The lift-locks on the Canal du Centre, at Houdeng and Strépy-Thieu, Belgium
Please note that this page is no longer being updated; to reach the page replacing it, please click on its URL :
http://home.scarlet.be/~rkial452/Strepy/Strepy.htm
LATEST NEWS !
According to the Notice to waterway users in Wallonia (Avis à
la Batellerie) No. 2005/16/101, the Historic Canal through
lift-locks 2, 3 and 4 has been reopened to navigation with effect
from 2nd May 2005. However, only the left-hand chamber of lock 2
and the right-hand chamber of lock 3 are currently usable.
In order to reduce delays at these locks, pleasure vessels should
travel through them in groups wherever practical. A speed limit
of 3.6 km/hr applies, except when passing other vessels or though
zones of restricted width where it is 1.8 km/h.
The original lift-lock No. 1 remains out of use until further
notice (see below).
Restoration of Lift-lock No. 1 (updated April 2004!)
According to a report in "Le Soir" of 6 April 2005, the inland waterways adminstration of Wallonia has signed a contact with the Eiffel company ( www.eiffel.fr ) for the restoration of the original hydraulic lift-lock No. 1 on the Canal du Centre near La Louvière. The work should start in May 2005, and be complete by the end of 2006.
Lift-lock No.1 has been out of use since the accident in January 2002, when the lift-lock's chambers moved inadvertently while a motor barge was still partly in one of them (see below). Because the flight of lift-locks was granted world heritage status by UNESCO in 1998, the restoration work will adopt the original procedures and special techniques that were employed during its construction in 1884.
Further information will be posted here when it becomes available.
Colloquium "La nouvelle Europe fluviale", 25 et 26 October à Nancy
The French Inland Waterways Authority VNF has organised an
international symposium at Nancy (France) on 25 and 26 October
2004 to discuss the optimum configuration of the European trunk
waterway network. Representatives of all public and private
groups and organisations concerned have been invited to
particpate. For further information, please contact:
VNF Direction interrégionale du Nord-Est, phone
+33.3.83.17.01.01, e-mail: ADVE.SN-Nord-est@vnf.fr
From Limerick to Kiev : waterways for tomorrow's Europe
There was a week-long exhibition in Brussels on October 4-8, 2004, to promote the benefits of inland navigations throughout Europe. A symposium on October 6, formally opened by Ms Karla Peijs, addressed the particular issues of the smaller waterways, for which no formal international framework for planning and development has been established to date. The event was promoted by a consortium of interested organisations: Alliance Internationale de Tourisme, European Boating Association, European Recreational Marine Industry Group, DBA - The Barge Association and IWI. For further information e-mail: info@inlandwaterwaysinternational.org
Starting on Monday 1 December 2003, until further notice, the inclined plane at Ronquières will operate from 08h00 to 22h00 on Mondays to Fridays and from 08h00 to 19h30 on Saturdays. The stop-lock at Feluy protecting it is open from 06h00 to 22h00 on Mondays to Fridays and from 06h00 to 19h30 on Saturdays.
The stop-lock at Blanc-Pain (6.254 km) is open from 06h00 to 19h30 on Mondays to Saturdays and, from 01 April to 31 October, from 09h00 to 18h00 on Sundays. Note that there are currently no adjacent mooring facilities.
The Canal du Centre is open to 1350-tonne traffic:
Following a programme of celebrations over the weekend of 31 August and 1 September, the Canal du Centre was formally opened for commercial traffic in vessels of up to the European Class IV standard (1350 tonnes) at midday on 2 September 2002. The canal now provides a direct link between the busy inland waterways of the basins of the Escaut/Schelde and the Maas/Meuse, thanks to the three nearby technological achievements setting new world records: the highest lift-lock, at Strépy-Thieu, the most massive extruded concrete bridge, at Pont du Sart, and the giant stop-lock at Blanc-Pain.
The inaugural celebrations [click here for details of the programme, kindly supplied by Michel Maigre ] included an opportunity for the public to enjoy a boat ride up (or down) the lift-lock. On Saturday 31 August and Sunday 1 September 2002, trip boats ran between landing stages at Place Hardat in Thieu (lower pound) and the winding hole in the Strépy-Bracquenies industrial estate (upper pound, near junction 21 on the E19/42 motorway ); a shuttle bus service was provided between them and temporary car-parks.
