The Canal System of England by H Gordon Thompson

A slim volume with an imposing sub title - The Growth and Present Conditions With Particular Reference to the Cheap Carriage of Goods. I suppose you have already guessed that it is not a modern volume with such a title. It smacks of Victorian ideals but it is Edwardian (just) having been written in 1902. As you might imagine from the subtitle it is not a "page-turner" and tends towards dryness but it holds some fascinating gems for the canal historian.

There is little readily available information on the author and this appears to be his only book, it is clearly a book that was not written for general consumption and it had a purpose; the improvement in the maintenance of canals (and river navigations although this isn't in the title). Why?: a clue is in the subtitle - "the economy stupid".

This is essentially an economics text with an academic pedigree. The author was a Cobden Medallist and Prizeman at the Victoria University and the book was published at the request of his medal sponsors - the Cobden Club. "Cobden" refers to the great free trade philanthropist and politician Richard Cobden who lived in Manchester. The Victoria University is nowadays known as the University of Manchester.

The title Victoria University still survives formally for the university and as recently as 2004 an Act of Parliament included that title and reference to a Cobden Chair in Economics. Indeed at one time the university's predecessor, Owens College was  housed in the former house of Richard Cobden in Quay Street.

It is revealing that Gordon Thompson made a dedication in the book; he conveys "the writer's sincere respect", to Sir John T Brunner who was Liberal MP for Northwich and  founder of Brunner Mond Company which became, many years later after mergers, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Brunner at the turn of the twentieth century was much involved with navigation on the River Weaver.

From that pedigree one might expect a book that has at its core free trade and you would be right. It also adopts an almost evangelical approach to the subject. Although its literary style is nowhere near the same, the attitude of the writer to his subject is similar to that adopted by Robert Aickmann nearly 50 years later. He is frustrated at the condition of English Canals as he finds them and thinks that this is intolerable, particularly when compared with our European neighbours who had modernised their systems for the benefit of trade (free trade). This isn't a balanced academic approach to the subject. He firmly sets his case out for canals not being owned by railways and uses all the data at his disposal to make his case.

Because the book was written when the Manchester Ship Canal was still a new navigation (completed only eight years before the book was written) that navigation shines out as an example of how goods can be cheaply transported by water for the benefit of all, although the writer does admit that ship canals are somewhat different from other navigations. Gordon Thompson does point out, amusingly, that had the original lock free (i.e. tidal) proposal been built connecting Manchester to the sea then the depth of the canal at Manchester would be such that "only the top of a ship's masts would be level with the ground". He also, naturally given the book's dedication, good words to say about the River Weaver stating that it was "one of the most up-to-date of English Canals". It had just been extensively updated and linked to the Manchester Ship Canal.

The book begins with the usual review of the history of canals, including the development of locks, but it rapidly moves on to their present condition and the growth of the railways. The meat of the book is where are the chapters discussing Structural Condition (or size), Changes in Level, Haulage, Administration and the Costs of Freight. These chapters are packed full of facts and figures, as one would expect of an economics tome. Some, for example the average distance between locks (1 lock every 1.37 miles), are relevant today but others are of more historical interest (cost of back-pumping - 1000 gallons pumped 100 ft costs £1). In common with academic publications of the time, it contains no illustrations, but it has a copious index and column annotations to help the reader navigate to sections of interest.

The chapter on haulage is packed with facts and figures including a discussion on the cost of steam tugs and steam carrying boats. There is also a short section on "oil or compressed gas" engines  - the shape of things to come, but the most unusual feature is the discussion of electric haulage via electric locomotives. Gordon Thompson reports on some experiments carried out by Siemens and Halske on the Finnow canal in Germany. His description, in the absence of diagrams, is quite difficult to follow but below is a diagram from what I presume is the relevant US Patent. At that time Siemens and Halske were working on electric trams, and even early trolley buses, so it would appear to be a natural progression for the company to look at other areas where electric power transmission could be used for transport.

From the US Patent (1900) by Siemens and Halske

Gordon Thompson also reports on another form of electric haulage, the Thwaite-Cawley where

"In this system an aerial railway is provided at an elevation of 9 ft. or 10 ft. above the towing path, supported by cast-iron or wooden posts placed at 30 ft. intervals. Along this elevated track run a number of four-wheeled electric motors, with two of the wheels on the upper and two on the lower surface of the rail, the axles being proportioned so as to regulate the pressure of the wheels upon the track. The tow-rope is attached to a link at the back of each motor.
Two rails are provided forming an "up " and a " down " line, so that when two barges are passing in opposite directions the one connected with the motor on the upper rail steers wide and its tow-rope passing clear over the first, no stoppage is necessary."

