[robgraham]

This has nothing to do with DIY, but takes advantage of the
encyclopaedic knowledge here !

I've a troublesome knee and have been banned from all physical DIY by
the physio - light exercises and 1 hour's flat walk a day. That's
where the canal comes in - I'm exploring the local canal (near
Edinburgh) in 1 1/2 mile sections. The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? Anyone know ?

Rob

[BodgeIt]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:01:11 -0700 (PDT), robgraham
wrote:

This has nothing to do with DIY, but takes advantage of the
encyclopaedic knowledge here !

I've a troublesome knee and have been banned from all physical DIY by
the physio - light exercises and 1 hour's flat walk a day. That's
where the canal comes in - I'm exploring the local canal (near
Edinburgh) in 1 1/2 mile sections. The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? Anyone know ?

Rob


Rob, as you sorted out my halogen lamp psu this is the least I can
do...

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm

[Moonraker[_2_]]

On 17/08/2010 10:37, BodgeIt wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:01:11 -0700 (PDT), robgraham
wrote:

This has nothing to do with DIY, but takes advantage of the
encyclopaedic knowledge here !

I've a troublesome knee and have been banned from all physical DIY by
the physio - light exercises and 1 hour's flat walk a day. That's
where the canal comes in - I'm exploring the local canal (near
Edinburgh) in 1 1/2 mile sections. The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? Anyone know ?

Rob


Rob, as you sorted out my halogen lamp psu this is the least I can
do...

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm
Maybe totally OT, but totally interesting!

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

[muymalestado[_2_]]

Fascinating.

[Jeff Gaines]

On 17/08/2010 in message
Moonraker wrote:

Maybe totally OT, but totally interesting!

Hear, hear! I've always wondered how they did that.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
That's an amazing invention but who would ever want to use one of them?
(President Hayes speaking to Alexander Graham Bell on the invention of the
telephone)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember robgraham
saying something like:

The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? Anyone know ?

You never seen a horse swim?

[T i m]

On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:37:55 +0100, BodgeIt wrote:


Rob, as you sorted out my halogen lamp psu this is the least I can
do...

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm


Interesting stuff.

Unusually I actually spotted an little error and reported it to them.
I'm pleased to say they agreed with me, corrected it and said
'thanks'. ;-)

It was only a typo / spell checker thing ...

"A sensible boathouses soon learns the trick of leaning steadily into
the collar ... "

Cheers, T i m

[robgraham]

On 17 Aug, 10:37, BodgeIt wrote:
On Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:01:11 -0700 (PDT), robgraham

wrote:
This has nothing to do with DIY, but takes advantage of the
encyclopaedic knowledge here !

I've a troublesome knee and have been banned from all physical DIY by
the physio - light exercises and 1 hour's flat walk a day. *That's
where the canal comes in - I'm exploring the local canal (near
Edinburgh) in 1 1/2 mile sections. *The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? *Anyone know ?

Rob

Rob, as you sorted out my halogen lamp psu this is the least I can
do...

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm

Many thanks Bodgelt; that was very interesting as I - and clearly
others - had no idea about the effective size of that element of the
industry. The parallel interestingly enough of the feeding, etc. is
that the navvies who built the canals were equally well looked after.
I don;t know about this country, but seemingly when they were building
the lines across the US central states, the lines were being laid at
the rate of a mile a day. It was about a mile a month for this local
canal, which is around 70yds a day which for manual labour is pretty
fast..

I hope my experience with these lamps doesn't turn out to be a false
dawn! At least the outlay is not significant. You will probably have
to sort out the connections - I opted to get line sockets from
Maplin.

Rob

[Robin]

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm
Maybe totally OT, but totally interesting!

Yes, but it doesn't cover the use of scythes by passenger "expresses"
to cut the towropes of oncoming goods vehicles which didn't give way.
Was that just made up by CS Forester?

"Assuredly this canal traffic was a miracle of modernity, and it was
gratifying to be on board the very fastest of the canal boats, the Queen
Charlotte, that took priority over all other traffic. On her bow she
carried a glittering scythe-blade as the proud symbol of her superior
importance. It would sever the towline of any approaching boat which did
not drop her line quickly enough to let her through."
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

[Spamlet]

"Robin" wrote in message
news:_bxao.52421$vL2.33612@hurricane...
http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm
Maybe totally OT, but totally interesting!

Yes, but it doesn't cover the use of scythes by passenger "expresses" to
cut the towropes of oncoming goods vehicles which didn't give way. Was
that just made up by CS Forester?

"Assuredly this canal traffic was a miracle of modernity, and it was
gratifying to be on board the very fastest of the canal boats, the Queen
Charlotte, that took priority over all other traffic. On her bow she
carried a glittering scythe-blade as the proud symbol of her superior
importance. It would sever the towline of any approaching boat which did
not drop her line quickly enough to let her through."
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

Another question gone begging is how they organised going through the
tunnels. In fact, a recent TV prog mentioned that barges could be backed up
for weeks waiting their turn. I would imagine the tunnels would still be
the biggest drawback to canal transport today.

