Relax.A
Well-Known Member
Old windsor and romney lock broken down both with hydraulic problems will update .
lock breakdowns
- Thread starter Relax.A
- Start date
Relax.A
Well-Known Member
Old windsor back in service
Relax.A
Well-Known Member
Romney still out of action as of this evening
TrueBlue
Well-Known Member
Windsor was an hydraulic pipe problem that broke again shortly after being fixed - we were lucky to get through with some very nice people from French's
We arrived at Romney at 11:30 ack emma to find a queue of three boats including said French's boat where we moored alongside to conserve layby space, shortly to be joined by Streatley looking very spick and span after her rebuild.
After waiting patiently for 30 minutes I bothered the harassed lockie to get an ETA of repairs.
Engineers had been delayed by Old Windsor fix / refix. They arrived about and hour (?) later. The lock was half full of boats going up.
The problem was described as "hydraulic pump not engaging"
(OK hand wind??) - later.
Engineers arrived to find sprocket-out-of-true on't-treadle. Poor engineer prone on ground trying to access treadle located well behind control gear.
(Hand wind - "can't close gates").
Engineers depart to find "parts".
(?Hand wind?)
Parts need fettling...
(?HAND WIND?)
Aye that's the, rub - T'was said that the changes made to make Pubic Power available 24/7 means that the lock could NO LONGER be hand wound in emergency.
Engineers abandoned Fettling Treadle and reinstated part of hand winding.
Those trapped in lock - by now it was a very full lock indeed - three abreast (as it should be), the top gates could be closed and the bottom - never in doubt - worked, disgorging vast numbers of boaters to the Joys Of Windsor Home Park at 4:15. By which time Frenchs' fleet of three had given up the will to live, reversed back and retreated to their base.
What was intended to be just a few lucky scapegoats were admitted to the now open lock to test the fix.
The fix was to hand wind the sluices and drag the gates open with ropes aided by a nudge of the gates by ano to break the seal.
We left the lock at 16:45.
Now there's a serious issue here that needs to be addressed:-
Quite apart from total lack of routine maintenance checks (AFAIK), there is no fallback. There was a "willing" band of volunteer boaters, who I'm sure would have rallied around to wind the lock to clear it. However - whoever decided to disable the handwind system should have something nasty done to him (and I guess I know who that is).
I think I would not be much amiss by saying that boaters DID NOT REQUEST 24 HOUR PUBLIC POWER - it was instuted for other reasons....
The lock staff did their best, the engineers did what they could -IT'S THE SYSTEM which let everyone down.OK boaters were inconvenienced but French's use of 3 boats and associated real customers were lost with consequential loss of business, and that I find is NOT acceptable.
This issue must be discussed at a high level to find a usable solution - perhaps it's time that EA asked sentient boaters what should be done, but on past performance, I'm not holding my breath.....
I will make a report to TMBA on my return to civilization.
("Sprocket" etc is translated to a fibre coupling between a very substantial three phase electric motor coupled to an hydraulic pump which from my brief glimpse had an awful lot of hydraulic pipes attached to it - so it's more complicated that I thought).
On a plus side - it brought back a touch of wartime spirit, I didn't see angry crowds of irate boaters, folks in the lock said they had time to talk to each other - and open a can(s) of beer.
I discussed serious music with a hirer, pleased to find a kindred spirit,
I was treated to a tour of the bowels of Streatley and the joys of steam raising with Real Welsh Coal,
Learnt about boat operating from an "ordinary trip boat",
and apart from poncing about waving to folks walking over the bridge to Dorney, I had a thoroughly pleasant day.
We arrived at Romney at 11:30 ack emma to find a queue of three boats including said French's boat where we moored alongside to conserve layby space, shortly to be joined by Streatley looking very spick and span after her rebuild.
After waiting patiently for 30 minutes I bothered the harassed lockie to get an ETA of repairs.
Engineers had been delayed by Old Windsor fix / refix. They arrived about and hour (?) later. The lock was half full of boats going up.
The problem was described as "hydraulic pump not engaging"
(OK hand wind??) - later.
Engineers arrived to find sprocket-out-of-true on't-treadle. Poor engineer prone on ground trying to access treadle located well behind control gear.
(Hand wind - "can't close gates").
Engineers depart to find "parts".
(?Hand wind?)
Parts need fettling...
(?HAND WIND?)
Aye that's the, rub - T'was said that the changes made to make Pubic Power available 24/7 means that the lock could NO LONGER be hand wound in emergency.
Engineers abandoned Fettling Treadle and reinstated part of hand winding.
Those trapped in lock - by now it was a very full lock indeed - three abreast (as it should be), the top gates could be closed and the bottom - never in doubt - worked, disgorging vast numbers of boaters to the Joys Of Windsor Home Park at 4:15. By which time Frenchs' fleet of three had given up the will to live, reversed back and retreated to their base.
What was intended to be just a few lucky scapegoats were admitted to the now open lock to test the fix.
The fix was to hand wind the sluices and drag the gates open with ropes aided by a nudge of the gates by ano to break the seal.
We left the lock at 16:45.
Now there's a serious issue here that needs to be addressed:-
Quite apart from total lack of routine maintenance checks (AFAIK), there is no fallback. There was a "willing" band of volunteer boaters, who I'm sure would have rallied around to wind the lock to clear it. However - whoever decided to disable the handwind system should have something nasty done to him (and I guess I know who that is).
I think I would not be much amiss by saying that boaters DID NOT REQUEST 24 HOUR PUBLIC POWER - it was instuted for other reasons....
The lock staff did their best, the engineers did what they could -IT'S THE SYSTEM which let everyone down.OK boaters were inconvenienced but French's use of 3 boats and associated real customers were lost with consequential loss of business, and that I find is NOT acceptable.
