Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL. 167 Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Com- pany, quays, with coal tips and sheds, have been provided. The naviga- tions of this company extend to Cheshire and through Shrop- shire, while, by junctions with other water- ways, they enter many industrial districts, including those of North and South Stafford- Ellesmere Port. PLAN OF BARTON SWING AQUEDUCT AND SWING BRIDGE. shire. In addition to their own docks, the same company have wharfage fronting the Canal, and two leading railways have direct access thereto. Quite close at hand are the pontoon dock and repairing yards of the Manchester Dry Docks Company, Limited, which lias more extensive Docks. premises with dry docks and other facilities for dealing with large steamers near Mode Wheel locks—a duplicated arrange- ment much appreciated by shipowners. The Partington coaling basin is admirably situated in respect alike of rail and water com- munication. It has brought thirty miles nearer the sea the immense coalfield Partington of gou^j1 Yorkshire, which geol- Depot ogists regard as practically in- exhaustible, and it is likewise close to the Lancashire coal-bearing areas. The coaling basin forms part of the Canal, and vessels can therefore remain at the tips without causing the least interference with the ordinary traffic. There are already six tips in use, each delivering about 160 tons per hour ; and there are foundations for another tip, which, can be erected whenever it may be needed. Contain- ing on an average 10 tons of coal, the loaded wagons are run in at the level, raised to the mouth of the shoot, tipped, and returned, by gravity, along an overhead incline. At Acton Grange another tip deals with coal brought by rail in specially-designed boxes, which are loaded into steamships simultane- ously with general cargo; while at Weaste (just below the Imported Mode Wheel locks) a special stock 'öepot crane lifts wagons bodily loaded with coal, swings them over, and discharges them into a steamer at one operation. On the other side of the Canal, below Mode Wheel Lock, the Manchester Corporation has timber wharves, and a foreign animals depot, covering 12 acres of land. The site is admirably suited for the purpose, and ac- commodation exists for 3,000 head of cattle. There is a continuous landing-stage upon which cattle may be discharged by means of movable gangways. At this point the Canal is 300 feet wide. The appliances include re- frigerating, electric lighting, and pumping plants, which make the depot one of the most complete in the country. Extensive cold stores not far away have also been opened by the Corporation. The activity of the same municipal author- ity has been manifested in regard to another industry, which has in recent years attained vast proportions—namely, that which provides lubricating and T* <1 n Iks illuminating oils. On the banks of the Canal, immediately adjoining the foreign cattle depöt, the Gas Committee of the Cor- poration have built extensive oil tanks, and their example has been followed elsewhere by the British Petroleum Company, Limited, the Anglo-American Oil Company, Limited, and