This is an edited version of a film made in 1960 to show how British Waterways were upgrading their broad waterways for more commercial traffic. At that time the container revolution had not really started, but within ten years container ports including inland container ports enabled goods to tranship quickly and without all the handling shown here.
In 1960 coal accounted for half the tonnage shipped on our waterways. But tyranny of coal, which had driven our industrial revolution, was almost over and although some oil and gas still goes by barge it can also use pipelines, railways and roads.
So what has happened to our Broad Waterways such as the River Trent, featured in this film? There is still some commercial traffic, mainly aggregates, but much of he Trent is now used by pleasure craft , fishermen and folk who like the peace of walking besides the river, either with or without their dogs. But there is more to be had from the River, once the central focus of the communities along it. Find out more by visiting the Trent Vale Partnership web site at trentvale.wordp...
The full length version of Broad Waterways can be downloaded as an mp4 file at
video.eavb.co.uk/
23 авг 2024