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The Engine Arm or Birmingham Feeder Arm near Smethwick, West Midlands, England, is a short canal which was originally part of a feeder tunnel for a pumping engine. When the Smethwick flight of locks were reduced from six to three, the pumping engine was moved to a new site, which allowed part of the feeder tunnel to be opened up and made navigable, so that coal supplies for the engine could be delivered by barge. The Engine Arm also supplied the pumped water to the 473-foot (144 m) Wolverhampton level of the lowered summit. The arm was extended between 1825 and 1830 by Thomas Telford to carry water from Rotton Park Reservoir (now called Edgbaston Reservoir) to the Old Main Line of the BCN Main Line Canal, and the Engine Arm Aqueduct was inserted to carry it over the new main line constructed at that time, which was 20 feet (6.1 m) lower. The arm is now managed by the Canal and River Trust and the basin beyond the site of the pumping station, which was replaced by a new engine house near Brasshouse Lane bridge in 1892, is used for residential moorings.
When the Birmingham Canal was authorised by Act of Parliament in February 1767, the engineer James Brindley had expected to be able to tunnel through a ridge of higher ground near Smethwick. However, trial borings to assess the nature of the ridge revealed running sand and other material quite unsuitable for tunnelling through, so Brindley recommended that they go over the top of the ridge, with locks at both ends and fire engines to pump the water up to the summit level, because of the lack of local water sources. [1] This was achieved by building the Smethwick flight of six locks at the eastern end and the corresponding Spon Lane flight of six locks at the western end. The canal opened on 25 March 1772. [2] Negotiations with Boulton and Watt began in August 1776, and the Spon Lane engine was installed by them and operational by April 1778, pumping reclaimed water back up to the summit level. Because of its success, a second engine was ordered for the Smethwick end. [3] This was erected 0.75 miles (1.2 km) from the summit pound. It drew water from the bottom of the flight through a feeder tunnel, and another feeder tunnel delivered the pumped water to the upper level. [4]
The summit was only about 1,000 yards (910 m) long, and resulted in considerable delays as traffic levels increased. In 1786, the company decided to lower the level of the summit to the Wolverhampton Level of 473 feet (144 m), and contacted John Smeaton to act as engineer, but he does not seem to have played an active part in the actual work which was carried out by the company's engineers. The redundant top three locks of each flight were filled in, although three new locks, running parallel to the originals, were constructed at the Smethwick end. [5] The Spon Lane engine also became redundant, and although the company considered moving it to supply the locks at Toll End and Bradley Hall, they sold it to the Dudley Canal. [6] The original location of the pumping station is not known with any certainty, but the engine, now known as the Smethwick Engine, was moved nearer to the canal around 1790, at a location where part of the existing supply tunnel could be reused. The feeder was made navigable at that time, so that coal could be delivered to the engine by barge. As the engine now only had to raise water by 20 feet (6.1 m), instead of 38 feet (12 m), the 24-inch (61 cm) pump was moved to Ocker Hill, and a new 30-inch (76 cm) pump was fitted. By 1803 the engine was in poor condition, and was refurbished by Boulton and Watt, which included fitting a new 33-inch (84 cm) cylinder in place of the previous 32-inch (81 cm) one. A second engine was ordered in February 1804, and was operational from 2 May 1805. [7]
By 1824 the Birmingham Canal Navigations operated more than 70 miles (110 km) of canals, with connections to several independent canals. However, they were faced with the new threat of a railway being built from Birmingham to Liverpool, and engaged Thomas Telford to advise them on improvements that could be made. He recommended that a new reservoir should be built at Rotton Park to improve the water supply, and that the main line should be improved by a number of deep cuttings, to enable it to follow a straighter route at a lower level than the old main line, [8] as well as sowing the seeds for the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, to link the network to the River Mersey. [9] The reservoir was built, and the improvements to the main line were completed in September 1827. [10] Near Smethwick Summit, Telford's new main line ran close to the existing James Brindley Old Main Line, but was 20 feet (6.1 m) lower, as it avoided Smethwick locks. [11]
In order to get water from the new Rotton Park Reservoir, Telford extended the Engine Arm eastwards, creating a basin beyond the engine house. This was fed with water from the reservoir by a new culvert. The Engine Arm was carried over Telford's new canal to rejoin the upper level by the cast iron Engine Arm Aqueduct, which was installed around 1828. [4] [12] It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, as are the excavated foundations of the Smethwick Engine, at the corner of Rolfe Street and Bridge Street North. [13]
Boulton and Watt carried out major repairs to the original engine in 1853 and fixed failures to both engines in 1876. In March 1878, both engines were running 24 hours a day at full capacity. By 1891, they were reaching the end of their lives and were beyond economical repair, [14] so in 1892 they were replaced by a new engine house near Brasshouse Lane bridge. It was the last pumping engine to be installed on this section of canal and initially contained two vertical compound engines with centrifugal pumps. These could pump enough water to fill 200 locks each day. It remained in use until 1905, when one of them was moved to Bentley. The remaining engine continued to be used until the 1920s. [15]
The two beam engines remained on site for another five years, until they were dismantled and the building demolished in 1897. The newer engine was sold for scrap, but the older engine was transported by barge to Ocker Hill, where it was reassembled, so that it could be used for demonstrations. It was last steamed there in 1919 for the James Watt Centenary celebrations. Henry Ford tried to buy it in 1928 for his museum of Physical Science in Detroit, but the company did not want to part with it, and sold him an engine from Ashted. When Ocker Hill Works closed in 1960, the engine was dismantled again, to be donated to the Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry. After a period in storage, [16] it is now displayed in the Power Up Gallery at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum. [17]
The end of the arm is used for residential moorings, with space for 16 boats. It is managed by the Canal and River Trust, and the site includes a facilities block, car parking for residents and electric hook-ups for the boats. [18]
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ignored (help)The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for 25.5 miles (41.0 km) in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the Grand Union Canal. Following acquisition by a railway company in 1856, it gradually declined, the southern section being un-navigable by 1945, and the northern section little better.
Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and operated by the Birmingham Canal Navigation Company from 1767 to 1948.
The Galton Bridge is a cast-iron bridge in Smethwick, near Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Opened in 1829 as a road bridge, the structure has been pedestrianised since the 1970s. It was built by Thomas Telford to carry a road across the new main line of the Birmingham Canal, which was built in a deep cutting. The bridge is 70 feet above the canal, making it reputedly the highest single-span arch bridge in the world when it was built, 26 feet wide, and 150 feet long. The iron components were fabricated at the nearby Horseley Ironworks and assembled atop the masonry abutments. The design includes decorative lamp-posts and X-shaped bracing in the spandrels.
The Smethwick Engine is a Watt steam engine made by Boulton and Watt, which was installed near Birmingham, England, and was brought into service in May 1779. Now at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, it is the oldest working steam engine and the oldest working engine in the world.
Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs 18 miles (29 km) from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the 76-yard (69 m) Froghall Tunnel.
The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes.
The Shrewsbury Canal was a canal in Shropshire, England. Authorised in 1793, the main line from Trench to Shrewsbury was fully open by 1797, but it remained isolated from the rest of the canal network until 1835, when the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal built the Newport Branch from Norbury Junction to a new junction with the Shrewsbury Canal at Wappenshall. After ownership passed to a series of railway companies, the canal was officially abandoned in 1944; many sections have disappeared, though some bridges and other structures can still be found. There is an active campaign to preserve the remnants of the canal and to restore the Norbury to Shrewsbury line to navigation.
The Grand Union Canal was a canal in England from Foxton, Leicestershire on the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal to Norton Junction, close to Long Buckby Wharf on the Grand Junction Canal. It now forms the first 23 miles (37 km) of the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal.
The Engine Arm Aqueduct near Smethwick, West Midlands, England, was built in 1825 by Thomas Telford to carry a water feeder, the Engine Arm, from Edgbaston Reservoir over the BCN New Main Line canal to the adjacent and parallel Old Main Line. The structure is maintained by the Canal & River Trust. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is Grade II* listed.
The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England.
The Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), a network of narrow canals in the industrial midlands of England, is built on various water levels. The three longest are the Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Walsall levels. Locks allow boats to move from one level to another.
The Titford Canal is a narrow canal, a short branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) in Oldbury, West Midlands, England.
Smethwick Junction is the name of the canal junctions where the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line Canal from Birmingham splits into the BCN Old Main Line and the BCN New Main Line near to Smethwick, West Midlands, England.
The Walsall Canal is a narrow canal, seven miles (11 km) long, forming part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and passing around the western side of Walsall, West Midlands, England.
The Four Counties Ring is a canal ring which links the four English counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and West Midlands.
Wednesbury Old Canal is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) in the English West Midlands. It opened in 1769, and although parts of it were abandoned in 1955 and 1960, the section between Pudding Green Junction and Ryder's Green Junction is navigable, as it provides a link to the Walsall Canal. A short stub beyond Ryder's Green Junction is connected to the network but difficult to navigate.
Spon Lane Junction is the original junction of the Wednesbury Canal and the Birmingham Canal, near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
Bromford Junction is a canal junction at the foot of the Spon Lane Locks where the Spon Lane Locks Branch meets the BCN New Main Line near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.
The Wednesbury Oak Loop, sometimes known as the Bradley Arm, is a canal in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), and was originally part of James Brindley's main line, but became a loop when Thomas Telford's improvements of the 1830s bypassed it by the construction of the Coseley Tunnel. The south-eastern end of the loop was closed and in parts built over, following the designation of the entire loop as "abandoned" in 1954, including the section which was filled in at the beginning of the 1960s to make way for the Glebefields Estate in Tipton.
The Stewart Aqueduct in Smethwick, West Midlands, England carries the BCN Old Main Line Canal (1770) over the BCN New Main Line Canal (1828). Alongside and above the New Main Line Canal is the Stour Valley section of the West Coast Main Line (1852), all three being bridged by the M5 motorway.
Media related to Engine Arm at Wikimedia Commons