Progress on the “S&N” More progress on the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust’s current major project to reinstate the East Basin at Wappenshall Junction Shrewsbury & Newport Canals The “Great Wall of Wappenshall” [the retaining wall of the east basin at the Wappenhall Junction where the Shrewsbury and Newport canals meet] was finally completed by Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust volunteers at the end of June and a “Topping out” barbecue was had to celebrate this milestone in our restoration plan. We then set about completing more of the basin base slabs. With 92 to cast in total, this will also be somewhat of a marathon task. As I type this we will have completed 36 of them. Cement shortages have delayed progress, but we are now managing to get 4 or 5 done each week. We have dispensed with the concrete pump as it was getting expensive. We have now switched to a mix on site arrangement where the concrete is discharged into a 3-tonne swivel dumper and delivered to the waiting “spazzlers” to spread it. Once roughly spread, it is purged of any air pockets using a petrol driven vibrating
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poker. Then it is finally tamped and expansion slot laths are inserted 20mm deep around the edges. These are smothered in mould oil to ensure they can be easily removed once the concrete has set. Our team of volunteers has now become quite proficient in using this method and 10-12m3 of concrete can be completed in about 2½ hours. The only problem we have encountered is that in the extreme heat, the curing concrete needed to be kept wet to stop it from cracking. So spraying with water for the following 24 hours became necessary. Night shift anyone? The other major task has been to backfill the retaining wall up to towpath level. Each 150mm of soil has had to be compacted using a whacker-plate. This has proved to be very hard work, as many passes have been required along the 46m length of the wall. We are now about 400mm from the top of the wall. Another 2 or 3 weekends should see it finished. Bernie Jones
