I have updated many of the restoration pages again today, with new pictures from Stalybridge, Saddleworth, Slaithwaite and Colne Valley.

The URL to take you directly to the menu for the restoration pages is: http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest
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Last week, I reported how the new bridge at Wool Road, Dobcross, Saddleworth, was open to traffic. This week, the news is that the first half of the bridge in Mottram Road, Stalybridge is finished, has had a road surface laid, and will be open to traffic any time now. This will not mean an end to the traffic delays caused by the single line traffic in each direction, as the other side of the road will then be closed, enabling the rest of the bridge to be constructed.

I have some new pictures of the Wool Road work. The bridge there may be open, but there are still some minor jobs to be done. The towpath now has a stone edging and has been surfaced. A path has been made linking the towpath to roadway level between the two bridges. Steps are being constructed running down from the tail of Lock 24W to the towpath under the old bridge. Lock 24 looks very smart with some gleaming new stonework, but is waiting for its new gates to arrive.

Work started last week at Wade Lock, High Street, Uppermill, half a mile to the south, where traffic is now controlled by signals. I have a new picture from here showing a small hole in the road where they are getting ready to divert pipes.

I have been invited to come and take close up pictures of the work on the Royal George / Division Bridge Aqueduct, near the Saddleworth/Mossley border, and these should appear on the web in a few days time.
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In Armentieres Square, Stalybridge, the construction of the new Lock 6W continues. New this week is the construction of a curving concrete wall, below which a ramp will curve down to the towpath below the new bridge downstream of the lock. On the opposite side of Trinity Street, the wide channel where mooring space will be available is taking on a definite shape with curved sections of wash wall having been made where the channel narrows down under a new bridge.
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On the other side of the Pennines work on the various bridges continues at a rapid pace. Golcar Aqueduct appears to be not too far from being ready. I have new pictures from each of these locations and from Slaithwaite, where a large area of the former car park has been dug down to the canal bed level.
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I have had some positive feedback from the first email letter, which was sent out last week, and I would like to welcome new subscribers. I am looking into the possibility of adding a bulletin board and/or guest book. There are several free ones available that are very easy to run. A bulletin board would enable visitors to communicate with one another discussing whatever topics they see fit. I wonder whether enough people would be interested to make this worthwhile? A guest book would enable people to write comments which would be seen by other visitors. I would welcome comments on these ideas.

I have been asked again if I can provide detailed maps of the canals, and especially the restoration work. This is on the "to do" list, but must await a period when I have some time to spare. Maintaining the restoration updates is very time consuming at the moment and usually takes me all day Saturday to photograph, process and upload the pictures and to alter the web pages. This was made worse today because the internet was on a go-slow and I could not get the new pages uploaded until 9 p.m. I hope nobody was on the edge of their seat waiting!
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Pictures of all the locations where restoration work is taking place can be found via...
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest

You may be interested to visit my new search engine collection at...
http://www.searchbox.co.uk

Thank you for subscribing - I hope these newsletters will be useful to you.

I am sending this now, rather than waiting until the weekend, to let you know that I have made a new page to deal with work which has recently started at the western end of the Stalybridge blockage.

The Castle Hall Leisure Centre, previously known as Stalybridge Indoor Sports (SIDS) is now being demolished to clear the line of the canal. Only the rear of the building was over the canal line, but the owner preferred to sell the building to the council rather than have major alterations made. Whilst this is regrettable from the point of view that Stalybridge has lost a useful facility, from a canal enthusiasts point of view, it is good news, as it means that Lock 5W can be re-constructed in its original location. The local newspapers report that alternative sports facilities may be built at nearby West Hill School.

I have put two photographs of the demolition site onto the new page, in one of which part of the remains of the original stonework of Lock 5 are visible.

Preparations have begun to dig out the site of Lock 4W, alongside Caroline Street.
These photographs can be seen at -
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/huddersfield/hnc53c.htm

Photographs of the area before restoration work began can be seen at:
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/huddersfield/hnc7.htm
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I have now taken close up pictures of the work on the Royal George / Division Bridge Aqueduct, near the Saddleworth/Mossley border, which can be seen at -
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/huddersfield/hnc52c.htm
Further pictures will be added to this page this evening, plus a new photo of Wade Lock, Uppermill.
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I hope you received Newsletter No. 2 last Saturday: I had to send them out individually, as the internet was on a go-slow and ListBot's server didn't seem to be working. If this happens often I will look for another source of supplying the mail-outs.
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I have been told that there was a glitch on the website on Monday, where the "latest" link led to the wrong page, which then didn't work. The fault is corrected now and I apologise if it caused anybody any difficulty. I appreciate al feedback about hiccups with the website. When the pages are changed every week, there is plenty of scope for mistakes being made!

Some interesting photographs have just been uploaded to the Huddersfield Canal restoration section of Pennine Waterways.
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest
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I am fortunate to have been allowed access to the work site in Stalybridge so there are now a number of photographs from new angles, including canal-level views and the inside of the new lock chamber in Armentieres Square.

Lock 4W is being uncovered (and demolished) but part of the north side of the lock can be seen. The photograph shows how the neighbouring petrol station extends across part of the lock. A new lock is to be built alongside at a slightly different angle.

Some of you may be wondering what the "W" means in Lock 4W. The locks on the west side of the Pennines are numbered from Ashton, and have the suffix "W". Locks on the east of the Pennines are numbered from Huddersfield and are labeled "E".

There are new photos giving closer looks at Lock 5W and Lock 7W. Remembering how Lock 5 was surrounded closely by buildings, it is almost a miracle that it is still there. Yet only one corner of it has gone. The ground to the north of the lock was excavated when the Sports Hall was built, with the back of the lock chamber wall being exposed and supported by buttresses. Stone from Lock 4 will be used to re-instate Lock 5.

Lock 7 is to be moved slightly away from Mottram Road. Around two thirds of the original chamber will be retained while a new eastward extension is to be constructed of concrete. This could produce an odd-looking lock. Nearby, the surrounds of the portal of Mottram Road bridge are being clad with stone. Traffic has now been diverted over the new bridge section and work will start soon to dig out the old bridge and replace it with further concrete box culvert sections.
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In Saddleworth, parts of Lock 21W at High Street, Uppermill, are coming to light. Lock 24W at Dobcross is just about finished and is looking really smart. The new section of canal between the bridges at Wool Road, Dobcross shows how attractive new stretches of canal can look, even when they are constructed from concrete slabs.

In Slaithwaite, some of the concrete box-culvert sections are in place at Britannia Road, and a wide section of canal is being constructed alongside Carr Lane. This will allow boats to moor in the village centre.

In Huddersfield, the roof has gone on to part of the tunnel under Sellers Engineering. There are two photographs showing the view inside.

I also have photos of the empty channels of Old Sag and Royal George (Division Bridge) aqueducts, Saddleworth.
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I am sorry for a few hiccups last week. I was unable to send the newsletter out as planned, as the connections to ListBot's server were too slow. I emailed last weekend's newsletter individually, but tried to send out an extra bulletin. This did not manage to go until Friday and I believe it may have arrived twice. Listbot then sent out tests after I had complained about the service. Hopefully, you will only get this letter once.

There was also a problem with the "/latest" address. When I alter quite a few pages each week it is quite easy to make mistakes and I am very grateful to people who take the trouble to point these out to me.

The big news on the Huddersfield Canal restoration front this week concerns a rather gruesome find in Stalybridge!

Work in the Back Melbourne Street area stopped dramatically on 20th March when excavation work for drainage pipes to the left of the bridge brought two skulls and other human remains to light.

The bones were found to be very old - probably over 100 years - and were probably from a burial ground which ran along the back of Melbourne Street between Bethel Chapel on Grosvenor Street and the canal. When the canal was filled in and the area redeveloped, most of the remains were exhumed and taken to Dukinfield Cemetery and the burial ground turned into a car park.

The police sealed off the area and interviewed workers. The remains were taken to Tameside Mortuary for examination. They were soon found to be very old and not the product of some recent crime. The Home Office has now given Dew Construction the go-ahead to continue work on the drainage channels.

The bones had been found ten feet below the surface and had probably been missed when the rest of the remains had been exhumed when the burial ground was closed.
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Of interest in Stalybridge this week are the photos of Lock 6W in Armentieres Square, where the concrete head section has been built, and the site for the new Lock 4W, where stone from the original lock chamber have been removed to be re-used at Lock 5W.

At Uppermill in Saddleworth, the upstream part of the chamber of Lock 24W has been excavated, as has part of the adjacent bridge under High Street. The contractors are hoping that they will be able to carry out the work without having to close the road here, as there is no easy alternative route. If the original bridge can be restored, this will be the preferred option, although it has no towpath.

In Slaithwaite, preparations are being made to begin constructing the new Lock 21E at Platt Lane. There are also new pictures of the box culvert construction at Britannia Road and the mooring area at Carr Lane.

Much progress is visible at the various sites along the Colne Valley in the two weeks since I last visited them. Work on Golcar Aqueduct looks to be almost complete. I have a new long-range view of the Sellers Engineering site in Huddersfield, where the line of the completed tunnel can be seen crossing the yard. This part of the cut-and-cover culvert tunnel has had its roof put in place and is being covered over.

As April starts, it is worth being reminded that the Huddersfield Narrow Canal is due to be officially re-opened in just a year's time, on April 4th, 2001. This particular date was chosen as it was the date of the canal's original opening in 1811.

I have added more than 30 new photographs this weekend, which, I am happy to notice, were taken before the weather broke and rain moved in.

When I set off with my camera to take photos for the update pages, I think to myself that there won't be much new since the previous week, but I am constantly surprised by exactly how much can change in seven days.

On Friday afternoon I popped down to Stalybridge, not really expecting to find anything of interest - all the skeletons found last week having been removed. I noticed that the site of the Stalybridge Indoor Sports Centre was now completely empty - in fact, part of it is now a car park - and Lock 5W could be clearly seen at the back of the site.

It could be seen clearly, as it was built above ground level. And after something like 30 years, the chamber of the lock is seeing the light of day again, as the in-fill has been removed. A very nice man from Tameside Council escorted me onto the site to take photographs. I have two new photographs of the chamber of this lock on the Stalybridge pages of Pennine Waterways.
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Also this week I have added new photos of the finished section of cut- and-cover tunnel at Sellers, Huddersfield, and the excavation for the new Lock 2E at Bates, Huddersfield. These have been very kindly sent to me by Costain Ltd, the contractor on the site.

Excavation is starting for the new Lock 21E at Platt Lane, Slaithwaite. The big hole at Carr Lane, Slaithwaite is now even bigger as work progresses on the mooring area above Lock 22E.

Work at Wool Road, Dobcross, is almost complete. The stank (dam) next to the Transhipment Warehouse has been removed and the new channel under the bridges is now in water. Lock 24W is complete except for its gates, which are to be fitted by British Waterways. Meanwhile, Lock 21W at High Street, Uppermill, has had its infill removed.

There is also good progress on all the minor sites along the Colne Valley, with work on Golcar Aqueduct looking to be almost complete.

As usual, photographs of all these sites can be found via
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest
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You may be interested to know that I have made some small updates to Pennine Waterways' sister site http://www.ashton-under-lyne.com

I have introduced a What's On in Ashton page, added a short history of the Black Knight and added some pages of photographs of various parts of the town, which should be of particular interest to the many ex-pat visitors to the site.
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You may have also noticed links to my search pages, which can also be accessed directly via
http://www.searchbox.co.uk
The quick search facility on the first page is as useful as any of the major meta-search engines, giving the results from eleven search engines.

In addition, I have gathered together a wide range of interesting and hopefully useful search tools - all with the permission of the sites they link to. These include "safe" children's search engines, an on-line anagram generator, a crossword helper and a link that generates maps from postcodes or town or village names.

I have received information this week from the engineers department of Oldham Coucil regarding the bridge construction at High Street, Uppermill (at Wade Lock).

It had been thought that it might have been necessary to close the road here for three periods of a week each to enable the construction and re-positioning of a temporary bailey bridge.

However, now that the original bridge has been excavated and examined, it has been found that, although the top of the arch has for some reason been removed, the side walls are in better structural condition than anticipated. The decision has therefore been taken to re-build the original bridge.

This means that the work can be done without the expected closures, although several one-day (Sunday?) closures may be necessary. It also means that walkers along the re-opened canal will have to cross the main road, as the old bridge has no towpath.

The road alignment has been changed considerably since the old bridge was in use, so, in addition to re-building the bridge, a pre-cast box culvert tunnel will be added to extend the bridge to around double its original length. A concrete channel will also be needed to link to the existing channel.

Wade Lock (Lock 21 West) will be restored in its original location. There had been suggestions that it would have to be "moved" slightly away from the road (as is being done to Lock 7W at Stalybridge. the chamber of Wade Lock is now almost clear, but a power hammer is being used to chip away at concrete near the base.

Photographs of the work here can be seen on the Saddleworth pages of the web site. These and at all the other restoration work sites on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal can be seen by going to http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest (but I'm sure you knew that!)
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Other new photos this week include:
- a view of the area where Lock 2 East is going to be constructed, at the rear of Bates and Co, in Huddersfield,
- the yard at Sellers Engineering, Huddersfield, where the first phase of the "cut and cover" tunnel has been covered over,
- the site of the re-located Lock 21E at Slaithwaite, where the ground has been excavated inside the piles.
- a view west from Melbourne Street Bridge, Stalybridge, where all the buildings on the canal line have now gone,
- and many more...
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Special Announcement:
As a subscriber to Pennine Waterways' newsletter, let me give you advance notice of a special treat in store for everyone who is keen to see how the restoration is progressing!

I have met with a member of British Waterways staff who is going to supply photographs of the work on the interior of the Standedge Tunnel for me to put on the web site. I have chosen the photographs and he is going to scan them and email them to me, so with luck they could be online next week!

More about this when the photos appear, but they include pictures of a section of tunnel lined with metal mesh and a section that has been "spray-concreted".
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Pennine Waterways is mentioned twice in the latest edition of the Huddersfield Canal Society magazine, "Pennine Link." I am told that it has been mentioned in other magazines. Fame and fortune - but without the fortune!

A quarter of a mile away, the new concrete channel across Saddleworth Aqueduct ("Old Sag") is complete, with just a bit of tidying up on the banks to be finished. In fact, the Pennine Moonraker trip boat has already started to use this section of canal on its regular passenger trips. You can see photographs of this on the Saddleworth pages of the web site. Division Bridge Aqueduct is near to completion, as is Golcar Aqueduct, near Milnsbridge.
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I have just been given another guided tour of the work in Stalybridge and there are some interesting new photographs of the work there. I have been able to take a picture of the portal of the original Mottram Road bridge from inside the new bridge. This shows clearly the difference in profiles of the two bridges.

Traffic has now been diverted across the new bridge and the old bridge is awaiting demolition. Piles have been sunk around it and the whole area of the old bridge will be dug out, a concrete base laid and pre-cast concrete box culvert sections lowered into the hole. When this part of the bridge is complete, Mottram Road will be restored to its full width.

The channel of the canal is progressing quickly, with timber fenders being placed along the sides. The new bridge that will link the two car parks for the supermarket is being clad with red brick to match the supermarket. All the new bridges in Stalybridge will be finished off with decorative keystones inscribed "AD 2000".

Part of the concrete base for the canal channel has been laid between Back Melbourne Street and Lock 5W. Lock 5W is to be repaired using coping stones and other stones from Lock 4W and coin stones for the north side of the lock tail gates from Lock 7W, as the tail of Lock 7 has to demolished as the lock is re-built further away from the road.
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Other new pictures on the website this weekend include the latest pictures from all the restoration sites in the Colne Valley and Slaithwaite. There are two new pictures of the Lock 2E site in Huddersfield sent to me by Costain Ltd.
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In the last newsletter I announced that I would soon be able to show you photographs of the work inside Standedge Tunnel. I regret to say that I have still not received these due to "technical difficulties" with British Waterways coupled with the fact that they have just moved offices from Tunnel End, Marsden to Castlefield, Manchester. These photographs are still promised and I will put them on the website as soon as I am able. Sorry for any disappointment, but I am sure you will find them worth the wait!
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Sharp eyed visitors to Pennine Waterways will notice that I have changed the font on the restoration pages from Comic Sans to Verdana. I know some people like Comic Sans and others hate it. Other pages on the site are still in Comic Sans font for comparison. I would welcome any comments about this - it would be easy to change back if Verdana is not liked.

First of all, I am very pleased to tell you that the promised photographs of the work taking place inside Standedge Tunnel have arrived! I am very grateful to Mr. Michael Marshall of British Waterways for supplying these pictures. The delay in the arrival of the pictures was because British Waterways were moving from their Tunnel End base at Marsden to Castlefield in Manchester.

The pictures can be found in the expanded Standedge section at
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/huddersfield/hnc51.htm
The photographs show a range of activities taking place in the tunnel: removing the vast amount of silt, pointing stonework, drilling holes to install rock bolts, lining the face with steel mesh and spraying concrete onto the mesh.

You may know that Scout Tunnel, a short tunnel between Stalybridge and Mossley, is also to be re-furbished as part of the same contract. Work has not started yet. When it does, much of it will be carried out from a boat, as the tunnel is navigable. Although it is short, Scout Tunnel has many of the characteristics of Standedge Tunnel, but it has a towpath, so we shall be able to walk in and inspect the finished work!
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With the Bank Holidays, some of the sites have not been working this week, but I have added some new pictures of Stalybridge, including some new views of the area between Melbourne Street and Lock 5.
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With little work to photograph, I have instead been busy adding to the new Archive section,
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/archive
The first site to have archive pages made about it was the Wool Road Bridge and Lock 24W, as this was the first project to be completed in the current surge. I have also added pages showing work at 5 locations in Stalybridge. I will continue to build up these pages when I get time, as all the previous photographs are still on the server. It is very interesting to see a series of pictures taken from the same spot showing the work progressing. The only drawback is that some pages contain a large number of images and you will have to be patient waiting for them to download!
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Huddersfield Canal Society are going to organise a "Pennine Link Festival" to take place in Stalybridge, between May 25th and 28th in 2001, to celebrate the re-opening of the canal.

This will include a boat rally and a re-union of those who helped pioneer the restoration work in the early days of the Huddersfield Canal Society.
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You may have noticed the automatic countdown to the re-opening of the canal on the restoration menu page. At present it reads "Only 0 years, 11 months, and 5 days left until the re-opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal!"

I hope this newsletter reaches you faster than last week's did!

There are a few bits of news to report this week about the restoration progress:

At Mottram Road bridge in Stalybridge, the original bridge was demolished this week. Luckily, I got my photograph of the old bridge abutting the new just in time! The lower part of the arch walls were being broken up when I visited on Friday. The large hole within the sheet piling will then be cleared out, a concrete base laid and pre-cast concrete box-culvert sections lowered into place to extend the box-culvert already built. In one of the photographs you can see BTs trunk fibre optic cables suspended precariously across the chasm. One slip of a JCB could result in a lot of inconvenience!

At High Street bridge, Uppermill, Saddleworth, the original bridge is being re-built. When the bridge was excavated, it was found that the top of the arch was missing. The walls were in very good condition so it was decided to rebuild the top of the arch. I managed to get a photograph of this work partly done, with stones laid onto a wooden form. Re-building the original bridge will reduce the disruption from road closures that would have resulted from having to dig out the old bridge and insert box-culvert sections, as is being done in Stalybridge and Slaithwaite.

In Slaithwaite, the new part of Britannia Road bridge is open to traffic and the other half of the roadway is now closed off. The eastern half of the original bridge will now be dug out and replaced by box-culvert sections.

Lock 22E in Slaithwaite has proved not to be in as good condition as had been thought. The lock chamber walls were found to be bowing out and the upper parts of them have had to be re-built using the original stone.

Back in Saddleworth, Saddleworth Aqueduct, better known as "Old Sag" is almost finished, with just a small amount of finishing off on the towpaths to be completed. The contractors will probably be off the site next week. Nearby Lock 24W at Wool Road should be getting its new gates any time now.

All the restoration photos can be accessed from
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/latest/
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I was able to visit Costain's site again this week, to see progress on the work at Bates and Sellers mills.

The first phase of the tunnel below Sellers' yard is now complete and you would hardly know it was there. A site is now being cleared for a new building to replace the old grinding shed and electricians' workshop, which will be demolished to make way for the second phase of the tunnel. At the western end of Sellers' site, the area of the canal where the new Lock 3E will be built has been in-filled and levelled ready for the pile driving machinery to move in. The process will then be similar to that for the new Lock 2E.

At the site for the new Lock 2E, a big hole has been dug inside the sheet piling, and concrete bases built. Between the lock and the opening of the tunnel under Bates' buildings, a landing platform is being built for the lock operators to get on and off boats passing through the lock. Steps will link the landing platform to the towpath, ten feet or so above.

Inside Bates' carding shed, the round concrete piles have been made and the tunnel roof will soon be laid across on top of them. Other types of piling could not be done because of the restricted headroom. Once this is done, the contractors will begin digging out the space between the piling to create the tunnel.

To the east of Bates' mills, a deep channel will run from the tunnel opening below Queen Street bridge into the chamber of the original Lock 2E. The contractors are preparing to break through the cill of this lock.
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I hope you enjoyed seeing the photographs of the work taking place inside Standedge Tunnel. If you haven't seen them yet, take a look at
http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/huddersfield/hnc51.htm

I also hope the new archive pages http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/archive/
are of interest. I will be adding new pages to this section when I get time.
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Huddersfield Canal Society are going to organise a "Pennine Link Festival" to take place at the Sandhills, near Lock 7W in Stalybridge, between May 25th and 28th in 2001, to celebrate the re-opening of the canal.

This will include a boat rally and a re-union of those who helped pioneer the restoration work in the early days of the Huddersfield Canal Society. Anyone involved with the Canal Society in the early days who has lost touch is invited to make contact with a view to being part of the re-union. mailto:hcs@hcanals.demon.co.uk for details.
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The automatic countdown to the re-opening of the canal on the restoration menu page is at present reading "Only 0 years, 10 months, and 29 days left until the re-opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal!"