British canal modernisation?

[Riain]

As an Australian on holiday in Ireland and the UK I'm amazed and obsessed by the canal systems.

The British system was never modernised like those on the Continent, so while some systems can handle 14' wide and 72' long barges many or even most can only handle 7' wide boats and there are plenty that can only handle 56' long barges.

Apparently the last canals that were used commercially in Britain were the 14' x 72', so what is the potential for modernising the British canal system so that it stays commercially viable for longer? Would it be best to get rid of the worst bottlenecks, or to expand those systems that can already handle the big barges, or perhaps further expand the already big systems to handle even bigger boats?

 

[Some Bloke]

Interesting question, but I don't have a clue.

 

[Milo]

Probably need to delay the Steam Engine

 

[Riain]

Probably need to delay the Steam Engine

Why? Canals are used in Europe and the US, but they're big barges not the equivalent of 1 railway wagon.

 

[Riain]

The railways beat canals not only by having a good service but also buying canals and deliberately neglecting them. At about the same time or a touch later the railways drove the coastal shipping trade to the wall, again with a good service but with huge market capitalization compared to the coastal shipping lines.

What if the UK government legislated against such monopolistic behaviour and encouraged the canal owners, canal-boat owners and coastal shipping companies to amalgamate or at least cooperate?

 

[Analytical Engine]

It was road traffic that did for canals in the end, not trains, though.

 

[Masked Grizzly]

Is it known whether there were any plans to further expand and link up the existing British canals or perhaps even build new ones (e.g. Eurasia Canal, Kanal Istanbul, etc)?

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Canals, in general, are very marginal economically. Sure, there's a few like the intercoastal waterway that carry a lot of freight, and there are specific times e.g. the Erie is used to transport oversized items that won't fit on roads or trains.
But most canals, including the Erie, iirc, are kept in operation by subsidies and leisure users. I find it difficult to believe that much of the British system could be made to pay for itself.

 

[Pesterfield]

Maybe tie it to civil defense, another option beyond road and rail means something else the enemy has to spend resources trying to knock out.

 

[Riain]

From what I can tell canal companies did buy others and gradually amalgamate navigation systems, but unlike railways didn't appear to run their own craft on their systems so perhaps this is the problem.

It was road traffic that did for canals in the end, not trains, though.

True, but it was the bigger canals that held on the longest. My guess is more big canals means more success.

Is it known whether there were any plans to further expand and link up the existing British canals or perhaps even build new ones (e.g. Eurasia Canal, Kanal Istanbul, etc)?

Yes, some as late as 1943 when there was still commercial traffic to justify it. Current proposals are for the leisure market, although the Canal Trust is looking a niche routes to encourge commercial traffic back on the water.

Canals, in general, are very marginal economically. Sure, there's a few like the intercoastal waterway that carry a lot of freight, and there are specific times e.g. the Erie is used to transport oversized items that won't fit on roads or trains.
But most canals, including the Erie, iirc, are kept in operation by subsidies and leisure users. I find it difficult to believe that much of the British system could be made to pay for itself.

I saw a barge in Cologne the other day and it might have had 40-50 shipping containers on it, this is plenty viable but Britain won't get to this level. I'm thinking something much more modest.

Maybe tie it to civil defense, another option beyond road and rail means something else the enemy has to spend resources trying to knock out.

If in WW1 Germany won the Race to the Sea and closed the Channel to through shipping the canals that the railways have neglected might have to be put back to work.

 

[Masked Grizzly]

Yes, some as late as 1943 when there was still commercial traffic to justify it. Current proposals are for the leisure market, although the Canal Trust is looking a niche routes to encourge commercial traffic back on the water.

Would be interesting to a realized version of the London to Portsmouth canal, followed by an earlier version of the Grand Contour Canal with any additional expansion of the former (possibly including a straightening of the Thames) as part of a competitive showing by the British in the Second Industrial Revolution between 1870 and 1914.

 

[Riain]

Would be interesting to a realized version of the London to Portsmouth canal, followed by an earlier version of the Grand Contour Canal with any additional expansion of the former (possibly including a straightening of the Thames) as part of a competitive showing by the British in the Second Industrial Revolution between 1870 and 1914.

I agree, and once these spines are built then strategic upgrading of the canals that branch into them could be undertaken in the knowledge that the spine can handle the load.

 

[Masked Grizzly]

I agree, and once these spines are built then strategic upgrading of the canals that branch into them could be undertaken in the knowledge that the spine can handle the load.

Indeed

Found one image of one of the Grand Contour Canal proposals dating from 1942 (along with a more recent proposal), cannot seem to find any maps of the London to Portsmouth canal though did discover the following link on OTL UK Waterways that were never built.

 

[Riain]

Found one image of one of the Grand Contour Canal proposals dating from 1942 (along with a more recent proposal), cannot seem to find any maps of the London to Portsmouth canal though did discover the following link on OTL UK Waterways that were never built.

Nice, that'd probably do it.

Its a long way from sitting at a pub watching a swing bridge open and close for holidaymakers to take their narrowboats through.

 

[Masked Grizzly]

It does give a rough idea of how the British canal system could have been further expanded and modernized

 

[Riain]

It does give a rough idea of how the British canal system could have been further expanded and modernized

So if the contour canal was built what happens to the old canals? Do they get strategically upgraded, or does the contour canal kill them even faster because it is so efficient in comparison?

 

[Masked Grizzly]

So if the contour canal was built what happens to the old canals? Do they get strategically upgraded, or does the contour canal kill them even faster because it is so efficient in comparison?

Not sure. Perhaps the others get strategically upgraded or new ones are built as a result of an earlier Grand Contour Canal getting built, curiously an ATL Grand Southern Canal could have also potentially linked up with the London to Portsmouth Canal from the Medway across the Sussex weald to the Arun, Chichester and to Portsmouth as well as the Medway to Thames Canal. Another interesting proposal was the London & Cambridge Junction Canal, which was planned to link Bishops Stortford with Cambridge with even an extension up to Brandon Creek.

It seems there were many additional OTL proposals mentioned in Charles Hadfield's Canals of the British Isles series appendices.

 

[Riain]

My guess is that there's a minimum barge size that is viable, I saw some today in Berlin that were bigger than the British 14' but not nearly the massive shipping container size. Perhaps with some of these big strategic canals being built before 1900 some on the really small ones that join it could be seriously upgraded; bigger than the 14'x72' perhaps 20'x100' or something like that.

This will never be viable.

 

[Jürgen]

I think a major problem is the fact that Germany are mostly inland, while UK have a massive coastline with most city either having access to the sea or being relative close to cities with access to the sea. Fundamental a canals in UK will always be worse business than in Germany. It’s also why Denmark have few canals and no commercial one left. The sea serve the same purpose instead.

 

[Riain]

I think a major problem is the fact that Germany are mostly inland, while UK have a massive coastline with most city either having access to the sea or being relative close to cities with access to the sea. Fundamental a canals in UK will always be worse business than in Germany. It’s also why Denmark have few canals and no commercial one left. The sea serve the same purpose instead.

The coastal shipping sector did provide much of the domestic transport for Britain, apparently no part of Britain is more than 100 miles from the coast. However that sector died between the world wars whereas bigger canals seemed to linger on until after ww2 and the bigger ones until the 70s even.