This issue must be discussed at a high level to find a usable solution - perhaps it's time that EA asked sentient boaters what should be done, but on past performance, I'm not holding my breath.....
I will make a report to TMBA on my return to civilization.
("Sprocket" etc is translated to a fibre coupling between a very substantial three phase electric motor coupled to an hydraulic pump which from my brief glimpse had an awful lot of hydraulic pipes attached to it - so it's more complicated that I thought).
On a plus side - it brought back a touch of wartime spirit, I didn't see angry crowds of irate boaters, folks in the lock said they had time to talk to each other - and open a can(s) of beer.
I discussed serious music with a hirer, pleased to find a kindred spirit,
I was treated to a tour of the bowels of Streatley and the joys of steam raising with Real Welsh Coal,
Learnt about boat operating from an "ordinary trip boat",
and apart from poncing about waving to folks walking over the bridge to Dorney, I had a thoroughly pleasant day.
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Louis Jankel
New Member
24 hour power at locks
The demand for 24 hour power at locks came from boaters. It had been requested for a number of years and eventually 24 months ago a trial at a number of specified locks was agreed between navigation management and users. After the trial period it as agreed by navigation management to extend it to all locks much to the delight of most boaters - but not all.
The question to be answered is, why the assurance that emergency facilities would be safe with this new facility did not deliver in this instance?
Each and every lock on the Thames seems to be "unique" in its engineering. Certainly Romney is a one off (as are Bell Weir and Hambledon).
The wait boaters were subjected to on Saturday was quite unacceptable and the EA yesterday are very aware that they let boaters down, none more so that the staff at Romney.
To repeat the provision of 24 hour power was agreed by the EA navigation management after very hard and prolonged lobbying from user groups. It has been in place for over 12 months and I haven't head a peep out of anyone so far objecting to it!
The demand for 24 hour power at locks came from boaters. It had been requested for a number of years and eventually 24 months ago a trial at a number of specified locks was agreed between navigation management and users. After the trial period it as agreed by navigation management to extend it to all locks much to the delight of most boaters - but not all.
The question to be answered is, why the assurance that emergency facilities would be safe with this new facility did not deliver in this instance?
Each and every lock on the Thames seems to be "unique" in its engineering. Certainly Romney is a one off (as are Bell Weir and Hambledon).
The wait boaters were subjected to on Saturday was quite unacceptable and the EA yesterday are very aware that they let boaters down, none more so that the staff at Romney.
To repeat the provision of 24 hour power was agreed by the EA navigation management after very hard and prolonged lobbying from user groups. It has been in place for over 12 months and I haven't head a peep out of anyone so far objecting to it!
shades
Well-Known Member
The trial period for 24hr power was from Henley down and ran from April to September LAST YEAR. As there were not a vast amount of "problems" reported by resident lock keepers (not all sites had them during the whole trial) it was deemed appropriate to "extend the trial" riverwide from 01 October 2011.
Relax.A
Well-Known Member
Lock working and clearing backlog of boats
boatone
Well-Known Member
Was there a significant backlog or had most boats given up and turned away?
Relax.A
Well-Known Member
Quoted as two hour back log this morning . Loads of boats turned round and came back past yesterday. Latest on the lock is it is on tempory power today and tomorrow is a big question mark as it will have to be fixed properly when new parts arrive
CJL
Well-Known Member
And people think it will be better under the Canal and River Trust?? 
TrueBlue
Well-Known Member
Umm - how does OOPP problem get reported by the lockie - give that it's Out Of Hours.
I was caught with problems at Bell Weir TWICE last year and Dave came to the rescue. In trying to follow up the reasons I was given the cold shoulder by Management. Later informed that a valve had been ordered. Last November the lock was closed for two days in order to fit the valve - when it arrived it was "the wrong type". To date it has not been fitted... but nobody is prepared to say anything to me.
So have the figures been massaged??
All I want as a boater is reliable service for which we pay.
to CJL - Nobody in their wildest dreams expect CART to be better, especailly as the rumour has it that they feel lockies are not required. After all there are no (few) lock staff on CART waters.
SnowCat
Well-Known Member
TB, I surmise that that is what CJL meant! 
boatone
Well-Known Member
The trial was actually from 1st June to 31st August last year (2011) - you can see the official poster HERE
At the beginning of October 2011 the EA issued the following notice :
I must say I have no recollection of any significant pressure from boaters for 24/7 overnight power although there were certainly requests to extend the hours when power was available later in the evening rather than just the two hours after the lockie went off duty.
The speed with which the transition to full public power availability took place actually took me rather by surprise. The cynic in me might suggest various reasons for this, perhaps not all associated with just pleasing the boaters.
I was, and still am, very unhappy with the EA policy that we use the locks out of hours entirely at our own risk. That boats could be, and have been, trapped in locks overnight due to system failures with no commitment from the EA to attend until the resumption of normal working hours is, in my opinion, unacceptable.
I raised this issue back in January in THIS THREAD
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TrueBlue
Well-Known Member
I agree - when the 24/7 operation was first mooted, there was some "opposition" voiced and more said they were not overly concerned one way or the other.
Whatever happens there should be a fall back provision - handwinding if the electrics / electronics fail.
I maintain that the newer modifications to the round top pedestals were
- poorly designed,
- boaters were never consulted for their views on the operation
- subsequent changes suggested to reduce "lockouts" were ignored
- indicator lights are confusing to those who WONT read the instructions
- Procedures are cumbersome if the previous user has not left the lock in the correct state
- resetting the lock after a user failure is cumbresome and requires trained staff.
- Some sensors are too precise and not suitable and don't make allowance for the fact that lock gates wobble in their structure (!)
I think a review is required.