Original Lift-lock No. 1 unusable:
According to a report on the local TV news on 17 January 2002, the top lift-lock on the Canal du Centre is out of action, following misoperation just before it was due to shut down for the night. Apparently the clamps that should hold the two lock chambers stationary while loading and unloading takes place failed to do so, and the lower chamber started to rise while a barge was on its way out. The barge grounded and was crushed against the 'guillotine' gates, which stopped the chamber from rising further. This is believed to be the first such accident since the lift locks were taken into regular operation in 1917. Traffic through the Canal du Centre is expected to be interrupted for at least several weeks.
On 6 April 2002, the local Press reported that the official
report on the accident in which the tanks moved while the motor
barge 'Vedette' was on its way into the lower pound states that
this was due to a combination of human error and mechanical
failures. Specifically, the valve in the high-pressure pipe
linking the two cylinders containing the pistons that each
support one of the lift-lock's tanks was not completely
water-tight because of wear. Furthermore, the safety system that
should have prevented the guillotine gates at the end of each
tank from being opened except when the tank is held securely in
place failed to do so. Of course, these findings have raised
doubts about the possibility that similar failures could occur in
the three other historic lift-locks on the Canal du Centre, and
they are currently subject to thorough inspection and any repairs
needed. Although they should be fully operational again during
the summer season, restoration of lift-lock No. 1 is estimated to
require five or six months' work costing not less than 3 million
EUR.
(Left) A view of the motor barge 'Vedette' and Lift-lock No1 under repair, taken on 9 June 2002 (click on the image to see a larger version). The damaged tank, which is temporaily supported on trestles, can be seen above the centre of the barge, which remains afloat although somewhat buckled.
Update (Oct. 2003):
According to the October issue of "Fluvial" (p. 10), contracts worth a total of € 2.7 million have been signed for the renovation of lift-locks 2, 3 and 4, consisting mainly of replacing the 24 guillotine gates. The first stage, involving replacement of the guillotine gates on the right-hand side of locks 2 and 3, which will enable the historic canal to be reopened for navigation through them to the pound immediately below lift-lock 1, should be completed by the end of November 2003. Work on replacing the other gates will then continue; it should be completed in time for the summer season of 2004. The Canal Administration has also negotiated a contract with the "Etude Concept Industriel Boisdenghien" for the restoration of lift-lock No. 1, but no date for its reopening has yet been announced.
Introduction
The canal known in French as the "Canal du Centre", some 18.65 km long, was originally constructed to link the canal from Condé-sur-l'Escaut to Mons, itself opened in 1818 and enlarged to accommodate 300-ton Frécinet-standard barges in the 1880s, with the branch to Houdeng at the summit level of the canal from Brussels to Charleroi which had been similarly enlarged by 1885. This involves a rise of some 90 metres from the former terminal basin at Mons to the summit level of 121 metres above sea level. As the Canal du Centre follows the natural route along the valley of the stream La Haine and its tributary, Le Tiriau du Luc, most of this rise is concentrated in the few kilometres nearest to Houdeng. Fortunately, this route lies just beyond the northern rim of the coalfield, and the canal was thus able to provide transport from the mines without running the risk of subsidence. Click here to see a map of the Canal du Centre and connecting waterways (on the OPVN Web site).
Why lift-locks were chosen
Mainly in order to minimise the need to draw water from the summit level, which has only a small natural catchment area, it was decided to install four lift locks giving a total fall of 66.2 metres down to the point where sufficient feed water was available to enable conventional locks to be used downstream. The first lift-lock, manufactured by the John Cockerill company, and first demonstrated in 1888, was based on Clarke's design for the lift-lock at Anderton in Cheshire, UK, which had been opened thirteen years earlier. Each of its two tanks is 43 metres long, 5m80 wide and 3m15 deep - enough to accommodate a standard 300-ton barge with a draught of 2m10. However, work on the remaining three lift-locks and the rest of the canal was interrupted following accidental flooding, and after it resumed in 1908 the First World War caused further delay so that the whole canal did not become operational until 1918.
Principle of operation
These lift-locks consists of a pair of tanks, each as large as a conventional lock chamber and closed at each end by a "guillotine" gate, which incorporates a sluice gate that can be opened when required. The adjacent ends of the upper and lower pounds of the canal are fitted with similar guillotine gates such that when the tank is clamped to either of them, which seals the sides and bottom of the gap between the gates, and the water levels in the tank and gap have been equalised with that in the pound, the gates can be raised together. Each tank is supported by a central column which acts like a piston in a deep vertical cylinder filled with water at high pressure, linked with that under the other column through a pipe with a valve that can be opened and closed as required. The total volume of water at high pressure is kept constant at the quantity needed to ensure that when the lower tank is correctly aligned for opening the gates from the lower pound, then the upper tank is similarly at just the right height for opening the gates from the upper pound.
