Near Bramwith Lock

Today started off with a bit of excitement, within about half a mile we came upon Vazon Sliding Railway Bridge. Apparently the only one left in the world. The railway line crosses the canal just a few feet above water level. When a boat needs to pass the whole bridge slides out sideways. It’s quite impressive.

The Bridge Closed
The Bridge Closed

Train Crossing
Train Crossing

Half open
Half open

Fully open !
Fully open !

The mechanism worked perfectly, which wasn’t the same with several of the lift bridges we encountered later in the day!

The bridges are operated by a BW (or  should that be CRT?) key, and there are complicated interlocks with the road barriers. Sometimes the barrier detectors say that the barrier isnt closed when it is, so the whole thing freezes up.

A lunchtime stop at Thorne to find Sainsbury’s, had to ask the locals for direction. Unfortunately we didn’t have a Yorkshire interpreter with us, but we found it eventually.

We had planned to stop for the night at Bramwith lock, but at about 4 o’clock a cold wind blew up so we called it a day about a mile short.

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