It was designed to run without fossil fuels, covers extensive tracts of England, links most of the major cities (sorry North East & South West), and is currently only really utilised for leisure purposes.
Obviously the canal network alone couldn't step up to the challenge of meeting today's transport needs, but post PO transport needs will inevitably be more restrained; do other people reckon that the canals will play a significant role in the future of commercial transport (i.e. freight) in England & Wales?
Maybe we should be lobbying government to dig a few more
I think it's already happening; I seem to recall seeing some article about the Grand Union being used to transport heavy materials that are not needed in a JIT fashion (I have a sneaky suspicion it's materials for Heathrow T5).
Having said that, I think it would be very problematic to expand the canal system today.
An interesting place to visit is the lakes near Tring. They are "reservoirs" for the canal system, that climbs uphill from London and then continues downhill to Birmingham (gross oversimplification here). The reservoirs thus feed water into the canal system, which is needed because a charge of water travels "from the top (e.g. Tring) to the bottom (e.g. London)" every time a lock is operated.
What's also interesting is the soliton effect. When a horse is pulling a canal boat, it gets to a certain speed where the boat suddenly becomes very easy to pull. At that speed, a solitary wave appears at the bow.
Thanks for the link Joe. My better half and I are planning a trip to the U.K. next year (Northern Summer) and I fully intend to spend a week or so travelling on the canals. I grew up beside a river and (mis)spent my youth 'messing around in boats'.
Yeah, I mentioned in another thread that a local chemical factory has started taking deliveries via huge tankers on the local canal - the cost savings must be huge for them to have even given this a try.
Joe wrote:... do other people reckon that the canals will play a significant role in the future of commercial transport (i.e. freight) in England & Wales?
Maybe we should be lobbying government to dig a few more
Yes its a good idea - already GP policy (scroll down to TR410-TR451 about 3/4 of the way down) and one thats worth pushing harder. If you have a local canal check out what your local county/district structure plan says about it and then write to your councillor. The infrastrucutre needs protecting and then promoting.
RogerCO
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The time for politics is past - now is the time for action.
Most Britich canals are too narrow for economic modern use. Even the wider ones like Manchester Ship Canal are not big enough and so out of commercial use. Try 'Grand Contour Canal' in Google and see if you think that has potential.
Adrian Williams
Cycloloco wrote:Most Britich canals are too narrow for economic modern use.
How would you define "modern use", and how do you believe that definition might change in a post Peak Oil world?
IMO (If Leeds is anything to go by), the only thing the canal infrastructre really lacks is docks in major cities with warehouses that haven't been converted into wine bars, trendy offices and yuppie flats.
How would you define "modern use", and how do you believe that definition might change in a post Peak Oil world?
IMO (If Leeds is anything to go by), ....
.....
'Modern' means using current economics and comparison with road haulage and mechanical handling. In a post-Peak world the economics will change in canals' favour. Larger canals like the Aire and Calder can come back into use quickly but will still require transhipment.
More use of canals really requires a lot of them to be widened, I think.