As the total volume of water displaced by any vessel entering the tank has exactly the same mass as that vessel, the two tanks remain in equilibrium so long as the depth of water in them is the same. In order to take advantage of gravity to drive the lift-lock, the surface level of the upper pound must be set so that the depth of water in the upper tank is about 30 cm greater than that in the lower one when the guillotine gates between each of them and the adjacent pound are open. Once the tanks have been loaded, the gates are dropped, the clamps released, and when the valve in the connecting high-pressure pipe is opened, the unbalance is sufficient to make the initially upper tank descend to the lower level, thus raising the other tank to the position where it can be clamped to the upper pound; the valve is then closed again. As the water level in the upper tank is now about 30 cm below that in the upper pound, the sluice gates must be opened to allow water to flow from it into this tank until the levels are equal. Similarly, the excess water in the lower tank must be allowed to flow through the sluice gate into the adjacent pound. Then the guillotine gates can be opened and the cycle repeated. REVISED!
(Below left) : The second lift-lock on the Canal du Centre, Houdeng, taken in July 1999. Note the partly-raised 'guillotine' gates giving access to the lower tank, at the right-hand side. Click on this (and other images) to display a bigger version.
(Below right) : The fourth lift-lock on the Canal du Centre, Thieu, taken looking east towards the new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu on 10 August 2002 .
Enlargement to 1350-ton capacity : the Inclined Plane at Ronquières
The growth in traffic to and from the local coal and iron industries, particularly following the creation of the European Community, led the Belgian government to decide in 1957 that the country's main navigable waterways should be enlarged to accept barges complying with the new international 1350-ton standard. A major programme of lock rebuilding, widening and deepening was drawn up, including complete replacement of the last part of the old route between Brussels and the summit level by a new direct canal with with the world's biggest inclined plane, 1432 metres long, at Ronquières. When this opened in 1968, with two tanks, each 85m5 x 11m6 and with its own counterweight, a total of 15 300-ton locks with an overall rise of 68 metres were eliminated, and through journey times were reduced by about half a day. The power needed for operation is minimised by having the counterweight somewhat lighter than the fully-loaded tank, and designing the system so that the level in each tank is about 30 cm higher during the descent than it is during the subsequent climb. A feeder stream beside the disused old canal via Arquennes keeps the lower pound full, and the adjacent electrically-powered pumping station supplies the upper pound when necessary.
The northern (lower) end of the inclined plane at Ronquières, seen from one of the public viewing platforms, on 17 June 2000.
(Below left) A barge loaded with about 1000 tons of imported coal enters the eastern tank. The (nearer) western tank was not in use on this occasion. Click on the image to display a bigger version.
(Above right) A few minutes later, the tank carrying the barge can be seen moving slowly up the inclined plane. Click on the image to display a bigger version.
The new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu
West of Mons, a new 1350-tonne canal via Blaton to the Escaut/Scheldt at Péronnes, with a branch south to Condé via Pommeroeul, was excavated, while the first part of the old 300-ton canal to Condé was filled in so that it could be re-used for the E42 motorway to Valenciennes. But discussions on the best way to replace the historic lift-locks continued until 1980, when it was finally decided to build the world' biggest lift-lock nearby, at Strépy- Thieu. Construction, which was estimated to cost BEF 8 billion and take 10 years, started in 1982, but although the first barge was raised to the upper level on 6 November 2001, it will have taken twice as long as originally foreseen and cost € 675 million (BEF 27 billion) by the time the new canal entered service, on 2 September 2002. It can lift each of the two independent tanks (120 x 12 metres with a draught of 3m75, which can accommodate a 2000-ton dumb barge and pusher), with a counterbalance having a total mass of 8500 tons, over the total rise of 73 metres to the summit level in about 7 minutes.
(Below left) : General view of the new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu, looking northeast during the opening celebrations on 1 September 2002. Both tanks can be seen at the upper level. Click on any image to display a bigger version.
(Above centre) : View of the motor barge CBR 12 (belonging to Belgium's main cement manufacturer, which has a canal-side factory at Obourg nearby) approaching the lower entrance to the new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu on 6 November 2001. Photo captured from a RTBF-TV news report.
(Above right) : View of the upper entrance to the new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu, showing the motor barge, CBR 12, just after it made the first ascent on 6th November 2001. Photo captured from a RTBF TV news report.
As can be seen in the photo, vessels reach (or leave) the upper level of the new lift-lock through a pair of steel aqueducts from the end of the concrete trough embedded in an earthern embankment. This was filled with water for test purposes for about half a kilometre from the lift-lock in the autumn of 2001. And the first 3 km of the approach canal, which leaves the summit level almost opposite the La Croyère basin, were built and filled with water several years ago. But construction of the 2 km of canal to fill the gap between them began only in 1999, although the land required had long been available. Most of the missing part required only straightforward earth-moving, but an aqueduct some 500 m long was needed to cross the narrow valley where two trunk roads (N55 and N535) intersect at the point long known as "Pont du Sart", near junction 21 on the E19/E42 motorway.
