Grantham Canal - bits of rusty metal and other interesting stuff.

With Christmas out of the way it was back to work to drink tea and carry on.

We focused on the lower end of the lock where the timber for the lower stop boards had arrived.

First of all, we had to clear the ice which had formed after some particularly cold weather otherwise Torvill and Dean impersonations would have been on the cards.

After measuring twice, thrice even, skilful use of a chainsaw cut the raw stop planks to size and shape and we started to lower them into place.



Eventually, all the planks were cut, and our version of the Berlin wall was in place. This is the view from within the lock chamber.



The view from the soon-to-be-removed temporary dam.



The team what done it. No fair weather holiday-makers in the CGS volunteers; we're on-site every working day of the week irrespective of the weather. Told you it was cold - that ice panel being held by one of our volunteers is nearly an inch thick.



The following day, our volunteers set about removing the lower temporary dam and the canal's waters flowed back.



Starting to look like a canal again.



The new lower mooring wharf looking like a mooring wharf and awaiting the first boat.



I've since been struck down by a severe bout of Flu and haven't been on-site for while. Hopefully I'll be back before long with more photos.

 

Daft question from one who knows nowt about canals-I seem to remember you have another few locks to do in this flight? If so, why not leave the top dam in place until they're all done?

 

I'd also say a shock absorbing device of some sort. Rather like this for a dog lead...

https://www.hyperdrug.co.uk/Ancol-S...M_PoUSbDvhf06zi4tue0nkvYmza7cyhYaAgWlEALw_wcB

 

Good question.

Not so easy to answer.

The top dam needs to be partially removed in the very near future to allow the upper mooring wharf to be built. We have already installed the upper stop-boards to hold the water back when this happens. The lock gates are due to be installed in March/April this year and will require water against them to stop deterioration.

Meanwhile, some senior people in our society are looking to put our trip boat through the lock soon after the gates are installed as some form of celebration of the completion of this phase of the project. There will also be a need to bring some of our water-borne plant through the lock to help clear the waterway between locks 15 and 14. Obviously, we couldn't do that if the dam is in the way. Also, the material from the dams will be re-used when we move to Lock 14 in the very near future where it will be used in a similar manner - helps save on costs.

Added to all that, there is a need to maintain water levels in the pounds between the locks due to the aquatic life, mammals and birds for whom it is habitat. Putting a dam either side of the lock with a by-wash to allow the normal flow of water, helps maintain the levels.

Even if we could leave the top dam in place and put one below lock 12 to isolate and drain the whole section, all the aquatic wildlife would have to be removed to safe places - parts of the canal are classed as a SSSI with all the associated regulation that goes with it. There is over a mile between lock 15 and Lock 12 ( the last of this particular flight) - that is an awful lot of water to remove and we would also have to build an alternative route for the water that continues to flow through the canal.

Then the is the need for vehicle/plant access to either side of the lock being restored, so additional dams would still be required.

It is easier just to isolate the particular lock we are going to work on with a temporary dam above and below.

Nowt is ever straightforward with this project.

edited to add the bit about additional dams for access.

 

I see, thanks. Hadn't realised the next dam was a bit away, thought it was quite close. Been enjoying this thread for a while now, thanks for doing it.

 

Just to add to that, it's been a fascinating read on something I knew very little about. Cheers.

 

Unfortunately, not a lot to report because of this:



Stubborn and inflexible, jobsworth bureaucracy plus, IMHO some incompetence, has caused the towpath through the site be re-opened to allow public access, for at least two weeks! This action has effectively split the site into two and means we can't do the necessary work on building the upper mooring wharf. I'm not going to publicly point the finger at who I consider is to blame for this fiasco, but it has caused a lot of dismay, anger and frustration with the GCS volunteers. A small consolation is that we have been able to prematurely divert our attention to clearing the scrub at Lock 14 in readiness for the transfer of our activities to that site.

Notwithstanding our version of the DMZ/Berlin Wall, the lock gate makers have visited and taken the measurements they need. They used a plank of wood and cut it to the size of the gates. The plank will be used as a template for the gates proper. New paddle gear will be installed along with the gates. The re-bar mesh on the floor of the forebay was being used by the archaeologists as a reference grid whilst they mapped the floor layout.



Hopefully, common sense will have prevailed by the time of my next report and we will have been able to get on with the job.

 

I may have something interesting to report sometime later next week.

 

tease! come on spill the beans

Colin

 

I haven't taken the photos yet.

 

After two weeks of jobsworth bureaucracy-induced work stop, the fence was removed and GCS volunteers have been able to crack on with the work.

The excavator was again able to gain access to the off-side and made a start on removing the upper dam.

Here's a final view of the dam with the site behind opened up after removal of that fence.



The excavator starts removing the dam.



After removing some of the rear wall of the dam, part of the clay lining was removed from the front face of the dam.



This allowed the canal water to seep through the dam up to the stop planks.



It didn't take too long for the water levels either side of the dam to equalise and this allowed the excavator to make serious progress in removing the remainder of the dam. By the end of the day, the dam was all but gone and the water was up to the stop planks.



What was left of the dam was removed the following day, followed by levelling the piling sheets for the upper mooring wharf. Further work was undertaken to secure the stability of the pilings and create some footings for the edge capping stones.

Thanks to Bob Taylor of the Thursday gang for this photo.



Since then, some concrete has been poured behind the pilings to create a base for the edge capping stones but, in cricket parlance, rain stopped play; the rain gods decided to have a deluge of biblical proportions which threatened to wash away the concrete we had just poured. We called it a day and went home to dry out.

 

Now for a bonus update - I did say I might have something interesting.

GCS Volunteers went on a jolly boys(and girls) outing to the C&RT workshops at Stanley Ferry to view the new lock gates being made.

Here are the upper gates, nearly ready to be sent on their way to us. Metal work will be fitted to the balance beam later.



The paint is still wet on the pivot pin.



...and here are a couple of photos of the start of the assembly of the lower gates.

These are the head posts with the mortices cut, the heel posts are in the background.



..in readiness for the tenons on the cross members. This photo is of the bottom cross member, plain cross members are stacked to the right. The rectangle is where the paddle gear will be installed.

The gates are built mainly using green oak from sustainable resources; the darker wood on the left of the bottom cross member is Ekki which, we were advised , is three times harder wearing and longer lasting that the green oak. The reason for using Ekki in that position is that part of the gate is the bit which will have the most wear and tear through scraping on the lock floor.



Posts for the paddle gear which will be mounted on the balance beams of the lower gates. These posts are made from Opepe(?).



It was a very interesting and informative visit - the work being done by humans rather than robots.

 

@baldbof - thanks for those, interesting to see someone else making things out of big baulks of green oak timber ...
and congrats on an excellent heritage restoration project.
(see. the coal waggon underframes done at Stanegate Restorations, for example)

 

Interesting that the C&RT maintains its own workshops, especially when outsourcing seems to be the bright shining panacea of government organisations these days, but they are an NGO so they are allowed to keep some meat on the bone, and (shh don't tell anyone) but having their own workshops is probably more cost effective than outsourcing every piece of woodworking they need doing. I guess they train people in the traditional styles of woodworking at Stanley ferry too I suppose? I believe that is part of the C&RT's remit, to teach how canals were engineered and how lock gates were built etc. Cheers for the snaps baldbof. If only the cromford canal in my neck of the woods had as much going on.

 

Thanks for your comments guys.

Our host at Stanley Ferry said that C&RT have another workshop at Bilston in the West Midlands. C&RT used to have five workshops, I believe that figure was reduced after the demise of British Waterways. There is a constant flow of work through these workshops due to the number of gates that need to be replaced each year. A company called Hargreaves made the gates for Lock 18 when that was restored around 2010 - but that's another story.

In my earlier post I mentioned the lack of robots, there certainly was a plethora of traditional wood working tools lying around the place although there were some more "modern" ( I use that term loosely) machines used for metal fabrication and shaping the larger baulks of timber.

 

The other workshop is at Bradley, now a shadow of its former self since the repair yard side was shut down.

Lots of BWB yards made gates, but the work was gradually concentrated in to the larger, better equipped ones - Bulbourne was among the last, along with Newark I think.

Back to the question at the beginning of this thread, it doesn't look like anything off a working narrowboat that I've come across and I think it's far more likely a stray bit off a farm implement.

Great to see the work you are doing on the Grantham Canal. I've got one of your old maintenance boats (Mr Potts) and Centauri I knew very well when she was on Hillmorton section.

 

Centauri is still being worked hard. We are hoping to be able to give her a fresh coat of paint in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, she's performing a valuable service.

Here she is, just about to set off for another day's work.

 

Thankyou @baldbof for an excellent thread, and most recently for the sneak peak into the workshops. Fantastic to see.

 

Unfortunately due to problems with this forum, I have had great difficulty logging in, uploading photos and even doing simple post-reply edits. As a result I regret that I will not be doing any further updates unless the problems are resolved. I was hoping to share photos of the lock gates being fitted but, at the moment, that is not possible. Sorry folks.

John

 

Can somebody in the know explain what is causing the problems and why ?
I have greatly enjoyed Baldbof's blog and it would be a pity to lose it. Canals and railway preservation have much in common.
Mike