Mike Todd

Why is my post hidden? Simon Bishop Oxmarineservices

Such locks only protect against non boaters. The only way to ensure proper behaviour by boaters is to install captive locks that will not release the key until lock is properly shut as with some of the mechanised locks up north. A little expensive I fear.

An assumption that an income stream can be wholly used on direct costs is a nonsense that sooner or later will lead to bankruptcy (as, sadly, too many have found) In general Overheads refers to costs that cannot be avoided and have to be funded somewhere. The fairest way is to allocate these costs proportionate to each cost centre. A related problem is when a business experiments with a new product and sells it at a price based on marginal cost plus a small extra. That is fine whilst the mainstream business continues unabated but the problems come to the surface when the new business succeeds and the old business declines so that there is less and less contribution to overheads. I guess that one of the commonest routes to Carey Street is not paying the tax man on time! It is not an unjustified overhead, best forgotten . . . Properly accounting for depreciation (and hence maintenance) is very similar.

I imagine that watching a horse change must have been, for its time, as exciting as a F1 pit stop, especially in the days when they refuelled as well!

Indeed - some while back when there were problems with certain bridges, the instinct was to introduce speed limits but it was then realised that this led to increased loads as the traffic bunched up. Zero speed = maximum load! One of the reasons that capital intensive business activities fail is inattention to a realistic depreciation charge. An example I have been testing by observation is that of canal marinas. Once built they are, at first, quite inexpensive to run esp if not intended as a destination/tourist attraction. The 'profits' are then distributed (spent) and so the business cannot sustain the maintenance cost once elements start to life out.

?availability of someone paid/volunteer to do the locking up?

Similarly, with short tunnels sans towpath, horse drawn canal boats could unhitch and let the boat drift through t the other end and then re-hitch. Watched it being done by the horse boat people on the Peak Forest a few years back. At least in a tunnel you do not have sudden wind burst to upset the procedure!

Now looked up what we did in 1976. Seems we hired in August from Penkridge for two weeks. Went south to Shroppie and then up to Middlewich. Down the T&M to Kidsgrove where we turned up the Macc. Down Ashton to Ducie Street and along the Bridgewater. Down T&M to Middlewich, returned to Shroppie and then back to Penkridge. Children were then 6 and 4. I wonder how long it would take us today, even without water issues or kids to look after! Regarding the weather, I do not recall water shortages although I vaguely remember it being quite hot at times. But then, that route currently has no restrictions, so perhaps we were lucky in our choice of base and route.

Chaining up locks each day and then opening up in the morning is an expensive option, in terms of person power. Perhaps they chose ones to close that would minimise traffic and be easiest for staff to get to. Some of the GU locks south of Fenny are not easy to get to.

Speed is not unrelated to capacity: imagine freight trains going at 30 mph . . . at a certain level, more speed means more capacity. To some extent the trade off depends on how close the demand is to capacity as the next step - more lines - is very expensive, and often not feasible.

It was indeed quite a skill on the part of the steerer and the horseman. Much of the practice around entering locks persisted well into the powered era, especially around how fast (or slow) a boat should be moving in order both to reach the far end but without under collision with the end stop. With time an increasing premium, such skills helped to reduce journey times, if only a little, but that would be welcome. I'm unaware the miniskirts feature much in drag. Or am I just to out of date?

Plenty of still functioning churches have their old pews but the capacity calculations are a bit more generous on space, if not comfort.

Sadly I remember those cobbles all too well: earlier this year Christine and I were staying a couple of days in a self catering unit close to here but alongside the river. We were walking to the cathedral when, just a few metres from the pic, she tripped and fell heavily on her arm. She just felt a bit sore the rest of the day but by morning it was obvious that something was amiss. We went straight to the nearby A&E and had amazingly swift attention but only to confirm that she had fractured her upper arm. Overall she has had good treatment from NHS, but here and in Swindon as well as physio and she is now all but recovered, if still not back to opening paddles!

A number of the notices in the recent past have actually said that boaters a free to navigate between locked flights - I certainly recall this on the L&L. and also I think re the long pound between Claydon and Napton.

Volunteers are not as readily available as is sometimes suggested. All charities and voluntary organisations have had to face this. A significant driver has been social change in the second part of the 20C. Immediately post-war, many women were displaced back out of the workplace that they had willingly filled in times of necessity and then looked to fill their time. This was perhaps the golden age for volunteering but by the 70s, with the growth of two income households, the number of people of a physically fit age who are available to volunteer has markedly reduced. A similar challenge faces the military - 70 years ago many front line infantry could be adequately, perhaps fully, trained in a very short time as they were little more than cannon fodder. Nowadays, much of warfare involved very sophisticated equipment and operating procedures and skills that take time to acquire. As a result the role of the Reserve Army has had to be re-thought as well as the expectations on volunteers. (actually, reservists are usually paid, just not full time) It might be worth studying that experience to see if it could be applied to canal maintenance and operation. I suspect there are a good number of people who would join and undertake extensive training for that role rather than unpaid, untrained and unskilled volunteering. (I am not criticising existing volunteers, LTRU, but the suggestions for replacing much of the paid work force by unpaid people)