Mike, Sadly on this side of the pond if a canal dropped out of economic use it was abandoned and no culture of recreational use as is seen in the UK ever really developed outside of the Erie Canal were there is a growing number of recreational users that share the cut with commercial traffic much as is seen in Europe... Much as I would love to see and use the C&O as a canal I doubt that the environmentalists would ever allow it to be rebuilt even if the money could be found.
I found the old footage used in this video very interesting... the big ships wheels used to open the gates and the lever systems on the gate paddles were especially interesting... were systems like those used in the UK? The story about the management having to smoke out the boats in the Paw Paw tunnel was great! I wonder if anything like that ever happened in the UK? somehow I rather doubt it! one other nice touch was near the start where the video uses old footage of the reflection of mules hauling along on the tow path under new footage of the guy on his bike in the same spot. Thanks for the heads up on this interesting documentary Cheers Randolph Lee in Newcastle Maine U.S.A. W69° 32' 14" N44° 02' 44" On Oct 8, 2006, at 9:24 AM, Michael Askin wrote: > Hi Folks, > > I just watched a well made documentary about biking along the > Chesapeake and Ohio canal. It has some interesting historic film of > the canal in use, and shows the great views seen from the canal. It's > available on Googlevideo here: > > http://tinyurl.com/hqutp > > I don't know why nobody has bothered to restore the canal to it's > former glory. Most of the structures are in excelent condition, and > has a good few miles still in water, it even has gates on some of the > locks! > > With the recent cuts in BW's budget, one wonders if this is the future > for our own canals! > > Cheers, > > Mike > > -- > Michael Askin > http://shoestring.zapto.org/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
