advice, regarding tides ,from full time lock keepers and now rely substantially on my own calculations.  There are some full timers remaining who I regard highly but they are becoming fewer in number.

I don't have  a problem with volunteers if they are adequately trained. On the tidal locks that would require quite a lengthy period of training, as it should also for a full time employee. 

 

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

When I were a lad I spent half my school holidays cycling to Teddington Lock to ‘help’ the lockie

 

And the other half cycling back?

It must have been a long way!

[sharpness]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

I though the G&S bridgekeepers were going to be replaced by a system where you phone the bridge and it opens autonomously.

When ( & a big if)  the system gets up &  running there will be an app you can download to operate the bridges. If like us you don't have a smart phone you will need to phone the control centre in Gloucester & they will open the bridge, presumably every time you reach one that needs opening as not every one of the 16 needs opening for a narrowboat.It seems at the moment it is not working as expected & there isn't a live date yet. At the moment it is still being tested on Sandfield bridge & presumably when they've got a working system it will need to be installed on all bridges.

[nikvah]

As the primary lockie on our boat I'm always glad to see a volockie and have rarely had any problems beside some paddle-whacking (no harm done except giving my wife a start down below - as she's become used to a more gentle ride). I understand that if we want to keep our license fees down we can't afford professional staff to lift paddles and open gates for us.

On the upper Thames (above Oxford) I really can't see any need for a paid, resident gardener and gatekeeper at the easily operated locks.

Just saying.

 

[Dalesman]

Bingley 5 rise and Grindley Brook I think are still full time lock keepers

[Guest]

Why do we need lock keepers at all on the big automated locks like those on the none tidal Trent or the Aire and Calder?

How hard can it be to operate an automated lock? The only time we were locked through was if we were accompanying a commercial vessel on the A&C.

On the none tidal Trent we just did it ourselves, as we did most of the time on the A&C.

[rgreg]

7 hours ago, Dalesman said:

Bingley 5 rise and Grindley Brook I think are still full time lock keepers

Certainly Bingley 3 & 5 rise are, as were Newlay locks on the L&L last year.

[rgreg]

6 hours ago, MJG said:

Why do we need lock keepers at all on the big automated locks like those on the none tidal Trent or the Aire and Calder?

How hard can it be to operate an automated lock? The only time we were locked through was if we were accompanying a commercial vessel on the A&C.

On the none tidal Trent we just did it ourselves, as we did most of the time on the A&C.

Yes, I enjoy self-operating these locks although I can understand that some people may find them a little intimidating.