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Middlewich Branch breach - Shropshire Union


lostnortherner

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2 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

The southerley slip road of junction 9 of the M60 was built on polystyrene bricks 10+ years ago. 

After the Dambusters had done their stuff inthe second world war the dams were repaired in seven weeks.

 

 

I'm not convinced of the wisdom of getting the Germans in to fix the breach. Messers Smelly wouldn't like it.

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3 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

It would be wise to ban mooring pins on embankments anyway. If mooring is intended, install rings, they do less damage.

What is the point of boaters carrying sledgehammers and Hilti guns if you are going to be sensible about this?

I do agree entirely though.  Piling with holes in it would be good enough, but rings or bollards would be better.

I remember that a few years ago there was a stretch in London that had high-voltage cable installed under a towpath for convenience, and a boater that used 3' mooring spikes found it!

 

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A theoretical approach to the design of canal embankments was being undertaken by the early 19th century, though not necessarily in the UK. French, German and Austrian engineers were already looking at soil mechanics and how this could would affect canal structures. They were using progressively more advanced mathematics, and had realised the benefits of calculus, leaving UK engineers trailing far behind in theoretical understanding of such structures. However, our best craftsmen engineers did have a good practical understanding of the subject, as anyone who has looked at the construction of embankments on the Grand Canal in Ireland will find, after they were rebuilt following advice from Smeaton and Jessop. It was the skill of our practical craftsmen which allowed the industrial revolution to start in the UK. They were developing real solutions, while our academics were just toying with theory. Engineering in the UK, as an academic subject, only developed towards the end of the 19th century, far later than abroad, and we relied to a great extent upon craftsmen. The problem today is that those practical skills are not appreciated to the same extent as academic qualifications, resulting in their being very few people with extensive practical knowledge working on the ground. That knowledge used to be passed down from generation to generation through families with long association with canals. Today, much of that knowledge has been lost or is just not appreciated.

Perhaps we should go back to the 1390s when the Red Canal, near Nanjing, was built in China. The Emperor came to view the canal and called for the engineer to come forward. The Emperor asked about how the work had progressed and was told that several workmen had died during construction. On hearing this, the Emperor had the engineer's head cut off as in China it was expected that those in authority would take care of those working under them.

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12 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

The southerley slip road of junction 9 of the M60 was built on polystyrene bricks 10+ years ago. 

After the Dambusters had done their stuff inthe second world war the dams were repaired in seven weeks.

 

 

Yes as I said in an earlier post they will still be having meetings over coffee long after the job would have been done and all completed years ago.

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On 16/03/2018 at 09:57, magpie patrick said:

Did that boat ground or was it extremely well tied up?

Having been the one who spoke at length to the poor chap and helped the him recover some belongings from his boat he said he had lost a mooring pin earlier in the day because someone went past him too fast. He was tied to the bank on only one pin when the embankment went! He must have grounded. He is undoubtedly extremely lucky/unlucky depending on how you look at it.

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I think the technical term for the underlying geology here is "wet rockhead" - on current plans HS2 is going to be built over it

The progession you describe does happen, but whilst there is normally some warning it can, in the wrong circumstances, be a matter of minutes between a leak being detectable and a breach

It may have leaked more seriously for a period of up to five and a half hours before the breach as all four paddles were up on Stanthorne lock when the police and I closed them just after midnight. I assume that the level had dropped and someone had, with the best intentions, opened them to fill the pound back up. Of course, they could have been left up through negligence or recklessness but lazy boaters tend to leave just one set of paddles up. If this is the case, I would hope it serves as a stark reminder of the disastrous consequences such stupidity can cause. 

Whether the increased flow / level had a hand in causing the breach I can't say but the extra water coming down from Stanthorne certainly led to much faster erosion of the canal. 

Sadly our share boat is stuck until the re-float can commence. I am hearing Facebook rumours that this might be completed "within the week". Seems unlikely, but fingers crossed!!

Edited by speedypete202
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12 minutes ago, speedypete202 said:

Having been the one who spoke at length to the poor chap and helped the him recover some belongings from his boat he said he had lost a mooring pin earlier in the day because someone went past him too fast. He was tied to the bank on only one pin when the embankment went! He must have grounded. He is undoubtedly extremely lucky/unlucky depending on how you look at it.

It may have leaked more seriously for a period of up to five and a half hours before the breach as all four paddles were up on Stanthorne lock when the police and I closed them just after midnight. I assume that the level had dropped and someone had, with the best intentions, opened them to fill the pound back up. Of course, they could have been left up through negligence or recklessness but lazy boaters tend to leave just one set of paddles up. If this is the case, I would hope it serves as a stark reminder of the disastrous consequences such stupidity can cause. 

Whether the increased flow / level had a hand in causing the breach I can't say but the extra water coming down from Stanthorne certainly led to much faster erosion of the canal. 

Sadly our share boat is stuck until the re-float can commence. I am hearing Facebook rumours that this might be completed "within the week". Seems unlikely, but fingers crossed!!

 

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23 minutes ago, speedypete202 said:

Sadly our share boat is stuck until the re-float can commence. I am hearing Facebook rumours that this might be completed "within the week". Seems unlikely, but fingers crossed!!

If the bridge nearest the breach has stop plank grooves, presumably refloating the boats between there and Wardle lock should be reasonably straightforward.

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Yes, I thought this. Walking that section I don't remember seeing the telltale grooves in the side of the bridge where the planks are put. I believe CaRT were saying they were to put a dam in place. Either way I would think they want boats out sooner rather than later, the tone of the call I got from them heavily suggested that they wanted to be seen to be getting on with things as quickly as possible. What this actually translates into is anyone's guess.

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The first set of stop planks I think is the Long Lane bridge, a fair way. It won't help the ones trapped above, NB Elizabeth for one. It will have to be a dam job further upstream and a lot of pumping through pipes around the hole.

Edited by Boater Sam
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3 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Probably easier to backpump around Wardle lock. You could drop water down King's lock and above to keep the junction pound supplied.

MP.

 

Yes, this is what I understood they were planning to do. It's a pretty wide pound above Kings Lock so shouldn't need to drop water down from too much further up.

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1 hour ago, speedypete202 said:

Yes, this is what I understood they were planning to do. It's a pretty wide pound above Kings Lock so shouldn't need to drop water down from too much further up.

Once again "speedypete202" many thanks for keeping us updated and all your efforts on the night, including your txt/call informing me before we travelled to meet our poor shareboat. Fingers crossed they re-float all the trapped boats soon.

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2 hours ago, RAB said:

Once again "speedypete202" many thanks for keeping us updated and all your efforts on the night, including your txt/call informing me before we travelled to meet our poor shareboat. Fingers crossed they re-float all the trapped boats soon.

So how many share boats are there trapped in that bit?

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