The aqueduct at Pont du Sart
This aqueduct consists of a continuous pre-stressed reinforced concrete trough, resting on its abutments and two rows of thirteen reinforced concrete columns cast in situ on deep piled foundations. The trough was cast in sections 36 metres long in a mould located at the west end of the site. When each new section had hardened, it and all sections cast previously were pushed 36 metres eastward by powerful jacks, in three stages. Then another section was cast as an extension of the previous one, and the cycle repeated. This technique, which relies on the low coefficient of friction between a coating of Teflon on the lower sides of the aqueduct and stainless steel panels mounted at the top of the supporting columns (see photo below), has been used widely for road and rail bridge construction. The greatest mass of concrete erected by this technology was previously that of the Veitshochheim viaduct on a high-speed rail line in Bavaria (42 500 tonnes). But on 21 May 2001 a new world record was set when the aqueduct at Pont du Sart reached its final resting-place: to do so, the jacks moved a total mass of 63,450 tonnes! This work was undertaken by a consortium of the CFE, Bageci and Franki Construct companies under a contract worth just over € 22 million (BEF 900 million). Mooring on the aqueduct itself is prohibited, but a landing-stage has been provided for sightseers from the south bank nearby.
(Below left) View of the aqueduct under construction at Pont du Sart, looking east on 22 April 2000. The right-hand side of the mould where the 36-metre-long sections are cast is in the centre. Click on any image for a bigger version.
(Above, centre): Closer view of the front of the trough, showing the temporary leading edge and the array of supporting columns, looking east on 19 August 2000.
(Above, right): View of the aqueduct under construction at Pont de Sart, looking west on 19 August 2000 towards the new lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu.
(Below, left): Stainless steel low-friction panel (its surface still protected by the white plastic sheet), shortly before installation at the top of one of the supporting columns. Click on any image to display a bigger version.
(Below, right): View of the aqueduct at Pont du Sart, looking north-east on 13 Aug. 2002 (the water was then about 1.5 m deep between the the lift-lock and the temporary dam at the far end of the aqueduct). Photo by Michel van den Berghe.
The stop-lock at Le Blanc-Pain
The last task was to build a stop lock at Le Blanc-Pain, some 2330 m east of the aqueduct at Pont du Sart (in fact, it is closer to Le Lait Beurré). Work on it, which began in August 2001, was due to be complete in June 2002 but took several months more. This stop lock is needed to enable the western part of the pound (5 km long, much of it above local ground level) to be cut off from the rest of that at summit level, either in an emergency such as a serious leak or for routine maintenance of the aqueduct and lift-locks. In the meanwhile, a temporary dam was provided to enable work to proceed on this part of the new canal. Starting in mid-June 2002, water was gradually let in to the section containing the aqueduct, but the temporary dam was not removed until the end of August.
Like everything on the new Canal du Centre, the stop-lock is outsize. Its architect, Bernard De Vree, of the Atelier d'Architecture Carré 7 at La Louvière, thinks its design is worthy of the third millennium. As you can see below, it consists essentially of a gateway 20m high and some 40 m wide framed by two towers, and a distinctively-shaped barrier weighing about 50 tons attached to counterweights by cables passing over pulleys at the top of the towers. When open, the stop-lock has little impact on shipping, as the the barrier is well clear of the navigable channel, which is 32 m wide. All that is needed to make the barriers fall rapidly into the 'closed' position is to release the counterweights. As this can be performed under remote control, there are no nearby mooring facilities. Navigators should note that the stop-lock is liable to be CLOSED outside the hours of operation of the lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu. REVISED!
The control room and offices are housed in the adjacent buildings. The main contractor was the BAGECI company, and the BUICK company of Eekloo was responsible for supplying and erecting the metalwork. The stop-lock cost a total of some € 4.1 million (BEF 164 million), and - like the lift-lock and aqueduct - it should soon feature in the record books.
(Below left) : The stop-lock near Le Lait Beurré, with barrier raised, looking northeast on 15 August 2003
(Below right) : The stop-lock under construction, with barrier down, looking east on 10 August 2002
Notes:
The lift-locks are situated about 50 km south of Brussels.
