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Canal Haulage - By: Horse, Steam, Chain and Wire-rope, Oil and gas engines, - Electric haulage; recent experiments

This is Chapter 8 from 'The Canal System of England'

Its growth and present condition, with particular reference to the cheap carriage of goods - 1904 - by H. Gordon Thompson

Horse-haulage

The old method of horse-haulage is still in use on most of the English Canals, and indeed it is the only one which can be used on many of our waterways. The state of disrepair into which the banks have fallen, the want of dredging and consequent shallowness of the water, the small dimensions of locks and of the canals themselves, all combine to forbid the use of steam, except upon those routes that have not these disadvantages.

Steam-haulage

The economy of steam haulage, where it is possible, is beyond dispute, but to the actual cost by steamer must also be added an amount for the depreciation and injury done to the banks of the canal. Mr. Clegram, of the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, found that after allowing 15% for interest and depreciation, the cost of steam haulage amounted to .091d. per ton per mile, being a saving of over 60% as compared with horse power.

With a heavier trade, however, allowing the barges to be more generally employed, the work was done for '063d. per ton per mile.* (* Jeans Waterways and Water Transport)

The average cost of horse-haulage is 0.33d. per ton per mile.

Assuming that 100 tons are to be transported 100 miles the total cost of haulage would be £13-15s.

Whereas by steam haulage at the rate ruling on the Aire and Calder the cost would be £1 - 5s. A difference per trip of £12-10s.

From this, must be deducted the small amount for the excess of deterioration of property due to the use of steam, and the net saving would allow for a decrease in toll, and a substantial profit.

Mr. Alderman Bailey, of Salford, estimated the cost of working a steamer for twenty-four hours and towing two barges fully loaded on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal ; his figures are as follows :

Cost of Steamer - Wages, Captain 4s./8d. - Wages, Mate 4s./8d. - Two ordinary hands 8s/-

Gas coke for engines, 24 cwt. @ 6s/8d per ton 8/-

Tallow, 2 lbs. @ 5d = 10d

Oil, 2 qts. @ 10d = 1/8

Stores, waste and lights 1/-

£1/8/10d

Cost of two Barges - Wages, two Captains at 4/4d = 8/8d - do. two ordinary hands 8/-

5% Interest and 10% Depreciation on 1st cost of Steamer and Barges , (£1000) for 1 day 8/3d

15% of Steamer and Barges for repairs per day 8/3d

£1/13/2d

The average distance covered (including locks) in twenty-four hours was 40 miles. The weight carried was :

By the Steamer 35 tons. By the two Barges, each 40 tons = 80 tons

Total 115 - This brings the cost to about 0.165d. per ton per mile.

The Aire and Calder Navigation, a unique system was introduced, many years ago, for the carriage of coal. This consisted in a train of boats or floating tanks, each of 40 tons capacity, and the whole hauled by a steam tug.

The cost was given before the Select Committee on Canals in 1883 as 0.0087d. per ton per mile.

This system has been eminently successful, and a great increase in the coal traffic on the canal has been the result.

Steam v. Horse Haulage

It has also been shown that on a movement of 4,000,000 tons of merchandise by cargo-carrying-tugs, the cost was 0'03d. per ton per mile. Horse-haulage on the same route costs 0.14d. per ton per mile, nearly five times as much, and on the smaller section of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, on which boats are taken from the Aire and Calder, horse-haulage is at 0.33d. per ton per mile, or nearly ten times as much as steam-haulage, and more than twice as much as horse-haulage on the larger canal.

That steam haulage is more economical than horse haulage cannot be doubted, and Mr. Peake, of Walsall, speaking at the Conference on Inland Navigation of 1895, said that he had been sending coal by canal since about 1860 between Cannock Chase and Birmingham, a distance of about 20 miles. The canal over which the coal was borne, owned by the London and North-Western Railway Company, had not been improved for fifty years. There were the same small locks, necessitating the use of narrow barges, the same series of locks, and the same heavy expenditure. He (Mr. Peake) had tried to work a steam tug on the Birmingham Canal from Walsall Wood to Wolverhampton, a length of 16 miles. The haulage cost 8d. per ton with horses, but the steam tug was worked for some twelve to eighteen months at a cost of about 4d. per ton. He believed that although public opinion was not yet ripe for steam haulage, a steam tug could be built for £250, which would draw five barges each containing 150 tons of coal, at a speed, regulated in a narrow canal by the wash of the boats, of 2.5 to 2.66 miles per hour.

