Grand Union Canal (old) - Takeover

Takeover

In late 1886 or early 1887, the Grand Junction company inspected the Grand Union Canal and the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, and then wrote to both, about the possibility of measures to improve and increase traffic. Both indicated they were prepared to sell out to the Grand Junction, who then offered £5,000 for the two. The canals replied with a counter offer of £25,000, since they had a large asset in their water supplies, but no agreement was made. In 1893, the company met with Mr Fellows, of the carrying company Fellows Morton and Clayton, who suggested that if the locks at Foxton and Watford were made wider, and the canal was dredged, conditions would be much better, and they would be able to run large steam boats, which would allow them to compete with the railways. After making enqiries, Fellows was offered both of the canals for £20,000, and after further discussion with the Grand Junction company, they asked him to act as their agent and buy both. He negotiated a price of £10,500 for the Grand Union, and £6,500 for the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union, with £250 to be paid to the clerk who acted for both companies. An Act of Parliament to authorise the takeover was passed in 1894, and the transfer of ownership took place on 29 September. After takeover, the canal became known as the Leicester Line of the Grand Junction Canal.

The Grand Junction dredged the canals they had bought, and negotiated with the Leicester, the Loughborough, and the Erewash Canal, to fix tolls for through traffic. They then talked to Fellows Morton and Clayton again, and revived the plans to allow them to work wide-beam barges over the Grand Union route. Plans for an inclined plane at Foxton Locks were approved in July 1897, tenders were received in November, and the contract was given to J & H Gwynne & Co, based in Hammersmith. The design was by G.C. Thomas, the Grand Junction Canal's engineer, who had been assisted by his brother, and Gwynne's price was £14,130. Two counterbalanced caissons could each hold two narrow boats or one wide-beam barge, and could raise or lower them the 75 feet (23 m) between the top and bottom of the lock flight in twelve minutes, compared to the seventy that using the locks took. Including land purchase, the total cost was £39,224, which also included the provision of an engine house and steam engine to power the plane. The plane was completed and began operating on 10 July 1900.

Thomas did not favour a second inclined plane, and so widening of the locks at Watford was authorised in early 1900, at a cost of £17,000, but was deferred in March, until the work at Foxton was completed and the inclined plane was operational. In August they complained to Fellows Morton and Clayton that through traffic of coal had continued to decline, and they rebuilt the locks at Watford between November 1901 and February 1902. The work cost £5,545, as they were not widened, and wide-beam craft were never able to use the canal. Despite the failure of the scheme, the company recommended to the Royal Commission held in 1906 that a number of other canals should be upgraded to take 80-ton barges, and suggested that several other inclined planes should be built. In November 1908, the locks at Foxton were re-opened for night-time working, and the inclined plane officially stopped working in November 1910, although it is known to have worked intermittently until at least 1912. It was dismantled in 1926 and sold for scrap in 1928.

In an attempt to become more competitive, the Grand Junction company talked to the Regent's Canal company, and the idea of a much larger concern began to develop. An Act of Parliament was obtained in August 1928, which allowed the amalgamation of the Regent's Canal, the Grand Junction, the Warwick and Birmingham, the Birmingham and Warwick Junction and the Warwick and Napton Canals. As from 1 January 1929, the new company began operating, and the old Grand Union Canal became part of the (new) Grand Union Canal. Having raised £881,000 to enable the route from Birmingham to London to be widened to take boats with a 12.5-foot (3.8 m) beam, and received Government grants to cover interest payments on loans of £500,000, the work began in 1931. The company then decided they could get grants for widening the Foxton and Watford locks, and under an Act of Parliament obtained in 1931, bought the Leicester, the Loughborough and the Erewash Canals. The estimated cost of widening the two flights was £144,000, but the Government refused to make a grant later that year, and the work was never carried out.