While many of us slow down during winter, it is one of the busiest times of year for our engineers. With climate change bringing unpredictable weather, caring for canals has never been more challenging.
Our winter works programme spans November to March
Every winter, thanks to your support, we take advantage of the colder, quieter months to drain locks, replace worn-out lock gates, and make large-scale repairs. As our head of Direct Services, Dean Davies, prepares for retirement after three decades with the Trust, he'll also oversee another ambitious winter works programme across the network into next year.
But we're also innovating and changing our established work patterns, as our climate cycle quickly swings between warm and wet, drought and flood. This summer in the UK was one of the hottest and driest on record, putting pressure on water supplies across our network. We did our utmost to minimise disruption, replenish reservoirs, and keep busy routes open.
However, the warm weather also presented an opportunity. In areas where water levels were particularly low, we were able to carry out planned repairs ahead of our usual winter schedule. Dean explains: “In light of the recent droughts, wherever possible, we’ve been looking to get lock gate replacements done outside of the winter months, particularly on river navigations, where winter flooding can be more severe and disrupt our winter plans.”
Indeed, Dean and his team took full advantage of the soaring temperatures this summer, including fitting new lock gates at Lock 33 at Aynho on the Oxford Canal, while it was temporarily closed due to low water levels. It’s a sign of how our approach to maintaining the network is evolving. Rather than waiting for the traditional winter slowdown, teams are increasingly looking for opportunities to carry out work whenever conditions allow.
This winter, we will be replacing 136 lock gate leaves, like here on the Rochdale Canal
Nonetheless, winter remains the biggest window for major repairs, and there’s plenty to keep our engineers busy in the coming months.
This year’s programme spans a whopping 33 navigations and includes replacing 136 lock gate leaves. Among the biggest jobs will be replacing the enormous safety gates at Purton on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.
“They’re massive,” says Dean. “Each leaf gate is made out of greenheart timber and measures around six metres square. They’re so big, we can’t get them out of the door of the workshop at Stanley Ferry, so we have to build them in the workshop and disassemble them before loading them onto the truck.”
The pieces will then make their way to Sharpness Dock, where the gates will be reassembled before being floated along the canal and lifted into position at Purton.
Elsewhere, we’ll be carrying out major repairs to locks on the Marple Flight on the Peak Forest Canal, Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union Canal and on the Wigan Flight of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
This winter’s programme also includes installing 15 new lock gates funded by Postcode Lottery players, marking 15 years of support for Canal & River Trust.
After 25 years of hard-working life, it’s time to replace lock gates on the famous Marple Flight
To keep pace with this burgeoning workload, a new state-of-the-art CNC (computer numerically controlled) machine will begin to operate at our Bradley Workshop in the West Midlands in the months ahead.
The custom-built machine will eventually take over the bulk of the heavy cutting and shaping work, helping us increase lock gate production by more than 25%. Our skilled craftspeople will continue to assemble, fit and finish every gate by hand, just as they have for generations. But the new machine will help our teams produce gates more efficiently, so we can meet growing demand.
In the face of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, it’s another example of how, with your support, we’re finding new, innovative ways to care for our 250-year-old network. And while the canals and towpaths may be quieter this winter, thanks to you our engineers and craftspeople will be hard at work behind the scenes, ensuring future generations can continue to enjoy and benefit from our waterways.
