26 replies to this topic

[Trojan]

As a Yorkshireman who visits the Dark Side fairly regularly - especially Irlam, I've often wondered why in the 30+ years I've visited the place I'd never seen a ship on the Ship Canal. I wondered if with the docks closing at Salford the canal was totally disused. But this afternoon I saw a ship entereing the lock at Irlam. I just wondered how much use the canal gets these days.

[D9000]

Not much, but it'll get used a lot more if Peel Holdings' Port Salford development happens as planned. I have been along the MSC on a Mersey ferry, incidentally, which was an interesting day out.

[Derwent]

When I lived in Warrington I saw ships on the canal on a regular basis, but it tended to be either very early morning or late at night. I think it was so it caused minimum disruption to traffic flow because the road bridges take about 20 mins to raise and lower.

[tonyXIII]

Not much, but it'll get used a lot more if Peel Holdings' Port Salford development happens as planned. I have been along the MSC on a Mersey ferry, incidentally, which was an interesting day out.

I took my wife on that cruise earlier this year (those Caribbean cruises are so common ). It was a great day out and she did enjoy it. I loved it, but I would, wouldn't I?

[Marauder]

When I lived in Warrington I saw ships on the canal on a regular basis, but it tended to be either very early morning or late at night. I think it was so it caused minimum disruption to traffic flow because the road bridges take about 20 mins to raise and lower.

Tides

[JohnM]

locks?

went on an MSC cruise fom Pomona Dock to Liverpool in...in...in...i forget now...but around 1955 when I was at primary school. Could be argued that the MSC made Manchester.

[1976PMJwires]

Ships on the ship canal, let me tell you Trojan - in and around Warrington they're a pain in the ass.

I hate fridays as I regularly get caught out by the swing bridges... With taking the bin lids to school, then working in and around Warrington I'm sick of the bloody bridges.....even the big cantelivar bridge has been down to one lane causing more traffic chaos.


Hope this helps, it's a pain in the ass.

[Saint Billinge]

They still run cruises from Liverpool to Salford Quays and very enjoyable. That said, there is quite a lot of debris floating on the canal at Salford Quays and a real eyesore.

[Leeds Wire]

Could be argued that the MSC made Manchester.

Wasn't it originally funded by merchants in Manchester who wanted to avoid the harbour taxes levied on ships coming up the Mersey? I may be wrong but its an interesting concept.

I was actually born just a couple of hundred metres from the MSC and the swing bridges were a part of everyday life. In the 1970s, before Warrington's boom time, if we were in the car around Stockton Heath and the bell sounded, our parents would head either east for the alternative Cantilever bridge or west for the Chester Road one. Yes it was probably a pain but not exactly an insurmountable problem. Today, even though there is far less activity on the canal, there is far more traffic and therefore more disruption in the surrounding area.

We always had to walk over the London Road bridge to get to Wilderspool, but I don't ever recall an "off" bridge ever making us late for the match!

[Saint Billinge]

Wasn't it originally funded by merchants in Manchester who wanted to avoid the harbour taxes levied on ships coming up the Mersey? I may be wrong but its an interesting concept.

I was actually born just a couple of hundred metres from the MSC and the swing bridges were a part of everyday life. In the 1970s, before Warrington's boom time, if we were in the car around Stockton Heath and the bell sounded, our parents would head either east for the alternative Cantilever bridge or west for the Chester Road one. Yes it was probably a pain but not exactly an insurmountable problem. Today, even though there is far less activity on the canal, there is far more traffic and therefore more disruption in the surrounding area.

We always had to walk over the London Road bridge to get to Wilderspool, but I don't ever recall an "off" bridge ever making us late for the match!

It was indeed built to avoid harbour tax.

Edited by Saint Billinge, 20 September 2012 - 05:41 PM.

[l'angelo mysterioso]

When I lived in Warrington I saw ships on the canal on a regular basis, but it tended to be either very early morning or late at night. I think it was so it caused minimum disruption to traffic flow because the road bridges take about 20 mins to raise and lower.

I worked at Irlam steelworks in the late 60s you used to get bulk carriers coming up the canal to the wworks, also quite a few roll on roll off truck ferries in salford docks

[JohnM]

I worked at Irlam steelworks in the late 60s you used to get bulk carriers coming up the canal to the wworks, also quite a few roll on roll off truck ferries in salford docks

daddy!! I wondered where you'd got to!!

[l'angelo mysterioso]

daddy!! I wondered where you'd got to!!

me and your mother were very young: young and foolish. I knew it was for the best when I abandoned you both.

[JohnM]

Well, I'm back... and I've come to claim my inheritance!

[l'angelo mysterioso]

Well, I'm back... and I've come to claim my inheritance!

ah that little matter

the roulette tables of the South of France can be cruel, but I've got some old Featherstone Programmes you can have.

[JohnM]

You mark my words, Seth Hardcastle, you mark my words. I'll be back, and when I am, just just ..well, just look out!!

[l'angelo mysterioso]

You mark my words, Seth Hardcastle, you mark my words. I'll be back, and when I am, just just ..well, just look out!!

be careful
I know people

working at Irlam steelworks gave me nightmares for years.

[Wolford6]

_{In the 1970's I went to the open day at a new chemical waste treatment works in Greater Manchester. The biggest operations at the plant were the neutralising of bulk acids and the separation/recovery of oil from bulk oil/water mixtures. Following filtration etc, the resultant waste water was pumped, under a historic arrangement, not to sewer but into the Ship Canal.}

[Bleep1673]

Ah this thread was almost written for me.

I Played Rugby for Irlam Hornets, and used to use the Irlam Ferry to a mates in Partington most weekends (does it still run?) on, appropriatly enough, Ferry Rd., Cadishead

My Gran used to live off Howard St, close to the Docks and I used to see the liners moored up at the bottom of the road whenever we went down there on a Saturday afternoon as a kid in the 60/70's, my cousin still works as a Loco driver for the MSC co (although what he actually shifts is a mystery these days

[Just Browny]

When I was doing my A-levels I worked at the Morrisons just over the swing bridge in Stockton Heath. It was not nice getting a bollocking and losing half an hour's pay just because the bridge went off just before you crossed.