AHC: Canals still widespread in the British Isles

Freizeit

Banned
This is a tricky one.

With a POD of 1700, your mission is to create a Britain where the canal system is not only still around, it's also the major form of goods transportation.

Bonus points if no apocalyptic events are involved, and even more points if Britain is still in the top ten global economies.
 
Not very tricky really, as some the major supermarkets have started using them again the last few years.
And of course the U.K. is in the G7.
 
I mean "widespread" as in "used more than railroads or motorways".

never going to happen...canals and waterways will still be used, but never on that grand a scale with that pod...unless the entirety of the islands sink into the ocean abit
 
I mean "widespread" as in "used more than railroads or motorways".

You could possibly have the UK have canals as the primary method of goods transportation but I don't think its compatible with the secondary objective of keeping the UK in the too ten workday economies. There are two sides to look at here: short distance transportation and Kong distance transportation. For short distance I'm not sure it actually is possible to have canals as the primary method, since they are slow, can't carry that much per vessel and Britain is too small for the canals to try to link absolutely everywhere up - it would be chaotic and probably devilishly expensive to have set up. That means you need to focus on making canals the top transportation method for long distance, and I think the only way you can do this is to massively screw the development of the rail industry - as in, to the point where it is effectively stillborn. I'm thinking but I can't see a Britain where there is essentially no railway system as being one where everywhere is properly industrialised and the economy is dominant.
 
For a start you need parliament to specify a minimum width for canals and locks at the start of the industrial revolution. As the canals weren't built by the goverment and parliament has never been shy about making people other than the treasury spend money, it would not be unreasonable for them to set the limet at allowing two ten foot wide barges to pass each other with a reasonable gap between them.
 
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