2 years of the iMac

Posted on 4 January 2010 by hmallett

After 2 years of using the iMac, what do I think of it?

Hardware

After 2 years I’m really quite happy with the Mac. Hardware-wise, the Mac itself has been fine. The only negatives are that there is a speck of dust behind the screen glass. I don’t feel like taking the iMac apart, and it’s up in the top right-hand corner, so I’ve lived with it for quite some time now. The Mac itself is very quiet. The only time it’s been anything louder than a whisper was during summer, when the sun had been shining on the black back for hours. I know have an external drive (more on that later), and that’s louder than the Mac itself.

As far as the included peripherals are concerned (keyboard, mouse and remote control), it’s a mixed bag. The remote control doesn’t get used, and the keyboard is fine, although there is some wear or discolouring around the arrow keys. The mouse however is not so good. Apple came in for plenty of criticism for the Mighty Mouse, and in my mind it’s deserved. The scroll ball now no longer works, regardless of how much you clean it. The side-squeezing buttons never get used, because with my big hands I have to adjust my grip on the mouse. I’d replace the mouse with the Magic Mouse if it weren’t so damn expensive. At least that has no moving parts.

When I bought the iMac, I chose the entry-level model, with a 250GB disk and 1GB RAM. Since then I’ve upgraded the RAM to 4GB, which was a painless procedure, once you’ve found the right sized screwdriver! The disk space is getting low though, with around 20GB free, although the machine is only used for internet email, iPhoto and iTunes. The next one will have to have a much bigger disk.

Mac OS X

Leopard seemed fine to me. There were some niggles that were sorted out after a few months, such as occasionally refusing to connect to the wireless network first time after waking from sleep, and losing text labels on stacks. Since then I’ve upgraded to Snow Leopard. Once you’ve got over the excitement of having about 7GB more disk space free, the biggest differences between Snow Leopard and Leopard can be summed up in one line.

Mail starts faster

Opening Mail went from about 15-30 seconds to about 2 seconds for me. Apart from that there are some changes to Expose (and I’m not sure they’re changes for the better), and a few other small things you notice, but nothing to write home about. I still think Preview for PDFs blows Adobe Reader out the water, and I hate using Reader, waiting for it start on a Windows machine.

One thing that is fantastic is Time Machine. Setup couldn’t be much easier. Plug in a hard disk, get asked if you want to use it for Time Machine, switch it on. Then get told you need to format it. Then get asked to switch TiMe Machine on again. OK, so maybe it’d be simpler if you bought a drive that came HFS+ formatted.

Installing OpenNMS on FreeBSD

Posted on 23 November 2009 by hmallett

OpenNMS a network monitoring system,and is in some ways a competitor to Nagios. Having been a Nagios user for a while now, I was intrigued to see the alternatives were like. I last tried installing OpenNMS many years ago, and struggled installing it on FreeBSD. Now that it’s had a few more years to develop, I wondered if it was any easier to install, as there’s no port for it. Here are the notes I made to get it installed…

The installation environment was a VMWare environment (using VMWare Fusion on an iMac). The virtual machine was given an 8GB disk and 512MB RAM. In retrospect I should have allocated more RAM, as there was a lot of swapping going on during the build process. I installed packages rather than ports, to minimise the amount of disk space used and time taken.

Install FreeBSD 7.2 (or later in the 7 series – 8 doesn’t have a functioning Java binary yet). I used the amd64 version.
Ensure that the system can resolve its own name, either in DNS or an entry in the hosts file. OpenNMS will not start without this.
Install PostgreSQL server.
# pkg_add -r postgresql83-server
This will also install libiconv, gettext and postgresql83-client. We install PostgreSQL 8.3 because 8.4.0 has a bug, and there isn’t a package for 8.4.1 yet.
Edit /etc/rc.conf and add the line postgresql_enable=”YES”
Initialise the database.
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql initdb
Start the database.
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/postgresql start
Install some packages needed by Java.
# pkg_add -r javavmwrapper