Chain and Wire-rope Haulage

Other methods of haulage besides horse and steam are in use. The chain and wire rope systems used on the Continent have met with little success on English Canals, no doubt owing to peculiar local circumstances. The wire rope was tried on the Bridgewater Canal, but could not be properly adapted on account of the large number of bends and turns, and the difficulty of working the traffic in opposite directions.

Oil and gas engines

Another system of haulage makes use of motors in the shape of oil or compressed gas engines the advantage over steam being that less room is required for machinery, and thus more is available for goods.

Electric haulage - recent experiments

Messrs. Siemens and Halske, of Berlin, have recently been making some experiments on behalf of the Prussian Government on the subject of boat traction by means of electric locomotives. The scene of operations, says "Engineering," was a short length of the Finow Canal, which forms a portion of the waterway between Berlin and Stettin, and is traversed every year by about 25,000 to 26,000 boats each way. The craft used are in the main tow barges, about 132 ft. long by 15 ft. 6 in. beam, carrying about 150 to 175 tons. There are also a few steam barges employed which carry about 150 tons and can tow a second barge. The traffic to Berlin is much heavier than towards Stettin, and as a consequence three-quarters of the barges return light from the metropolis. Traction is generally effected by horses, there being a tow-path on each bank, but on the down journey man traction is not infrequently relied on. In any case the speed is slow, and, including stops, does not average more than about 1.25 miles per hour.

The section of canal chosen for the experiments above referred to, was selected owing to the physical difficulties presented by several reverse curves, in one case of but 328 ft. radius the waterway at this point being spanned by a railway bridge.

The line laid down for the towing engine was 1 metre (3.28 ft.) gauge. The rails, which were of the flange type, were laid partly on sleepers, ballasted with gravel, and in part on blocks of concrete, weighing 220 lbs. each in the case of the heavier principal rail, and half this for the other rail. This arrangement cost £50 to £80 more per mile than the arrangement with sleepers, but proved less expensive to maintain. A steel rack, bolted to the web of this principal rail, provided the resistance necessary for haulage, the weight of the locomotive used being insufficient to give this by adhesion.

Though no wharf actually existed on the length of canal used for experiment, the arrangements necessary, had such wharf existed, were fully tested. At one point the line was raised to a height of 9 ft. 6 in. above the level of the towpath, being carried on posts and brackets ; this elevated portion being connected with the level line on each side of it by gradients of 1 in 8.5. The carrying posts were 12 in. in diameter, and were spaced at 18 ft. 8 in. centres. A cap piece 8 in. by 10 in. in section spanned the gap between consecutive posts. The principal rail was laid directly on this cap piece, whilst the other was carried by a stringer, supported at each post on brackets.

The conductor for the current was supported on pine posts, 23 ft. long, spaced at 35 to 44 yards apart. It consisted of 8-millimetre wire, carried by porcelain insulators. The potential used was 500 volts and the principal rail served as conductor for the return current. The source of power was a 15-horse-power portable engine, driving a 9-kilowatt dynamo, and a large storage battery was also provided. The extreme dimensions of the towing locomotive were 6 ft. 10 in. in length by 4ft. 10 in. wide. It was mounted on four wheels, spaced at 3 ft. 6 in. centres. The total weight of the locomotive was two tons; but the motor was so placed that only one-fifth of this total came on the accessory rail. The latter, however, had to take the vertical component of the tension of the tow-rope. The motor provided was much more powerful than necessary for the work in hand, as it was capable of working up to 14 to 15 horse-power.

Since, however, these experiments were merely preliminary ones intended to test the possibilities of electric traction for large barges, this excess power was supplied intentionally, and the requisite resistance to call forth the full powers of the motor was in some of the experiments provided by rafts.

The report drawn up as the result of these experiments showed the system to be "capable of meeting all needs, and of working, with safety and economy."

Somewhat similar experiments are being made on the Lee Navigation, a canal about 41 miles in length, running from Hertford through Tottenham, Enfield, and numerous other districts to the Thames.

