WORK to install a new lock gate at Huddersfield Narrow Canal has turned into a monster job.
For a 200-tonne crane was needed to install the gate in the Colne Valley yesterday.
British Waterways are currently carrying out work costing £445,000 along the stretch of the canal.
But original plans to install a new lock gate at lock 40 at Marsden had to be changed after the recent heavy rain.
It meant they had to hire the huge crane to lift the lock gate into position as part of the ongoing work.
A spokesman for British Waterways said: “Our original plan was to use the track down to the lock but because of all the recent rain it had become a bit too muddy for us to get a truck and a crane down to it.
“So we have to re-think the idea and the alternative was to use the railway station car park – but that required a bigger crane.
“So that’s what we did.
“The lock gate went in yesterday and work on finishing it should be complete today.”
Locks along the canal are getting an overhaul as part of essential works.
In total six locks will be replaced and repairs will be made to Ramsden’s Lock.
David Baldacchino, the Manchester and Pennine region manager for British Waterways, added: “The waterways have experienced an amazing renaissance in recent years and are now used by more people than ever so it’s vitally important that we preserve them for the future.”
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs for 20 miles and is home to 74 locks including the three-mile-long Standedge Tunnel, the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in the country.