# pkg_add -r xtrans

# pkg_add -r xproto

# pkg_add -r xextproto
Go to http://www.FreeBSDFoundation.org/downloads/java.shtml and download Diablo Caffee JDK 1.6.0-7 for FreeBSD 7 amd64. Then transfer it to the machine you’re building OpenNMS on.
Install the Java package.
# pkg_add /usr/local/opennms/diablo-jdk-freebsd7.amd64.1.6.0.07.02.tbz
Agree to the license when prompted. You will get some warnings about version mismatches. These warnings can be safely ignored.
Install python 2.5. This is a prerequisite package for jicmp, but is not marked as such, so it won’t be automatically installed by pkg_add.
# pkg_add -r python25
Install jicmp.
# pkg_add -r jicmp
This also installs xcb-proto.
Fetch the OpenNMS source.
# fetch http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/opennms/OpenNMS%20Source/stable-1.6.7/opennms-source-1.6.7-1.tar.gz
Untar the OpenNMS source.
# tar xfz opennms-source-1.6.7-1.tar.gz
Change to the source directory.
# cd opennms-1.6.7-1/source
Build OpenNMS, telling it that it will be installed in /usr/local/opennms.
# ./build.sh -Dopennms.home=/usr/local/opennms install assembly:attached
This stage may stop with errors about running out of java heap memory. If this happens, simply re-run the command, the build will commence from the error.
Create the /usr/local/opennms directory.
# mkdir /usr/local/opennms
Change to the /usr/local/opennms directory.
# cd /usr/local/opennms
Untar the OpenNMS package.
# tar xfz opennms-1.6.7-1/source/target/opennms-1.6.7.tar.gz
Change the permissions on some files that are incorrectly set by the build.
# chmod +x bin/*
# chmod +x contrib/*
# chmod -x contrib/*.README
# chmod -x contrib/opennms.mib
Run the runjava command.
# /usr/local/opennms/bin/runjava -s
This should find the java binaries you installed earlier.
FreeBSD uses pgsql as the database user, rather than postgres, so edit the file /usr/local/opennms/etc/opennms-datasources.xml and change the database user from postgres to pgsql.
Set up the database.
# /usr/local/opennms/bin/install -dis
Start OpenNMS.
# /usr/local/opennms/bin/opennms start

If you want the additional features provided by jrrd, then you can install it by running pkg_add -r jrrd. Note that this installs a lot of other packages (renderproto, kbproto, font-util, encodings, expat, perl, gio-fam-backend, pango, rrdtool, bitstream-vera, cairo, font-bh-ttf, font-misc-ethiopic, font-misc-meltho, font-util, fontconfig, freetype2, gamin, glib, libX11, libXau, libXdmcp, libXft, libXrender, libfontenc, libpthread-stubs, libxcb, libxml2, mkfontdir, mkfontscale, pcre, pixman, pkg-config, png, xcb-util, xorg-fonts-truetype and xtrans).

Headphones

Posted on 25 September 2009 by hmallett

When I bought my iMac, a year ago, I also bought a new iPod Nano with it. The Nano comes with headphones, but they are really uncomfortable in your ear. So new headphones were required.

I have a pair of Sony MDREX71s. I had the MDREX70s before, and was happy with them, but the wire came loose making one headphone crackly, so I got the 71s as a present, thinking they’d be better. They’re not. The sound is muddy, and the mini plug on the wire is at a really annoying length (too short to go in your pocket, and with it out of your pocket the weight pulls the headphone out of your ear if your ear is sweaty and at an odd angle (you’ve never had your iPod on when washing your car on a hot day?). On the plus side the 71s are comfy.

I also have a pair of Grado SR60 headphones that I got a few years ago. Sound quality blows the Sonys away, and they’re very comfy to wear. The cord is made for listening to home hifi though, as it’s about 6 feet long. They also make you look like a WW2 radio operator. Since I moved house (a year ago) I haven’t got round to connecting up my CD player and amp, but every time I switch from the Sonys to the SR60s, it reminds me that I should, as the SR60s let you hear every bit of noise from a less-than-perfect MP3.

6 weeks ago I bought a pair of Grado iGrado headphones, as a compromise between the two. They look really cheap and horrible, with nasty shiny black plastic, and a really thin, weak looking cable, but the sound quality (and clarity) is almost as good as the SR60s. There’s a bit less bass though, and they don’t look as good as you’d think from the pictures. The cable length is just right to have the iPod in your pocket. The biggest downside is that they squeeze your head fairly tightly, and if you wear glasses, the headphones might interfere with them more than normal. After an hour or two’s listening you want to take them off to stop your head being squeezed. As far as the fit is concerned, it’s pretty good, but there’s no adjustment at all, so your mileage may vary.

Now, who wants to buy me a pair of GS1000s to review?

The Newport Branch

Posted on 18 July 2009 by hmallett

The Newport Branch is entirely closed today. It was originally built as a branch of of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, linking to the Shrewsbury Canal.

