Engineering news
The developers behind a proposal to construct a canal between Bedford and Milton Keynes are seeking ideas from mechanical engineers on how to navigate a 30m high hill on the proposed route.
The Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust wants to build the 26km canal from the River Great Ouse in Bedford through Marston Vale to the Grand Union Canal in Milton Keynes.
If the scheme goes ahead, the waterway, which would use existing rivers and lakes to minimise costs, would be the first canal constructed in the UK for more than 100 years. Brogborough Hill lies roughly in the middle of the proposed route, and would require a “boat lift”, like the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, to allow boats to navigate it. The trust believes such a mechanism could become a major tourist attraction.
Steve Parker, programme manager of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust, said that it could soon commission a competition for ideas for a boat lift at Brogborough Hill. He said: “We will need to get the water and boats up the hill somehow and I believe it should be a major feature – the central hub of the waterway.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be like the Falkirk Wheel, we would be looking for an innovative mechanical solution here, just like we are looking to do innovative and sustainable things all along the waterway.”
The 35m high, 27m wide Falkirk Wheel receives more than half a million visitors a year, and uses 600-tonne gondolas precisely balanced with a system of cogs and hydraulic motors.
Brogborough Hill is within a two-hour drive of 50% of the UK’s population and its engineering innovation could prove a big attraction. The trust estimates that up to 750,000 people a year would visit, generating up to £20 million for the local economy.
Previous ideas to overcome the hill have included a “whirl”, where boats floating on caissons move up through a 360° spiral rather than a straight slope.