"Brian Holt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I have just been reading Septembers Canal Boat and it set me thinking
>"Which is the slowest filling lock on the Grand Union" The author couldn't
>make his mind up and hedged his bets by saying both Cowley and Ironbridge
>lock is the slowest to fill.
I assume we are actually discussing the Grand Junction, not the whole
Grand Union system.
On the GJ, BW is slowly making up for its previous disastrous policy
of building new top gates without gate paddles, but there are still
several locks without top gate paddles which makes them quite a bit
slower than their fully-paddled brethren.
Cowley has no top gate paddles. despite BW's having replaced its top
gates after the policy of always installing top gate paddles was
reinstated. BW insisted that top gate paddles at this lock would be
dangerous (?) because the increased flow could cause distress to those
moored at the water point above the lock or passing through the bridge
above that if all paddles were opened suddenly. No, I don't buy it
either. However, BW London has form on this, having been in general
opposed to top gate paddles for years.
Ironbridge also has no top gate paddles, but should once again have
them eventually. However, the situation is worse here, because (as
Mike alluded to) the non-towpath top ground paddle is partly blocked.
This is because it started to collapse, and a temporary
("cost-saving") fix was undertaken by inserting a pipe into the paddle
culvert (as opposed to digging the culvert out and fixing it. This
obviously results in a smaller cross-section than that of the normal
culvert, and a correspondingly smaller flow. Coupled with the absence
of gate paddles, this makes filling this lock very tedious.
IMHO Ironbridge is *much* slower than Cowley.
It's too bad, because a very large number of gongoozlers visit
Ironbridge. I wonder how many are discouraged from ever having
anything more to do with boating by the extreme boredom of waiting for
this lock to fill.
Adrian
Adrian Stott
07956-299966
