Ben - 9's Waterways

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Cutting Corners

So, yet another stoppage caused by equipment failure.

I notice that Lock 14 on the Rochdale Canal has had to be closed because of a broken paddle. I can see how a broken top paddle can make it harder to empty a lock to get a boat through, but it is not impossible. What I can't understand is how a broken top paddle can cause "a substantial loss of water" from the pounds higher up. Could it be that the bottom gates leak like billy-oh?

This seems symptomatic of the way the waterways are being "maintained" these days - problems aren't fixed until they cause stoppages.

I 've lost count of how many locks I've seen where one or other of the top or bottom paddles was out of action and taped up, sometimes with a note attached saying "BW aware". That can be a pain to boaters because it takes much longer to get through a lock. But it is an even bigger problem when something happens to the other paddle. Suddenly BW has an emergency stoppage and people have their costly holidays disrupted.

This is just "firefighting" and is no way to run a waterway!

Now, where did I put my cocoa?

Ben-9

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