Mr. Chas. Tween, the Engineer of the Lee Conservancy, is actively interesting himself in the matter, and has kindly supplied the author with particulars. The experiments are to be conducted on M. Leond Gerard's system an electric motor running along a track on the towing path and supplied with current from overhead wires, on the trolley system. One man is required to drive the motor, and the barge which is merely connected by a towrope with the motor would have the usual two hands aboard. The estimated cost of haulage ranges from 9.5d. to 12d. per barge mile and the speed would be from 2.5 to 3 miles per hour.

Should it facilitate navigation and cheapen transport to the extent anticipated, this system will doubtless be introduced on most of the canals of this country, as the aggregate saving on the volume of canal traffic would be very large.

The Thwaite-Cawley is another form of electric haulage. 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.

No driver is required for the locomotive is controlled entirely from the barge and the power is supplied from one or more generating stations at suitable points on or near the canal.

Further, as canal traffic with electric haulage can be carried on both by night and day, the average speed per day can be greatly increased, while the generating and distributing plant are constantly in use.

Statistics have been prepared showing the cost of haulage (i.) by horses, (ii.) by electric locomotives at the same running speed as with horses, and (iii.) by electric locomotives at a higher speed (four miles per hour).

A length of 30 miles of level canal has been taken with an annual traffic of 100,000 tons per mile. The details of the estimates cannot be given in this paper, but the results in brief, are as follows:

Cost per Ton per mile / Time occupied in Transit

Haulage with horses at 2.5 miles per hour 0.077d / 15 hours.

Electric Haulage at 2.5 miles per hour 0.032d / 12 hours

Electric Haulage at 4 mph 0.041d / 7.5 hours

If the figures given are anything like correct for regular working, then the electric is undoubtedly the haulage of the future. For the present, the adoption of steam haulage is slowly on the increase, especially by those Canal Companies which are most enterprising, and which are consequently carrying the most traffic.

Speed on canals

The greatest drawback to Inland Navigation is the slow rate of speed at which goods can be carried. The speed of boats on canals is regulated by several conditions, such as the sectional area of the canal, radius of curve, changes of level, etc. and thus even where locks and other obstructions are absent, a greater speed than 4.5 to 5 miles per hour is impossible without great damage being done to the banks. Hence the dimensions of the canal are of the first importance, since they not only fix the size of the boats, but also to a very great extent regulate the speed and economy with which they may be navigated.

Dimensions and speed

The number of locks naturally forms a most important factor in determining the speed at which a boat will traverse a given distance. It has been estimated that on the English canal system there is one lock to every 1.37 miles of waterway, and that a delay of at least six minutes is incurred at each change of level.* (*Report of Select Committee on Canals, 1883.) All these small losses of time reduce the total speed, and it is on the claim of quicker delivery that the chief advantage of the railway over the canal rests, a claim which we propose to consider for a short space.

Between Gloucester and Birmingham the goods dispatched by river and canal are delivered as expeditiously as those sent by railway,* (Minutes of proceedings of the Inst. of Civil Engineers. Vol. ixxvi. p. 171.) Sir James Allport, in his evidence before the Select Committee of 1883, said that the railway engine would do in an hour, what would occupy a day on a canal. This may be quite true without the speed of delivery being greater, for railways as a whole cater in the first place for passengers, and goods are shunted, delayed, and given a secondary place to the passenger traffic.

Canals have no such causes for delay, and thus we find that Mr. F. Morton, representing the firm of Messrs. Fellows, Morton & Co., Railway and Canal Carriers, before the same Committee, declared that in conveying limestone from the Froghall Quarries, and ironstone from North Staffordshire to the Blast Furnaces in South Staffordshire, railway wagons and canal boats averaged about the same time, viz. : from seven to eight days.* ( * Report of Select Committee on Canals, 1883. Q. 1620 - 1622.)

Of course on such a railway as the Taff Vale, which caters primarily for carriage of mineral goods, and secondarily for passengers, the transit of goods is very expeditious, but this case is the exception and not the rule, and the rate of transit on Hallways and Canals alike, rests very much with the administration of the owners; and the administration of the canals of England is very largely responsible for the comparatively small amount of traffic on our waterways.

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