| Canal Inclined Plane |
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| canal inclined planes | |
| rail transport | |
| vertical transportation devices | |
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Typically, such a feature consists of a slope, up which there are two sets of Rail Tracks , and boats are raised between different levels by sailing into giant water-filled tanks, or Caisson s, which have wheels on the bottom and watertight doors at each end, and which are perpendicular to the slope. These are then drawn up or down hill on the rails, usually by means of cables being pulled by a Stationary Engine . In almost all designs two caissons are used, one going up and one down, to act as counterweights to make the system more efficient. When the caisson has reached the top or bottom of the slope, the doors are opened and the boat leaves. An inclined plane is quicker, and wastes less water, than a flight of Canal Lock s, but is more costly to install and run. It can be considered a specialist type of Funicular Railway . TIMELINE
OTHER EXAMPLES With caissons
Without caissons There are also inclined planes without a tank or caisson, where the ship is pulled out of the water by a kind of railway waggon such as used on the Big Chute Marine Railway on the Trent-and-Severn-Waterway , Bude Canal in Cornwall , and on the canal between Elblag and Ostroda in Poland . EXTERNAL LINKS
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