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March of the Widebeams


cuthound

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

I've never tried, but how about this?

 

Measure bridge 'ole.

Place boat in bridge 'ole, hard against one side.

Measure gap between boat and other side.

Subtract one from t'other.

No, no, no. What you need is a graduated set of bridge holes starting at 14’ and reducing by an inch at a time down to 6’ 10”. Then you try the boat in each hole in turn until you’d find the one it won’t go through.

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It makes no sense to have removed them as the mitre stones each end were not removed, and the stones removed just filled in between them in a straight line. Weird decision, even if the 'engineer' was unaware of the below water batter reducing the width out of sight. 

 

 

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24 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

?

 

No, they are proper stones, crafted into shape and probably 200 years old. 

 

 being pedantic, aren't they bricks rather than stones...……

    - and as for Coronation Street "Cobbles"...……!

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On 23/06/2019 at 14:15, Mike the Boilerman said:

The vandalised coping stones. Zoom into see. 

 

 

22D471A9-BEAC-43BD-B3A3-FA0501F30371.jpeg

 

4 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

3) There is some debate about the fouling one one side of the boat being cause by lack of air draft causing the superstructure to meet the brisge deck, and on the other side the fouling is below the water line. Fat lot of good a tape measure is gonna be here! 

 

I wouldn't have thought a lack of air draft on one side to be a problem at this particular bridge - that is more likely to arise at an arch bridge.

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5 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

I wouldn't have thought a lack of air draft on one side to be a problem at this particular bridge - that is more likely to arise at an arch bridge.

This has been a notoriously low bridge for some time -and it seems like it is still subsiding, evidenced by the fact that Tranquil Rose has passed through in the past but now can't (see previous posts in this thread)

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16 minutes ago, John Brightley said:

This has been a notoriously low bridge for some time -and it seems like it is still subsiding, evidenced by the fact that Tranquil Rose has passed through in the past but now can't (see previous posts in this thread)

Do we actually know why Tranquil Rose was not able to go through the bridge?

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Maybe this will convince people that just because a boat fits through a lock it may not be suitable for a navigation...and a motor & butty is a better hotel boat proposition than a wide beam....I can think of numerous places that would be impossible to pass the same size boat coming the other way. 

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11 minutes ago, frangar said:

Maybe this will convince people that just because a boat fits through a lock it may not be suitable for a navigation...and a motor & butty is a better hotel boat proposition than a wide beam....I can think of numerous places that would be impossible to pass the same size boat coming the other way. 

Tranquil Rose has been around for a very long time it was launched in 1973 as a hotel boat and hasn't had problems until recently.

Cart's lack of maintenance is the cause.

Edited by Loddon
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16 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Tranquil Rose has been around for a very long time it was launched in 1973 as a hotel boat and hasn't had problems until recently.

Cart's lack of maintenance is the cause.

If the Government had not passed the Act of Parliament in 1929 to build wide locks (but not the widen the bridges or the cut) it wouldn't be.

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17 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Tranquil Rose has been around for a very long time it was launched in 1973 as a hotel boat and hasn't had problems until recently.

Cart's lack of maintenance is the cause.

That rather depends who owns the bridge if it’s CRT or the local council...I still maintain that it’s not a suitable navigation for widebeam craft above Berko. 

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3 minutes ago, frangar said:

That rather depends who owns the bridge if it’s CRT or the local council...I still maintain that it’s not a suitable navigation for widebeam craft above Berko. 

There does seem to be a lack of acknowledgement that the wide locks were built to allow a Motor and Butty pair travel through more efficiently than a narrow lock allows.

 

From Wikipedia ".....although the Grand Union company had a number of broad boats built to take advantage of the improvements, they never really caught on and the canal continued to be operated largely by pairs of narrow boats, whose journeys were facilitated by the newly widened locks in which they could breast up."

 

I would be interested in knowing more about these broad boats e.g. Who built them? Were they named? Have any survived?

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37 minutes ago, frangar said:

Maybe this will convince people that just because a boat fits through a lock it may not be suitable for a navigation...and a motor & butty is a better hotel boat proposition than a wide beam....I can think of numerous places that would be impossible to pass the same size boat coming the other way. 

I agree totally, and am not a fan of widebeams in this area.  But Tranquil Rose has been to Warwick I assume a number of times, so if it no longer fits the bridge in question then something is going on, and it is that which is interesting.

 

9 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

If the Government had not passed the Act of Parliament in 1929 to build wide locks (but not the widen the bridges or the cut) it wouldn't be.

I often look at the narrow locks and wonder what it would be like if the widening had not taken place.  That said those locks do give this section a uniqueness that add to the interest, the waterways, would be boring if everywhere was the same.

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48 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Because there was insufficient room. 

Err because it’s a wide boat on a narrow canal and got lucky. I’ve been up the Llangollen in the past now my boats not so lucky. It was after all built for horse drawn boats not funking great woolwichs. Just as well it was wider in the past. Means has to be fixed.

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1 minute ago, john6767 said:

 

 

I often look at the narrow locks and wonder what it would be like if the widening had not taken place.  That said those locks do give this section a uniqueness that add to the interest, the waterways, would be boring if everywhere was the same.

I agree ... and there's plenty of time to enjoy that uniqueness while you turn the windlass 20 times per paddle. 

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7 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

There does seem to be a lack of acknowledgement that the wide locks were built to allow a Motor and Butty pair travel through more efficiently than a narrow lock allows.

 

From Wikipedia ".....although the Grand Union company had a number of broad boats built to take advantage of the improvements, they never really caught on and the canal continued to be operated largely by pairs of narrow boats, whose journeys were facilitated by the newly widened locks in which they could breast up."

 

I would be interested in knowing more about these broad boats e.g. Who built them? Were they named? Have any survived?

We have pictures of our butty being towed by Antelope ( 12 ‘6) wide purpose built wooden tug, on the GU. Below Berkhampstead in the 80s.

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4 minutes ago, GRLMK38 said:

Where is Arm End Junction, is what we know as Gayton Junction today?  

Yes. Sorry I tend to use the working boaters terms as the Captain I visit doesn't recognise modern names.

e.g. The Ashby Canal is always The Moira Cut, pronounced "Moiree."

 

 

Progress towing the wide butty Eagle on the GU.

One disadvantage, amongst many, was that the butty had to be bow hauled through the locks as a narrow boat butty would.

6775339322_7e312065b7.jpg

Edited by Ray T
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