Écluse 26 Jussy - Canal de Saint-Quentin - Jussy - Aisne 02 - France - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

This is lock number 26 on the Canal de Saint-Quentin and is known as Jussy. It is situated about two kilometres downstream of the village of Jussy in the Aisne 02 département.

Nearly all of the 35 locks on this canal have at least one and sometimes three lock cottages. Many are still lived in and many have their original information plates indicating the lock name and distances to the next lock and major town in both directions.

Many of the locks also have control rooms and modern information boards carrying similar information to the original information plates. All the locks are in pairs and traffic lights indicate which lock to use of each pair. The lights and the locks themselves are operated by the boater using a télécommande or remote control unit. The unit is used to set the lock from a point about 100 metres away. A traffic light system is in place: flashing orange means the lock has received the request to operate, red and green means lock being got ready, green means it is safe to enter, two reds mean lock is out of operation.

The newer Canal du Nord has rather taken a lot of the north-south commercial traffic away from this canal, consequently sometimes only one of each pair of locks has been kept in working order.

The Canal de Saint-Quentin was for 150 years France’s only navigable link to the industrial north. It connects the canalised river Escaut at Cambrai to the Canal latéral à l’Oise at Chauny, a distance of 92.5km. It also has junctions with the Canal de la Somme near Saint-Simon (PK 68), and with the Canal de la Sambre à l’Oise via the branch to La Fère, which leaves the main line at PK 85. The canal crosses the watershed between the Escaut and Somme basins by a 20.4km long summit level at an altitude of 83m, between locks 17 (Bosquet) and 18 (Lesdins).

There are two tunnels on this pound. The first, at Riqueval, also called the Grand Souterrain, is 5,670m long (the longest still in use on the French waterways). The second, Lesdins or Tronquoy, is 1,098m in length. The tunnels have a navigable width of 6.75m and a headroom of 3.58m.

Towage is compulsory for all vessels through the long tunnel between Bosquet lock and Riqueval basin. The service is operated by special electrically-driven tugs, which warp themselves along a chain laid on the bed of the canal. The duration of passage through the towage section is about two-and-a-half hours. Boats are joined to the tow behind the last barge, starting with the largest and finishing with the smallest.

Between Riqueval basin (PK 35.9) and Lesdins lock (PK 45.2), the section including the shorter tunnel, all boats proceed under their own power, at a maximum speed of 4km/h. Navigation is one-way only, controlled by lights.

Although still a busy waterway, this canal is attractive for cruising, especially the northern section in the Escaut valley, the spectacular summit level with its tunnels and the port de plaisance in the basin at Saint-Quentin.

History – In 1724 the Sieur de Marcy obtained authorisation to build the Canal de Picardie (later Canal Crozat) from Saint-Quentin to the Somme and then the Oise at Chauny. When he ran out of funds, the concession passed in 1732 to the rich Antoine Crozat, who succeeded in finding subscribers to 10,000 shares; the canal was opened in 1738, but fell into disrepair after Crozat died the same year. In 1766 it was bought by the king from Crozat’s heirs, as part of the projected through route to the Escaut. The need to handle coal traffic from Belgium led to proposals by Devicq and Laurent for the extension through the ridge of high ground to the Escaut near Cambrai. Laurent’s line was agreed in 1769 on the duc de Choiseul’s initiative. It included an enormous 13,682m tunnel which, if it had been built, would have been the world’s longest. The section from the Oise to Saint-Quentin was reopened in 1776, but works on the link across the watershed were interrupted in 1773. Napoleon revived the project, choosing De Vicq’s line, and personally opened the canal in 1810. It was upgraded to its current dimensions in the 1830s. The canal remains in the national priority network.

Waterway Name: Canal de Saint-Quentin Connected Points: The Canal de Saint-Quentin connects the canalised river Escaut at Cambrai to the Canal latéral à l’Oise at Chauny. It has junctions with a now disused section of the Canal de la Somme near Saint-Simon, and with the Canal de la Sambre à l’Oise via the branch to La Fère near Tergnier. Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1810 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/12/2021 esslpt02100 visited it