Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000 21:54:50 +0100 From: Brian L Dominic Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Newsgroups: uk.rec.waterways Subject: The Gauge at Parkhead is Higher! This morning, I joined members of the Tuesday Night Club (who don't always meet on a Tuesday) Peter Wright and Kevin Maslin for an excursion through the 3154 yards of Dudley Tunnel. The boat, EARNEST is an R&D 58-footer, which was sitting somewhat lower in the water than the builder intended. The reason for this became apparent when I stepped aboard. There were brick paviors EVERYWHERE - under the mattresses on the beds, stacked around the engine, filling the "well" between the two front bed / settees and even stacked down the starboard side of the hull, in that thin space under the side decks. In addition, there was considerable water ballast - the water tank, hip bath and toilet tanks were all full and as well as the gas locker and front well (the first swimming pool on a narrowboat?) there were plastic dustbins filled with water at strategic points down the starboard side. All this was needed to clear The Gauge, without which we would not be allowed into the tunnel under any circumstances. I was asked to arrive by 0800. The man from the Dudley Tunnel Trust, whose tug was to tow us through, arrived at about 0900, and having passed The Gauge (lucky duck and all) we set off at about 1015. The first short stretch was no problem, but Kevin wanted to take some photos in Castle Mill Basin, which caused all sorts of headaches in addition to those caused by the need to bend our close-coupled two boat formation to get into the main tunnel proper. Once we got well in, we were cast off for those members of the crew who wanted to to do a little legging. Needless to say, the Dudley Tunnel Song performed by Jeff & Benny got played at this point, to the horror of the tug steerer, who has to live with it day in, day out! Other music featured included Tubular Bell, as apparently Neil (who owns the boat) played the same music when he went through in nineteen-seventy-mumble, in a (hired) Dawncraft from Ladyline, with the outboard running all the way through! The tug steerer was conscious that time was passing - apparently the time allowed to complete the passage is just over two hours - anything over two-and-a-half without a conformation of safe arrival results in the bee-baa's being summoned! We took our time past a couple of areas - there are some delicate calcite deposits which you mustn't touch with your boat under any circumstances whatsoever - to do so is regarded as as big a sin as kissing the Queen! There is also a section which was re-lined comparatively recently and which now looks like an underground tunnel! It's a shame that while they were at it, they didn't do something about the last, low, 300 yard section to the Parkhead portal. Perhaps BW doesn't WANT us to use the tunnel? We were pleasantly surprised as to how low the tunnel wasn't - more experienced hands than me said that Harecastle is only about 3" higher in places - I suppose it's the combination of low height AND restricted width that makes it such a challenge. On arrival at Parkhead, we found the gauge there to be at least 2" higher than the one at the Tipton end, so our advice is to approach from this direction - when inches mean ballast, a saving can be made! The bricks were cleared from the engine compartment (allowing it to be started, and a kettle boiled - a Diesel-electric kettle!) and I was IC Pump, to discharge the bins and swimming pool over the side. The gas locker was easy - pull the polythene out and let the green duckweed-infested water jet out into the darker canal through the vents! Once this was done, the gas bottles were re-installed, the bricks re-stacked in the front well and I took my leave as EARNEST set off for Oldbury Boat Services, to donate the paviors to them, rather than just dumping them somewhere. My thanks to Neil and the members of the TNC for allowing me to join them on a very rare voyage! Brian L Dominic NB Rumpus Web Sites: Rumpus: http://website.lineone.net/~nbrumpus/index.htm Golden Valley Light Railway: http://website.lineone.net/~gvlr/index.htm ---