From reading articles on the web, you might be lead to believe that much of it is gone. Maybe because it passes through such a desolate area, it hasn’t been built on, so restoration along the original line seems feasible (though of course expensive and slow, as progress on the Montgomery has shown). The section between Norbury Junction and Newport seems like it might be restored relatively easily. The problem with section is the high number of locks, which means a lot of expense (a set of gates for a single lock in in the tens of thousands of pounds range), and also a lot of water supply needed, which would have to come from the Shropshire Union main line. Also, the dry dock at Norbury Junction would have to go.

No restoration is taking place on this canal currently, though the Shrewsbury and Newport Canals Trust have started to make some progress at restoring Wappenshall Junction.

The overlay below was based on information gained from old Ordnance Survey maps, combined with the maps on the Shrewsbury and Newport Canal Trust’s website.

Download the Newport Branch overlay (Google Earth required)

Talk about responsive…

Posted on 14 July 2009 by hmallett

I’ve been using Nagios for a while to monitor several servers. When I set it up, one of the things I left until later was monitoring PostgreSQL databases, as it requires a plugin, and I wasn’t sure which plugins to try. Then I noticed an announcement on the PostgreSQL website that a new version (version 2.9.2) of the check_postgresql.pl plugin was available, so I thought I’d give it a try.

The plugin turned out to be easy to install and configure, though a little clarification on some of the documentation wouldn’t go amiss. There are two checks the plugin performs, which check to see whether a new version of the plugin is available, and whether a new version of PostgreSQL is available. Neither of these worked for me.

I had a dig through the source code, and saw that there were 5 commands used to retrieve the latest version information from the internet. FreeBSD doesn’t have any of these commands installed by default, but it does come with fetch, which does the same job. So I added the additional line for fetch to the plugin, and tested it. It worked just fine, so the next thing was to feed that change back to the check_postgresql.pl project. There’s no bug tracker on the site, and I didn’t feel like signing up to the mailing list, so I emailed the developer.
I set the plugin to manually recheck for a new version (I’d only set it to automatically check once per day), and it said there was a new version available (version 2.9.3). At first I thought I’d done something wrong, until I downloaded the new version, and found my patch incorporated in it (with a few other fixes).
Time from emailing the developer to the new version being released: 38 minutes
Gotta love open source and responsive developers…

FreeBSD 7.2 dmesg on the Dell PowerEdge R300

Posted on 11 July 2009 by hmallett

While looking at the stats for this site, I noticed that plenty of people seems to be searching for information on running FreeBSD on the Dell PowerEdge R300. All I can tell you is that since FreeBSD 7.1 it works just fine, without modification, using the GENERIC kernel.

Below is the dmesg from FreeBSD 7.2 (amd64). This is for a standard R300, with no additional options other than a second hard drive. It also has a USB memory stick connected to the internal USB port, so that the server can still be booted even if both hard drives fail (theoretically – not tested).

Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p1 #5: Tue Jun 16 21:42:57 BST 2009
xxxxx@xxx.xxxxxxx.xx.xx:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
Timecounter “i8254″ frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X3323 @ 2.50GHz (2500.01-MHz K8-class CPU)
Origin = “GenuineIntel” Id = 0×10676 Stepping = 6
Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
Features2=0xce3bd<SSE3,RSVD2,MON,DS_CPL,VMX,EST,TM2,SSSE3,CX16,xTPR,PDCM,DCA,<b19>>
AMD Features=0×20100800<SYSCALL,NX,LM>
AMD Features2=0×1<LAHF>
Cores per package: 4
usable memory = 2128711680 (2030 MB)
avail memory = 2052505600 (1957 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <DELL PE_SC3 >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 4 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
cpu2 (AP): APIC ID: 2
cpu3 (AP): APIC ID: 3
ioapic0: Changing APIC ID to 4
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
kbd1 at kbdmux0
acpi0: <DELL PE_SC3> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
Timecounter “ACPI-safe” frequency 3579545 Hz quality 850
acpi_timer0: <24-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0×808-0x80b on acpi0
acpi_hpet0: <High Precision Event Timer> iomem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff on acpi0
Timecounter “HPET” frequency 14318180 Hz quality 900
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
pcib1: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 2.0 on pci0
pci3: <PCI bus> on pcib1
pcib2: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 3.0 on pci0
pci4: <PCI bus> on pcib2
pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 4.0 on pci0
pci5: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
pcib4: <PCI-PCI bridge> at device 5.0 on pci0
pci6: <PCI bus> on pcib4
pcib5: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 6.0 on pci0
pci7: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib5
pcib6: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 7.0 on pci0
pci8: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib6
pci0: <base peripheral> at device 8.0 (no driver attached)
pcib7: <PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 28.0 on pci0
pci9: <PCI bus> on pcib7
pcib8: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 28.4 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib8
pci0:1:0:0: failed to read VPD data.
bge0: <Broadcom BCM5722 A0, ASIC rev. 0xa200> mem 0xdfdf0000-0xdfdfffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
miibus0: <MII bus> on bge0
brgphy0: <BCM5722 10/100/1000baseTX PHY> PHY 1 on miibus0
brgphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-FDX, auto
bge0: Ethernet address: 00:1e:4f:33:d6:d0
bge0: [ITHREAD]
pcib9: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> irq 17 at device 28.5 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib9
bge1: <Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Controller, ASIC rev. 0xa200> mem 0xdfef0000-0xdfefffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
miibus1: <MII bus> on bge1
brgphy1: <BCM5722 10/100/1000baseTX PHY> PHY 1 on miibus1
brgphy1: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, 1000baseT, 1000baseT-FDX, auto
bge1: Ethernet address: 00:1e:4f:33:d6:d1
bge1: [ITHREAD]
uhci0: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xdc80-0xdc9f irq 21 at device 29.0 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci1: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xdca0-0xdcbf irq 20 at device 29.1 on pci0
uhci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhci2: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> port 0xdcc0-0xdcdf irq 21 at device 29.2 on pci0
uhci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: <UHCI (generic) USB controller> on uhci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <Intel UHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xdfcffc00-0xdfcfffff irq 21 at device 29.7 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb3: EHCI version 1.0
usb3: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2
usb3: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb3: USB revision 2.0
uhub3: <Intel EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb3
uhub3: 6 ports with 6 removable, self powered
umass0: <LEXAR MEDIA JUMPDRIVE SPORT, class 0/0, rev 2.00/30.00, addr 2> on uhub3
uhub4: <vendor 0x04b4 product 0×6560, class 9/0, rev 2.00/90.15, addr 3> on uhub3
uhub4: single transaction translator
uhub4: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
pcib10: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci10: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib10
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0xec00-0xecff mem 0xd0000000-0xd7ffffff,0xdfff0000-0xdfffffff irq 19 at device 7.0 on pci10
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci0: <Intel ICH9 SATA300 controller> port 0xdc20-0xdc27,0xdc10-0xdc13,0xdc28-0xdc2f,0xdc14-0xdc17,0xdc40-0xdc4f,0xdc50-0xdc5f irq 23 at device 31.2 on pci0
atapci0: [ITHREAD]
ata2: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata2: [ITHREAD]
ata3: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata3: [ITHREAD]
atapci1: <Intel ICH9 SATA300 controller> port 0xdc30-0xdc37,0xdc18-0xdc1b,0xdc38-0xdc3f,0xdc1c-0xdc1f,0xdc60-0xdc6f,0xdc70-0xdc7f irq 22 at device 31.5 on pci0
atapci1: [ITHREAD]
ata4: <ATA channel 0> on atapci1
ata4: [ITHREAD]
ata5: <ATA channel 1> on atapci1
ata5: [ITHREAD]
fdc0: <floppy drive controller> port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0
fdc0: does not respond
device_attach: fdc0 attach returned 6
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: configured irq 4 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio0: port may not be enabled
sio0: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0×10 on acpi0
sio0: type 16550A
sio0: [FILTER]
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
sio1: configured irq 3 not in bitmap of probed irqs 0
sio1: port may not be enabled
sio1: <16550A-compatible COM port> port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on acpi0
sio1: type 16550A
sio1: [FILTER]
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
est0: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu0
p4tcc0: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu0
cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
est1: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu1
p4tcc1: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu1
cpu2: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
est2: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu2
p4tcc2: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu2
cpu3: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
est3: <Enhanced SpeedStep Frequency Control> on cpu3
p4tcc3: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu3
fdc0: <floppy drive controller> port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0
fdc0: does not respond
device_attach: fdc0 attach returned 6
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xc0000-0xc8fff,0xc9000-0xc9fff,0xec000-0xeffff on isa0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> at port 0×60,0×64 on isa0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
ppc0: cannot reserve I/O port range
sc0: <System console> at flags 0×100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0×300>
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
ad4: 152587MB <WDC WD1601ABYS-18C0A0 06.06H05> at ata2-master SATA300
acd0: DVDROM <TEAC DVD-ROM DV28SV/D.0E> at ata2-slave SATA150
ad6: 152587MB <WDC WD1601ABYS-18C0A0 06.06H05> at ata3-master SATA300
GEOM_MIRROR: Device mirror/gm0 launched (2/2).
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s1 is msdosfs/DellUtility.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s2 is msdosfs/OS.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3a is ufsid/481ca24bb929589f.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3d is ufsid/481ca2504609c3b4.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3e is ufsid/481ca24b7ec903d6.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3f is ufsid/481ca24bcf21dd1b.
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #2 Launched!
SMP: AP CPU #3 Launched!
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
da0: <LEXAR JUMPDRIVE SPORT 1000> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device
da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
da0: 495MB (1014784 512 byte sectors: 64H 32S/T 495C)
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider da0s1a is ufsid/4828bbc089fb6d4e.
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/mirror/gm0s3a
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24bb929589f removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3a is ufsid/481ca24bb929589f.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24b7ec903d6 removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3e is ufsid/481ca24b7ec903d6.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24bcf21dd1b removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3f is ufsid/481ca24bcf21dd1b.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca2504609c3b4 removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label for provider mirror/gm0s3d is ufsid/481ca2504609c3b4.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24bb929589f removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24b7ec903d6 removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca24bcf21dd1b removed.
GEOM_LABEL: Label ufsid/481ca2504609c3b4 removed.
bge0: link state changed to UP

