The "Rochdale Nine" flight of locks in Central Manchester is currently closed after a boat lifted a gate out of the seating pot on one of the locks.
As mooring is not possible on the flight, boaters need to wait at Castlefield, below Lock 92, or in the Piccadilly Basin/Ducie Street area above Lock 84.
Canal and River Trust staff are trying to remedy the situation but it is likely that the locks will be closed throughout the weekend. An update will be published on Monday 23rd July.
This stoppage affects boaters navigating the Cheshire Ring.
Enquiries regarding this stoppage should be made to the Canal and River Trust on 01782 785703.
Update, Monday 23rd July:
Investigations have shown that the gate has sustained more damage than was first thought. As a result, the gate needs to be lifted off, repaired and reset. This involves the use of a crane, scaffolding and a temporary road closure to enable the use of the crane.
The Canal and River Trust say they expect work to be completed by the end of Friday 27th July. This means that the "Rochdale Nine" flight will be closed all week from Lock 84 to Lock 92.
An update will be issued if works are completed before that date.
See photo and update of 25th July here.
In the "bad old days" this job would have taken two blokes with a jack and some rope about half an hour - I've assisted with it (as guerilla maintenance) myself
ReplyDeleteRay, should that be Gorilla?
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with you, the blokes working on it went home at 5 on Friday- in the B.O.D.s they would have worked till it was fixed, especially with light nights and boats waiting to go through.
bill
The reason that its not been fixed is that the boater has pulled the boot of the bottom of the heal post on the gate. As I understand it the two guys with a jack and a bit of rope did attempt to reseat the gate, but on discovered that it wasn't behaving as expected they stopped before they knackering anything else.
ReplyDeleteAll this means that the gate has to be lifted into the air so the boot can be reattached to the heal post. A partial road closure order has been requested from Manchester Corp who first said it must wait till the weekend, I now believe that it has been granted for after 6pm on Wednesday. This is so the crane can be sighted on Whitworth St to lift the gate.