Lift Lock and Marine Railway.

Lift Lock and Marine Railway

When we are finished with the Trent Severn Waterways 44 locks we will have done a total of 110 lock on our Great Loop.  The Tent has offered some very unique ways of lifting and lowering boats.  As you read earlier we went throught the Largest Lift Lock in the World at Peterborough.  However, we also went through another Lift Lock which had only a 45 foot elevation, but it was unique in that is lifted the boats over a road.  This is crazy stuff.  It is surprising how fast the pan drops once started down.  We were lucky. When we went down, they informed us that they were going to be stopping along the way to grease some parts. It was nice to savor the moment.

Our second Lift lock.
We are in the pan being lifted over the road below.
It’s 45 feet down.
Hellloooo down there.

Here are a few photos of some things we saw along the way.

Neat arched bridge. You really can’t tell but it is at an angle to the river.
Us going under the bridge. It says 1905 above the boat. You can sort of see the angle of the bridge in this picture.
Pretty little falls coming out of the woods.

THE BIG CHUTE!

The Big Chute I have to say was most interesting of all the locks we went in.  It is actually not a lock but a Marine Railway. Boats are loaded onto a rail car that slings the boats in place then cables pull it railroad tracks up and over land 60 feet down to the water on the other side.  We tied up to go watch the process before we tried it ourselves.  The guys and gals on the car make this a simple job.  They were very organized and knew exactly what to tell people.  They were great! That took our fear of the process away.  Here  a few fun facts:  The car can carry 100 short tons in weight.  The original car was replaced with a bigger badder one.  They actually started to build a lock at this site but  due to post war depression there was no money for it.  When the decision needed to be made about what to do next, the Sea Lamprey was discovered in the lower water.  If they put a lock in it would spread them to Lake Couchichin and Lake Simpcoe. So No lock. They put a new, larger marine railway.

This is the old marine railroad car. It is no longer in use but on display.
This is what it looks like when a boat is in the slings on the car.
The cable system that moves the car.
The railcar is crossing the road.
Loaded car at the bottom
boats pulling out of the car.
It is a pretty steep hill.
We were on the blue line wall waiting to get on the Marine Railway and this old boat was parked on the other side.
It has the original metal plate on it. It is made by:
B. Geisler and Sons Limited.
Boat Manufacturer
Powassam, ONT
Scott used to restore old canoes and boats. I thought this was an ironic picture with the old boat on one side and our modern boat on the other.
Here we are pulling into the railcar. It was scarey at first but the people running it are pros and made it easy.
these are the slings that are holding our boat in place.
Here we go over the hill.
We made it.
The two small boats in front of us are now floating ready to take off.

Both of these locks were exciting, but the marine railway takes the cake for being our best of the 110 locks we went through.

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott

Unique Random Photo of The Day:

New candle scent.