He also reports that electric haulage experiments were carried out on the River Lee using the system of  M Leond Gerard (sic). Leon Gerard, from Belgium, published on electric traction for canals and was later (1907) granted a US Patent for a device to make this possible.

From US Patent (1906) by Leon Gerard

If, over a century on, I could criticise the approach of the author, it is his lack of appreciation of the topography of England. Wide canals with standard large lock designs are suitable for the wide landscapes of the East of England (Aire & Calder) and the lowlands of the North West (Weaver and Manchester Ship Canal), but to contemplate such developments even in 1900 for canals crossing the Pennines and  reaching the heartlands of the Midlands was wishful thinking. These developments might have made a difference to the life of what at one time was called the "commercial canals". Imagine goods in the mid-twentieth century moving to Leeds from Goole and surrounding areas under electric power.

My nice quality first edition was not cheap for a small format book with only 73 pages (£16), but the quality of the binding and paper are first rate and the content was fascinating - a long review for a short book! In the style adopted at the time, I should have subtitled this review "Book Review including the Author's short Discourse on the History of Electric Traction for Canals"

Electrifying Waterways

Having recently read both Robert Aickman's The River Flows Uphill and David Bolton's Race Against Time, which deal with the early days of the Inland Waterways Association, I have been keeping my eye out for old copies of the IWA Bulletin. Both books draw heavily on Bulletins for their source material. Indeed the Aickman's book quotes liberally from them. At the recent Stoke Bruerne Gala Day I found a small collection of early Bulletins for sale and sought out the most interesting of them from the pile.

The most interesting Bulletin turned out also to be the oldest; number 57 from October 1958. It covered the likely impact of the Bowes report on the future of the inland waterways and included pictures and a report from the IWA Annual Dinner where Leslie Bowes, Robert Aickman and John Smith were among the speakers. I have seen these pictures reproduced elsewhere, notably in Waterways World. Nevertheless, the booklet is fascinating and no doubt I will develop more posts from it during the coming months.

However, the section that struck me as being the most noteworthy was a short article written by an engineer from Birmingham, Andrew Allison, on a scheme to electrify the waterways. The article definitely smacks of the "white heat of technology"; a phrase that was coined a few years later by Harold Wilson. It describes in some detail, but without economic justification, how electricity could be used to move "barges" along the canals. The author points out the Britain has The Grid which he describes as being ubiquitous and if it were used there would be no smoke. As he puts it "In the nuclear days to come we should be ashamed of every puff of smoke from oil fuel that fouls the countryside"!

The scheme describes how sections of canal could be served by overhead power lines transformed down from the 11 kV of the grid to just 380 V three-phase. Above the canal there would be two power lines and an earth (or ground) line, with the latter being the closest to the ground. All catenary or supporting wires would also be earthed. The drawing below from the article shows how Allison envisaged the system could be laid out. Power would be picked up by boats using either a shoe or roller sprung against the overhead line. Ten boats at a time could occupy any powered section.


Allison's sketches of a system for providing overhead electric power to canals

Safety was discussed. The motive power system and "driver" would be enclosed in a ironclad enclosure or cab ". The driver would be able to watch the operation of the power pick-up system in his mirror! There is talk of a "driver's seat" and the "bargee" using electricity for heating, cooking and pumping at 110 volts.  Electricity could also be used to rapidly pump water at locks using large (30 inch diameter) submersible pumps and electric controls - no mention of water supplies. I don't  think he was thinking of using back-pumping.

Allison also discusses how there would be a waterways Highway Code to prevent operational problems such as could occur when "barges" pass each other. He discusses how tunnels and bridges would be accommodated. There could be protection for the wires as they pass under bridges (see Fig. 3 above); maybe he had seen how small boys often misbehaved near canal bridges. However, with a minimum specified height of 7ft for an unloaded barge you can't help feeling that there would been lots of local problems associated with modernising what was then a 150 year-old system. Did he envisage two sets of wires under narrow bridges?

There had been, of course,  examples of electric power used on waterways before but not on the scale envisaged by Allison. Harecastle tunnel tug was, for example, was for many years powered using a system similar to a trolley bus or tram. But Allison is thinking on a grand scale. He estimates that electrifying 1,000 miles and modifying 400 pairs of narrow boats would have cost in 1958 around £18.6 million. He was certainly using "blue skies" thinking. However, I can't help concluding that although he had been discussing his ideas with BICC, the major cable manufacturer who had expressed interest, he probably hadn't seen many narrow boats operate on the narrow canals in Birmingham, or discussed his ideas with boat operators.  The editorial notes attached to the article pointed out that he wasn't the only one advocating this kind of approach. Letters advocating similar approaches had been sent to the Nottingham Evening Post and the Kidderminster Shuttle and were quoted by the Bulletin editor, Robert Aickman.

Maggie's view of this is that it would have made boating very lively!