Difficult lock gates

MANY lock gates, particularly on the Trent & Mersey Canal, are extremely difficult to move, being wrongly installed, and it is a matter of some urgency that they are rectified before more people find cruising too much like hard work, and give it up.

I took this photo of the bottom gates of Woodend Lock on the Trent & Mersey just a couple of days ago, writes Ralph Freeman.

Just look at the angle of the balance beams with the gates open. Shouldn't they be roughly horizontal as they are when the gates are closed?

Must be the gates

In case anyone suggests it's distortion in the camera lens, look at the beam in the bridge behind, perfectly horizontal! Also the lock sides and the vertical walls of the bridge are plumb, so it must be the gates.

I reckon the quoins were installed to ensure the gates met properly in the middle, instead of being installed vertical in both axes. That's why all these gates that were replaced in the few years after 2003 were rubbish.