CARRYING & FREIGHT New GU traffic

摘要

On 22nd April, Phoenix Canal Carrying Co loaded nearly 43 tonnes of 6-metre steel piles at the canalside site of Ale Piling Ltd at Tysley, Birmingham. With 50 piles aboard the motor Arundel, and 60 on butty, Betelgeuse, the pair set out or Thames Valley Marina at Walthamstow, on the River Lea. However, it was not long before the boats encountered problems on the Grand Union Canal. Despite heavy April showers, water level in the 10-mile summit pound to Knowle Top Lock was down by 4in, meaning painfully slow progress. Further trouble lay ahead in the Blisworth pound, where levels were down by as much as 6in. This followed vandalism on the Northampton Arm, where a large section had become drained. British Waterways ran water from the Blisworth pound to refill it, but then had to back-pump up the Stoke Bruerne flight to alleviate the situation.