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the barnacle

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Lock 58 on the T&M. Part of the flight of 26 locks over 7 or 8 miles known as The Cheshire Locks. Some call them Heartbreak Hill because the locks are often spaced just too far apart for the lock wheeler to walk. I've never found them a heartbreak and passing through that particular lock gives me much satisfaction at the slow pace we are travelling. Many of the locks on the flight were doubled to increase traffic capacity. Some of the doubles have fallen into disrepair and become abandoned.

When was the last abandonment? I've been cruising that flight since 2008 and I don't think one has closed since then.

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might have know you would get something good in, when did you photoshop that house in then icecream.gif .oh, and back out again...

 

Here you go Matty, I've "photoshopped" in the original road bridge between middle and bottom locks:

 

 

Edited by Ray T
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Its not just their being duplicated to save time, they also used to have a paddle in between the two chambers, in situations where one lock is full and the other empty, the paddle could have been opened as a water saving measure. They are all disused/removed/blocked up now though.

 

When CRT did one of their lock tours at a lock under repair, I did suggest if they had volunteer lockkeepers could they reintroduce this - the guy looked at me like I was from the planet Zorg.

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When was the last abandonment of a paired lock? I've been cruising that flight since 2008 and I don't think one has closed in that time.

Not sure if they actually repaired it but the lock under the macc had orange tape around it for months.

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Its not just their being duplicated to save time, they also used to have a paddle in between the two chambers, in situations where one lock is full and the other empty, the paddle could have been opened as a water saving measure. They are all disused/removed/blocked up now though.

 

When CRT did one of their lock tours at a lock under repair, I did suggest if they had volunteer lockkeepers could they reintroduce this - the guy looked at me like I was from the planet Zorg.

 

After he worked for S E Barlow's Mike H worked for British Waterways and one of the jobs he was given to do was block up the culverts between the two locks at Hillmorton in that flight.

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yep heartbreak hill, although they are slowly but surely closing one side of them which is sad.

Not so. With the decline in commercial use many of the locks were reduced to only one of the pair working. Some of the disused locks were lost when bridges were rebuilt over one lock entrance only, and Thurlewood Steel lock, still usable in the 70s was demolished in the 80s (?). But since then many of the once disused locks have been brought back into use by BW where this was reasonably straightforward. The one open chamber I can recall which has not been restored has narrowed noticeably, so would require a major rebuild to bring it back into use.

 

But the luxury of having paired locks does mean that when something needs fixing there isn't the same pressure to get it sorted, so there may be prolonged periods when only one lock of a pair is available.

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Lock 58 on the T&M. Part of the flight of 26 locks over 7 or 8 miles known as The Cheshire Locks. Some call them Heartbreak Hill because the locks are often spaced just too far apart for the lock wheeler to walk. I've never found them a heartbreak and passing through that particular lock gives me much satisfaction at the slow pace we are travelling. Many of the locks on the flight were doubled to increase traffic capacity. Some of the doubles have fallen into disrepair and become abandoned.

When was the last abandonment? I've been cruising that flight since 2008 and I don't think one has closed since then.

 

There was a forum thread a while ago. One of the locks, which is very obviously out of use, has recently been fenced off and acquired a smart new sign saying "lock closed". As the lock is very obviously closed I think some of us suspect that this is an underhand way of CaRT announcing that they plan to never restore it.

 

...............Dave

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There was a forum thread a while ago. One of the locks, which is very obviously out of use, has recently been fenced off and acquired a smart new sign saying "lock closed". As the lock is very obviously closed I think some of us suspect that this is an underhand way of CaRT announcing that they plan to never restore it.

 

...............Dave

indeed

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There was a forum thread a while ago. One of the locks, which is very obviously out of use, has recently been fenced off and acquired a smart new sign saying "lock closed". As the lock is very obviously closed I think some of us suspect that this is an underhand way of CaRT announcing that they plan to never restore it.

 

...............Dave

 

Yep but that lock has been out of use as long as I can remember - I'm 49 and was born in Middlewich

 

I think the signs went up around the time CRT "asset labelled" everything round there. As part of that they put inviting gates all over the place, and then put signs on them saying "CRT personnel only" - perhaps they plan to restrict access to all the gates leading off the towpath.

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indeed

That would be the upper lock at Church Locks, which has been closed for MANY years. Still has derelict gates in place.

 

I believe that the chamber walls are badly bowed, but it hasn't been capped or infilled, so I take the view that they aren't actively trying to close anything.

 

The only recent closure is the offside lock immediately below this one (it is a difficult move across the pound, and it tended to cause congestion if too many boats locked up)

 

There have been various closures of the Bottom pair at Wheelock, but these are not (AFAIK) permanent.

 

By my reckoning, there are;

 

2 locks that are fairly intact (Church Locks) that could be resurected

2 locks (the middle lock of Lawton Treble Locks and the lock above the boatyard at Malkins Bank) that are in filled, but not a major challenge to dig out.

2 locks (Red Bull and Hassall Green) that are infilled and obstructed by a road bridge

1 lock (former Thurlwood Steel Lock) eliminated.

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yep heartbreak hill, although they are slowly but surely closing one side of them which is sad.

As far as i am aware there is no plan to close them, in fact thee is an active campaign to open them, I wouldnt not read anything more into the sign, and certainly as said none have closed in my living memory.

Its not just their being duplicated to save time, they also used to have a paddle in between the two chambers, in situations where one lock is full and the other empty, the paddle could have been opened as a water saving measure.

 

On a more basic level than that, twin locks saves water simply by massively increasing the chance of there being one in you favour, or near to it, rather than having to turn then often. As I understanding it the link-paddle, along with side pounds, was never really used due to the amount it slowed the whole process.

 

 

Daniel

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