The fifth Weaver control box fails

THERE is little doubt that the control boxes on the Weaver need replacing.

The failure of the one controlling Sutton Swing Bridge this week makes it the fifth failure in less than a month, Keith Gudgin reports.

Started the rot

It was the failure of the one controlling the Anderton Lift Bridge that started the rot on the 27th January when an ingress of water damaged the electrics, quickly followed with the failure of the electrics of the Winnington Swing Bridge.

Then came the further failures of Dutton Lock, also closed due to 'equipment failure' as the recent flood water again swamped electrics with the lock now inoperable, and then it was Acton Swing Bridge electrics that failed, though this only for large vessels.

Not watertight

And now it is the fifth failure with the electrics of Sutton Swing Bridge, all due to the recent flood and the control boxes obviously not being watertight.

As we told previously, it is now very obvious that these boxes are not up to standard and need to be upgraded to prevent these failures occurring after every flood.

Luckily—at least for narrowboats—most of the failures are for use with the larger vessels that visit the Weaver.