The canal / narrowboat thread.
Discussion
john2443 said:
227bhp said:
barging
A barge is 14' wide, a 7' boat is a narrowboat, not a barge, not a longboat.
PH - terminology matters!
Agree that the clatter of the engine does get a bit annoying - being on a butty is nice, completely silent apart from lapping water.
What's a butty?Anyhow, due to this thread I'm going to see the Anderton lift in a few weeks, i'd never heard of it before now and will be in the area anyhow.
The Standedge visitor centre is well worth a visit as the story is fascinating, you can get a boat trip part way in and back out, or all the way through too.
Yes, typically the term 'horseboat' is used for a boat drawn by a horse, and a lot of the surviving unpowered boats where built as buttys paired to 'motors' however the design is very similar.
Telescopic mast about 1/4 back to tow from, large wooden rudder or 'elum' and no visable gunnel around the rear cabin.
Daniel
Telescopic mast about 1/4 back to tow from, large wooden rudder or 'elum' and no visable gunnel around the rear cabin.
Daniel
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Holy smokes, I can see why you might be worried!!! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Boatbuoy said:
Holy smokes, I can see why you might be worried!!!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Ooof! Presumably you don't need to climb out to operate the lock yourself though? They are attended?https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Boatbuoy said:
Holy smokes, I can see why you might be worried!!!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
That's a fair drop. I felt more than funny enough inside Tuel Lane, the cill shape and concrete construction somehow feels quite hostile, combined with the tunnel leading up to it, with grave warnings of the effects of being in the tunnel when the lock is emptied.https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Daniel
dhutch said:
I felt more than funny enough inside Tuel Lane, the cill shape and concrete construction somehow feels quite hostile, combined with the tunnel leading up to it, with grave warnings of the effects of being in the tunnel when the lock is emptied.
That rang a bell - I went through that in 1998! It replaced two old locks, and since locks on the Rochdale are about 10' deep anyway, that one is almost 20'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuel_Lane_LockBoatbuoy said:
Holy smokes, I can see why you might be worried!!!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Fark!!!https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
williredale said:
Boatbuoy said:
Holy smokes, I can see why you might be worried!!!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
Fark!!!https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@41.0866241,-8.13220...
FiF said:
So none of this small boat flailing around on the end of long lines at the bottom of a huge chamber like elsewhere. Though it must still be daunting, especially when the sluices open.
I handled lines on a small sailboat in the Panama Canal, try being at the bottom of that huge chamber and being under the bows of a bloody great container ship....dhutch said:
227bhp said:
It's been electrified.
I've pondered about barging for a while, but the OH is not keen. I did wonder if the constant put put put of an asthmatic little diesel would spoil it, get on my tits or enhance it, it seems a shame to spoil that beautiful silence that is all around you in the countryside. I got to pondering over an electric powered barge, I think it would work quite well, weight or space for batteries not much of a problem, plenty of stop off points along the way for a recharge and almost silent. I think the Standedge barge is electric.
Yes, it still typically operates in counter balance mode on the hyd rams (oil filled this time, not salty polluted river water as per the first system) but they have the option to raise the caissons individually just using raw electrical power to pump one up. Both can therefore be seen at the bottom at time, although they cant raise both, as they do not have the hyd oil volume.I've pondered about barging for a while, but the OH is not keen. I did wonder if the constant put put put of an asthmatic little diesel would spoil it, get on my tits or enhance it, it seems a shame to spoil that beautiful silence that is all around you in the countryside. I got to pondering over an electric powered barge, I think it would work quite well, weight or space for batteries not much of a problem, plenty of stop off points along the way for a recharge and almost silent. I think the Standedge barge is electric.
Electric requires a source and or a lot of storage, in terms of batteries, the weight is not an issue but the cost is. One of the reasons for moving to self-propelled passage of Standedge is that the batteries of the tugs repeatedly failed prematurely and therefore cost a fortune to maintain, presumably due to being poorly spec'd, but if the space and topology available precluded suitable re-spec'ing them using the tugs just for the visitor viewings is a practical solution to the problem.
If anyone does go it's a bit confusing in the visitor centre, although it doesn't look it initially, it is free to walk down to it, it's the rides which you have to pay for.
It's on its third type of power. The first used water (kind of hydraulically) but as mentioned above it was salty so corroded the mechanisms making it unreliable and eventually failed. One of the the reasons it and the canal is there is because salt was mined there, that's why the water is salty.
It was then converted to electric motors, gears and cables. The gears look terribly complex and are still there in rows on top. This modification was so heavy that the whole thing is heavily braced - these are what the huge tubes are all around it as it used to be much more slender.
Now it's hydraulic again, oil is pumped in this time to one central ram per 'carriage' which are big enough to take two boats at once in each.
Well worth a visit if you're in the area
Edited by 227bhp on Wednesday 15th August 08:13
227bhp said:
If anyone does go it's a bit confusing in the visitor centre, although it doesn't look it initially, it is free to walk down to it, it's the rides which you have to pay for.
It's on its third type of power. The first used water (kind of hydraulically) but as mentioned above it was salty so corroded the mechanisms making it unreliable and eventually failed. One of the the reasons it and the canal is there is because salt was mined there, that's why the water is salty.
It was then converted to electric motors, gears and cables. The gears look terribly complex and are still there in rows on top. This modification was so heavy that the whole thing is heavily braced - these are what the huge tubes are all around it as it used to be much more slender.
Now it's hydraulic again, oil is pumped in this time to one central ram per 'carriage' which are big enough to take two boats at once in each.
Well worth a visit if you're in the area
It's certainly well worth a look round. Visitor center is free as you say, as it taking your own boat on it, but you pay for a ride on the tripboat or if you want to book a specific time slot on your own boat.It's on its third type of power. The first used water (kind of hydraulically) but as mentioned above it was salty so corroded the mechanisms making it unreliable and eventually failed. One of the the reasons it and the canal is there is because salt was mined there, that's why the water is salty.
It was then converted to electric motors, gears and cables. The gears look terribly complex and are still there in rows on top. This modification was so heavy that the whole thing is heavily braced - these are what the huge tubes are all around it as it used to be much more slender.
Now it's hydraulic again, oil is pumped in this time to one central ram per 'carriage' which are big enough to take two boats at once in each.
Well worth a visit if you're in the area
When it was on cables, the cassions where balanced against weights, and obviously hung from the top, plus the weight of the machinary, making the frame very much load bearing, hence being all but rebuilt. With the first water based hydraulic system, and the current oil based system, the weight is taken into the ground and the frame is just a guide really.
I understand the frame was really quite rotten when it came to being restored and atleast some of it now filled with cement and rebar, although I could be wrong.
Daniel
Ayahuasca said:
FiF said:
So none of this small boat flailing around on the end of long lines at the bottom of a huge chamber like elsewhere. Though it must still be daunting, especially when the sluices open.
I handled lines on a small sailboat in the Panama Canal, try being at the bottom of that huge chamber and being under the bows of a bloody great container ship....Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff