UKC

Radio 4 9pm, programme about Thirlemere aqueduct;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/pip/g7k7e/

In reply to sutty: No shit! and guess who maintained it in 2007! There are some pics on my Flickr. I was one of the first people ever to go in it in 2005 and went in with some bint from Border/Granada TV

In reply to Fawksey:

Brilliant! I love reading about underground stuff. Check out this:

http://www.corestore.org/hydro.htm

In reply to Donald M: The company I work for went in and surveyed the Thirlmere Aquaduct or TA as we call it in 2005 going from Thirlmere to as far south as Staveley. In 2007 we did the rest as far as Heaton Park in manchester. There are a lot of syphon wells on the north and south side of river valleys where the aquaduct passes underneath and we had to do quite a bit of work in those. We have been doing quite a bit of work inside the Manchester ring main itself but this years work on the TA has had to be postponed because of work required to fix a burst main that lays inside an old victorian culvert near Bolton, this needs to be supplying water before they can shut the TA down again. WE are enetering the pipe each day and pumping 10 tonne of grout poer day into the old culvert to stabalise the pipe.

In reply to Fawksey:

Saw the ad for the programme a bit late and hoped you would see the thread as knew it was one of your babies.

In reply to Fawksey:

HAd any scary experiences in the pipes? What is the most impressive piece of engineering?

In reply to Donald M: The Thirlmere and the Haweswater aquaducts are brilliant pieces of engineering. Some of the victorian reservoir valve towers are interesting.

There is a rather nondescript building at the side of the road near Heaton Park in manchester but once inside there are inscriptions on the walls of all those who were members of the Manchester Corporation when they were built, they look rather like war memorials.

I have had to do rope access on vertical sections of the Dee aquaduct which had quite a bit of water passing the closed valves and I slipped off the top and my shunt stopped me but I was being spun by the water and my rope to my shunt stretch too much for me to reach it, i panicked a bit.

On a valve tower ladder I had metres of 110v lead coiling round my head and shoulders and I was a bit suprised by it, then the splitter box landed on my head and then I thought nine inch grinder! it wiped me off the ladder but i was connected by a fall arrest.

The smallest pipe Ive been through is 15 inches wide near Oswestry a raw water pipe and the furthest dead end Ive been up under Manchester is 800m from the entrance.

Fortunately most of the work is mains water or raw reservoir water. But occasionally we do sewage.

In reply to Fawksey:

800m inside a pipe? How big was it?

In reply to sutty: Its a good earner for us lads cos thers a lot of early starts and late finishes, UU make us have so many people on site for things such as rescue cover (2 men) that one can wangle sitting in a chair all day as cover. Which i was today at Bolton.

In reply to Donald M: 48 inch diameter, 1200mm?

Worst for length and not being able to move is 180 metres up the inside of a 650mm wide pipe thats 26 inches wide, I went in that backwards and came out frontwards and it had about a third full of silt and water.

It scares the shit out of new starters, as it did me but you do get used to it when you realise that you dont die the first time you go in.

I hate having people laid in the pipe between me and the exit though, that makes me feel claustrophobic.