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Post by Mr Stabby on Jun 19, 2021 18:39:22 GMT
Long delays at Watford Locks as a sink hole has appeared next to one of the locks. CRT are looking into it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2021 19:23:40 GMT
That's a bit rude!
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Post by quaysider on Jun 21, 2021 6:56:37 GMT
this was inevitable as we are heading that way in a couple of months.... sorry folks.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 6:59:03 GMT
You're losing your touch quaysider ... the navigation is still open Rog
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Post by JohnV on Jun 21, 2021 7:31:32 GMT
You're losing your touch quaysider ... the navigation is still open Rog At the moment
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 7:33:01 GMT
Watford locks are narrow so presumably when the hole is investigated it won't be plausible to use that gate.
So there must be a full stoppage coming if only for elfin safety reasons.
Or maybe it's just a builders foam job.
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Post by Telemachus on Jun 21, 2021 9:17:01 GMT
Seems to be fixed now. Or at least passable.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 10:41:40 GMT
Can any of the longer serving boaters think back and confirm if these kind of things are happening more often?
When you think about it, the system is average 200 years old, i cant imagine for the life of me that CRT will use any fancy tech to xray locks and other underground/underwater structures, so will these kind of issues increase over the next few years.
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Post by JohnV on Jun 21, 2021 11:25:08 GMT
I had a couple of longish gaps off the ditches but I would suggest it's not so much that it's happening more but the identification of faults is a lot slower and because of this the the size of each problem is larger and the time taken before remedial action is taken is much longer.
My take of it is that when there were more boots on the ground, minor problems were seen much earlier and before they had time to turn into an "incident". As there were plenty of (and in general very competent)boots on the ground, remedial action was almost immediate (and often required no more than a few bags of ballast and cement or some nuts and bolts, nails and a tingle or even just grease).and taken by local personel without recourse to "head office and the bean counters"
Now it seems they wait until a fault is reported. Eventually someone will inspect and write a report. The work is then scheduled into the repairs schedule and passed to a relevant contractor. Some time later the contractor arrives to look at the fault which has now grown into a fairly major repair. He reports this back to those in charge who then eventually authorise the by now vast expenditure required to prevent a major closure.
Yes I think it's worse, more because potential problems or early signs of failure are not acted upon
BWB were not very bothered about the niceties that private boaters expect Mowed edges, weed and bramble clearance around lock landings (after all they were for wimps, proper boaters climbed the gates or the steps in the jaws) but in general they kept the system mechanics maintained at least on the still in use commercial routes
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Post by Telemachus on Jun 21, 2021 11:32:09 GMT
Generally agree with John's points but in addition I think that use of the system by incompetent people has increased significantly in the last 10 years or so. There are just too many idiots with zero common sense, no mechanical empathy and no ability to control their boat. Also there must be a big difference in mentality between a local employee fixing some minor issue, vs some minor issue having to be contracted out and specifically paid for - there being no local employees any more.
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Post by metanoia on Jun 21, 2021 17:29:25 GMT
I had a couple of longish gaps off the ditches but I would suggest it's not so much that it's happening more but the identification of faults is a lot slower and because of this the the size of each problem is larger and the time taken before remedial action is taken is much longer. My take of it is that when there were more boots on the ground, minor problems were seen much earlier and before they had time to turn into an "incident". As there were plenty of (and in general very competent)boots on the ground, remedial action was almost immediate (and often required no more than a few bags of ballast and cement or some nuts and bolts, nails and a tingle or even just grease).and taken by local personel without recourse to "head office and the bean counters" Now it seems they wait until a fault is reported. Eventually someone will inspect and write a report. The work is then scheduled into the repairs schedule and passed to a relevant contractor. Some time later the contractor arrives to look at the fault which has now grown into a fairly major repair. He reports this back to those in charge who then eventually authorise the by now vast expenditure required to prevent a major closure. Yes I think it's worse, more because potential problems or early signs of failure are not acted upon BWB were not very bothered about the niceties that private boaters expect Mowed edges, weed and bramble clearance around lock landings (after all they were for wimps, proper boaters climbed the gates or the steps in the jaws) but in general they kept the system mechanics maintained at least on the still in use commercial routes You are so right, JohnV. The latest is Braunston Lock 4 restricted passage for the next 4 weeks.....
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 17:44:47 GMT
When I stopped regular canal boating about ten years ago I had noticed that at least on the GU there were a lot of problems which might not be that obvious. Things like movement around locks and bad quality gates etc.
It does seem to be a bit of a time bomb. I did a lot of boating between about 1997 and 2007 around the canals North and south and do not recall summer stoppages being common. The winter works were quite well organised which presumably stopped problems.
These days it seems like there arrr problems everywhere but this could just be an internet thing ie more awareness and "instant news".
I don't think it is though. I think it's nackered and it will get worse, fast.
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Post by metanoia on Jun 21, 2021 17:52:10 GMT
For a liveaboard this is no great problem but WHAT impact will doing the work this month have on the leisure boaters and hirers? Most licence payers have been patiently waiting to finally escape .... and then this... and so many other stoppages which could/should have been addressed when they weren't permitted to travel?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2021 18:40:14 GMT
As has been said, it's the apparent lack of preventative maintenance that irritates ... lock chambers with obvious voids developing ... gates with forests growing out of them ... the attitude of waiting for stuff to break before anything is done. And of course selling off all the plant and equipment to private companies who are then contracted to do work for C&RT using the very equipment sold off. But we're still cruising and just about getting around Rog
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Post by metanoia on Jun 21, 2021 18:42:50 GMT
Even stranger that there were a couple of workboats moored at the top of the locks when I came down about three weeks ago .....
... there's something they're not telling us!!
(Conspiracy theory no.511347)
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