The Whitchurch Branch

Posted on 14 June 2009 by hmallett

The Whitchurch Branch of the Ellesmere Canal ran close to Whitchurch town centre. Today only a short section remains, used mainly for moorings.

The overlay below was based on information gained from the 1902 Ordnance Survey map. Because there are few distinguishing features remaining, I may have got the path a few metres out, but that’s all.

There are plans to reinstate the Whitchurch Branch, but looking at the overlay, I’m less optimistic than I was.

Download the Whitchurch Branch overlay (Google Earth required)

The Prees Branch

Posted on 11 June 2009 by hmallett

The Prees Branch on the Llangollen Canal is today a short branch that leads to Whixhall Marina. It was originally longer, reaching Quina Brook, though like many canal schemes it didn’t reach its original goal of Prees.

The bridge names have come from the 1902 Ordnance Survey map. Interestingly this map also refers to the branch as the Edstaston Branch. I’d never heard it referred to by this name before, though this makes sense, as the branch passed Edstaston, but never reached Prees.

Some of this section of canal is now a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Download the Prees Branch overlay. (Google Earth required)

The Woodhouse diversion

Posted on 16 May 2009 by hmallett

The Montgomery Canal has a long straight section, just south of the Perry aqueduct. It then heads towards Rednal Basin. It wasn’t always this way though.

When the canal was originally under construction one of the members of the original Ellesmere Canal Committee persuaded the company to divert the course of the canal to run closer to his estate (the Woodhouse estate), with a short branch towards his house. Later the canal was moved back to its original planned line. As with so many things about the canal, the original documents are either vague or missing. Apprently the now disused section continued to hold water for some time though, and was marked on old maps as “old Canal”. I can’t find any of these maps though!

So, the Google Earth overlay below is based on what I can see, and make a best guess based on ground markings, lines of trees, and a sketch of the the old line. I can’t see the branch to the house though. If you know more, you can always email me.

Download the Google Earth overlay

Information from “Montgomeryshire Canal and the Llanymynech Branch of the Ellesmere Canal” by John Horsley Denton (1982).

No-one mentions the Weston Arm…

Posted on 11 May 2009 by hmallett

The Weston Arm of the Montgomery Canal ran from Welsh Frankton to Weston Lullingfields, and was built as part of the Ellesmere Canal. It was originally going to be the main line, taking traffic from the River Mersey at (what is now) Ellesmere Port to the River Severn at Shrewsbury, however like so many canal schemes it was never completed as intended. It ended up being closed in 1919 after a breach. Canal books often make many references to the Weston Arm, but few give it any real detail. After seeing the tiny stub of the canal that remains, I wondered where it went.

I’d already spent a little time looking at Google Earth, and cross-referencing with old maps. It sat on my computer for a few months, doing nothing, until a friend mentioned that he’d been wondering the same. So this is for Martin! The file below should open in Google Earth (which you can get from http://earth.google.com/).

weston branch.kmz

Hywel Mallett

Hywel Mallett's home on the web