The Ketley Inclined Plane, Britain's first successful canal incline.
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- čas přidán 17. 04. 2020
- Andy Tidy continues his "Lockdown Legacy" series of Canal Hunter, this time examining the construction of the Ketley Inclined Plane. This structure was one of six boat inclines on the highly successful but short lived Shropshire Canal network of tub boat navigations, replacing the need for water hungry locks.
This episode includes a working model of the structure built entirely from scrap found in his shed!
Well worth sticking with, a good practical explanation of how inclined planes worked, the limitations and why extra power was needed at the top to circumvent the last stage of ascent. Well done!
Outstanding episode. I really loved this.
My grand daughter was less than impressed when she saw I had cannibalised her brio railway set to make it!
@@lifeat2.3milesanhour57 I must admit that I thought you had taken a bit of a liberty....
Another really interesting video- many thanks for keeping us entertained during the lockdown!
Just seen you’ve passed the 1000 subs milestone too - congratulations! 👍🏻
Top work Andy. Pretty cool really.. I
am liking this series in the lockdown videos so far.. I enjoy your model.. cheers!
I lost about 2 days during lockdown 1 when I started to make the model. My five year old grand daughter wasn't so pleased to see her train set being misused.....
Brilliant Andy! Great model and very informative, well done! 👍
Waaay too much time on my hands!.
That certainly helped the boredom , good content , thanks Andy :)
Nice job Andy, from a basic engineering point of view the model really helps your narrative👍👍👍
I think basic is the word.....
Saturday already!
Great video mate. These lost treasures are very interesting to learn about.
These Saturdays just keep coming!
fascinating piece on the Ketley inclined plane, particularly as I did a similar exercise on it last year, but not extending to a working model! The canal itself ran across the bottom of my garden, hence the interest. Though I have a broad interest in industrial history
My history of it was a 30 frame pdf showing the canal extent, plus the lock mechanism. (done on a 'then and now' format.
couple of details where we differ, you seem to suggest that the top lock utilised steam power to haul the last few feet. I couldn't see that.
I understood the steam engine was used only to pump water out of the top lock into the top canal.
Also I don't think you covered the action of the brakeman on the big brakewheel, which I think helps to understand how the downward momentum of the full boat was controlled. The brakeman is shown on the token.
Like you I had to take all my info from the token, so I could be wrong on my thinking on some of the details on how it worked.
If you are interested I'd like your take on my Ketley Canal history, email me as below and I'll send you the pdf.
norpag11 (at) gmail (dot) com
Hi Norman - Its a fascinating subject and so little evidence to go on. Another viewer had some thoughts about the brake mechanism which he believed was automatically "on" unless released for safety's sake, acting in the central drum.. The need for steam power was an issue at most inclines for motive power it seems, and even at Ironbridge they needed steam where they used a "boat over the bank" approach rather than through a lock. Again at Foxton they needed some steam power where there was no water pump - which is how I drew my conclusion. One feature I would love to know about the ketley incline is if they used the supplementary wheels and track which we see in the photos at Foxton and Trench so the angle of ascent tapered off at the top to counteract the buoyancy issue. I would love to see your thoughts - andrew.tidy@sky.com
Ketley parish council had a model of the Ketley inclined plane .Fearing for its safety long term we donated it to the Ironbridge George Museum.
I should have some photos of it ,discoverable when lockdown is over.
Hi Andy,
Excellent use for the Brio track! The engraving on the token of the winch detail shows the brakeman, via various levers operating levers which include that small round thing which is probably a weight. There may have been a metal band anchored to the bottom of the winch drum and attached to the brake lever adjacent to the lever/weight arrangement. The default on this would be that the brake is always on, and can only be in the 'brake off' position when the operator depresses the lever This is how the brake operates on a minesweeping winch works (but on a m/s winch it is a tad more complicated.)
The brakeman would have had to keep the pressure on this lever for a fair amount of time, so a method of holding it in the on position such as a pawl or a 'screw down' mechanism on the brake drum may have been used. This would have its own problems though as the operator would have to be extremely focused on what he was doing to avoid a runaway.
I hope this explanation of what may have happened is useful, and, once again thank you for your efforts. Certainly brightens up my Saturday mornings!
Thats a really helpful observation Harry - there seem to be several levers and its interesting to consider how they may have worked.
Hi Andy, a really interesting model and video.
I hope I'm not intruding, but are you aware of the model of the top end of the Tetley Incline displayed at the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron (Darby's Blast Furnace)? The model was built in 2003 for William Reynolds Bicentenary.
To help others get some idea of what the top end looked like, I'll add some links to two photos of this model. The steam engine house at the Incline top was not modelled.
The top end - flic.kr/p/2j9vNNZ
Looking up the incline with a tub boat in the cradle - flic.kr/p/2j9zNqF
Blists Hill Heritage Village also has a tub boat displayed. I'm not sure if you know about it, A link to a photo can be provided if required.
Well done from someone who is modelling a totally different type of incline.
Would you mind sharing a step by step or just the measurements so that I can re create this with my youth group please?
I meant to reply to this ages ago - sorry. I put a bit more info into my blog several years ago: captainahabswaterytales.blogspot.com/2012/03/shropshire-canal-ketley.html
i live near the site of the incline, there is a bricked tunnel there, also a sharp drop which is strewn with old bricks, the bottom leads to a small pool,my guess this is where the incline was?
Hi Daz, from what I have learned it started by the Rens nest pub car park then through Woodside close, through the bottom of the incline then down the dip from the small park next to ketley hall then past and up the hill to the pond that we know of. Also the lanes at the back of the infants school are also part of it all. It all links up through trench to donnington down to the blast fernaces. Quite cool tbf.
the incline at trench and wrockwardine wood and the hay worked without lock gates your model is totally wrong
I appreciate that they worked over a hump as did the one at Hay - its the first one I am intersted in.