S

[ARWadsworth]

Spamlet wrote:
"Robin" wrote in message
news:_bxao.52421$vL2.33612@hurricane...
http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm
Maybe totally OT, but totally interesting!

Yes, but it doesn't cover the use of scythes by passenger
"expresses" to cut the towropes of oncoming goods vehicles which
didn't give way. Was that just made up by CS Forester?

"Assuredly this canal traffic was a miracle of modernity, and it was
gratifying to be on board the very fastest of the canal boats, the
Queen Charlotte, that took priority over all other traffic. On her
bow she carried a glittering scythe-blade as the proud symbol of her
superior importance. It would sever the towline of any approaching
boat which did not drop her line quickly enough to let her through."
--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

Another question gone begging is how they organised going through the
tunnels. In fact, a recent TV prog mentioned that barges could be
backed up for weeks waiting their turn. I would imagine the tunnels
would still be the biggest drawback to canal transport today.

Like the Channel Tunnel and Operation Stack:-)

--
Adam

[harry]

On 17 Aug, 10:01, robgraham wrote:
This has nothing to do with DIY, but takes advantage of the
encyclopaedic knowledge here !

I've a troublesome knee and have been banned from all physical DIY by
the physio - light exercises and 1 hour's flat walk a day. *That's
where the canal comes in - I'm exploring the local canal (near
Edinburgh) in 1 1/2 mile sections. *The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? *Anyone know ?

Rob

I believe the tow ropes were wieghted so they sank so permitting a
boat to pass over them if the rope was allowed to slacken.. At canal
tunnels, boats were "legged through by professional teams who lay on
legging planks and walked the boats through by pushing with their
feet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legging_(canals)

[geoff]

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember robgraham
saying something like:

The mind as you can well imagine
goes into neutral and the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope? Anyone know ?

You never seen a horse swim?

No - I've seen a horse fly, though

--
geoff

[Andy Burns[_7_]]

BodgeIt wrote:

wrote:

the question arose as to how barges crossed in
the old days when there was only one path for the horse and draw
rope?

http://www.canaljunction.com/craft/horsedrawn1.htm

They could do with borrowing the photo of the stone roving bridge from
wikipedia in the section explaining how the horse stays in harness where
the towpath changes side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roving_bridge

[djc]

Spamlet wrote:

Another question gone begging is how they organised going through the
tunnels. In fact, a recent TV prog mentioned that barges could be backed up
for weeks waiting their turn. I would imagine the tunnels would still be
the biggest drawback to canal transport today.

Bargee lies on back on roof of boat and 'walks' along roof of
tunnel.

--
djc

[The Natural Philosopher[_2_]]

djc wrote:
Spamlet wrote:

Another question gone begging is how they organised going through the
tunnels. In fact, a recent TV prog mentioned that barges could be backed up
for weeks waiting their turn. I would imagine the tunnels would still be
the biggest drawback to canal transport today.

Bargee lies on back on roof of boat and 'walks' along roof of
tunnel.

prior to motorised narrow boats, that is.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?

No - I've seen a horse fly, though

I've seen a house fly.

[Mike Barnes]

Grimly Curmudgeon :
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?

No - I've seen a horse fly, though

I've seen a house fly.

And fruit flies like a banana.

--
Mike Barnes

[The Natural Philosopher[_2_]]

Mike Barnes wrote:
Grimly Curmudgeon :
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?
No - I've seen a horse fly, though
I've seen a house fly.

And fruit flies like a banana.

Naomi Campbell attracts men like flies.

[PeterC]

On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:19:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Mike Barnes wrote:
Grimly Curmudgeon :
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?
No - I've seen a horse fly, though
I've seen a house fly.

And fruit flies like a banana.

Naomi Campbell attracts men like flies.

But the men that like flies wouldn't be attracted by Naomi.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

[The Natural Philosopher[_2_]]

PeterC wrote:
On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:19:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Mike Barnes wrote:
Grimly Curmudgeon :
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?
No - I've seen a horse fly, though
I've seen a house fly.
And fruit flies like a banana.

Naomi Campbell attracts men like flies.

But the men that like flies wouldn't be attracted by Naomi.

Oh I dunno. Entomoligists like stick insects after all...

[geoff]

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?

No - I've seen a horse fly, though

I've seen a house fly.

Did it have east and west wings?


--
geoff

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

In message , Grimly
Curmudgeon writes
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember geoff saying
something like:

You never seen a horse swim?

No - I've seen a horse fly, though

I've seen a house fly.

Did it have east and west wings?

Flying buttresses.