From La Louvière Central rail station the oldest can be reached
by foot in about 25 minutes. During the tourist season, visitors
wishing to see the next two lift-locks and the engine-room should
then take the excursion along the tow-path from the nearby
'Cantine des Italiens'
(for details, in French, see URL : http://www.hainaut.be/asp/satellite.asp?site=/tourisme/parcdescanaux/home.htm
)
Otherwise, they can be reached by a short walk from the nearest
bus stop on the following TEC routes which run roughly parallel
to the old canal (each runs hourly on school days, otherwise
every 2 hours - see timetable at bus stop) :
- Route 30 to Thieu : best for the new lift-lock : Pont-Levis
halt (then across the nearby bascule bridge dated 1891)
- Route 82 to Mons : (nearest stop to the new lift-lock : Gare
SNCB, then 15 minutes' walk)
Note also that buses on route 134 between La Louvière Central
and Soignies stations pass beneath the Pont du Sart (with a stop
nearby).
This site was created by Alan Reekie in April 2000 for the
information of English-speaking visitors. If you have any
comments or suggestions for improvements, please let him know by
sending him an e-mail : 
All photographs are © 2000-2004 by Alan Reekie, unless otherwise indicated
Links:
General information on inland waterways in Europe can be obtained from "INE" at http://www.inlandnavigation.org/index.php3 ; maps are available on-line by hyperlinks from : http://www.worldcanals.com/english/contentseurope.html NEW!
For the Belgian Federal Public Service on Mobility and
Transports' Web site on inland navigation, with details of the
regulatory framework and requirements for pleasure boating and
commercial shipping, including a summary of its "Information
leaflet for foreigners who would like to use a pleasure boat on
the Belgian waterways" (in English): http://www.mobilit.fgov.be/fr/aqua/plaisure/plaisure_tourist.htm#E
, please see:
http://www.mobilit.fgov.be/fr/aqua/aqua.htm
(French) or : http://www.mobilit.fgov.be/nl/aqua/aqua.htm
(Dutch).
Note that you can download the "European Code for Inland
Waterways (ECIW)" mentioned in that leaflet at:
http://www.unece.org/trans/doc/finaldocs/sc3/TRANS-SC3-115r2e.pdf
(about 2 Mb).
Further information about this and other canals in the
French-speaking Region of Belgium is available (in French) from
the Office for the Promotion of Inland Waterways, at URL: http://www.opvn.be/
and from the Web site of the Regional Ministry for Equipment and
Transport at URL: http://voies-hydrauliques.wallonie.be/
Anybody who envisages a cruise on the waterways of Wallonia
should first enter the details of their route into the on-line
journey planner at the URL: http://voies-hydrauliques.wallonie.be/xsl/nav/itiner.html
(click on the sketch map to obtain a list of the available
terminal points). This should then respond by automatically
displaying a list of all the relevant technical constraints
(presumably extracted from the various 'Avis à la Batellerie'
etc.).
NOTE: It is essential then to click
on each hyperlink to "Informations
détaillés" to obtain the latest 'state of navigation'
information for each waterway concerned.
Information (in Dutch) about navigable waterways in the
Dutch-speaking Region of Belgium can be obtained from the
corresponding organisations in Flanders, the AWZ at URL: http://www.lin.vlaanderen.be/awz/html/home.htm
and the Promotie Binnevaart Vlaanderen at URL: http://www.binnenvaart.be/
The sea-canal from Brussels to the Scheldt has its own site (with
a section in English) at the URL: www.zeekanaal.be
NEW!
An on-line Guide to facilities for pleasure boating on the
Canal du Centre and adjacent waterways, in English etc., is at:
http://www.partir-en-croisiere.com/an/circuits/touristiques.asp
; replace /an/ by /fr/, /all/ or /nl/ for the version in French,
Geman or Dutch. Click on the interactive map for eg "The
Boat lift circuit".
During the summer season, several companies operate passenger
cruises on the Canal du Centre (advance reservation is
essential). See eg:
- http://scaldisnet.be/index.php?lang=en
for short trips from Brussels via Halle (13 km south of Brussels,
the quay is less than 10 minutes' walk south from the railway
station, across the bridge);
- http://www.croisiere.com;
click here
for details (in French) of this company's longer cruises in
Belgium, including a:
Six-day cruise Dinant - Namur - Mons - Ghent - Bruges - Ostend (-
Dinant, ref. DIO) and
Six-day cruise Brussels - Antwerp - Mons - Dinant (- Brussels,
ref. AND);
For information (in French) on travel and overnight accommodation
in a hotel-barge based at Liège, see http://www.penichehotel.com/sommaire.htm
.
Other web pages about the lift-locks, inclined plane etc. in Belgium include:
http://www.met.be/metpub/src/actu12/p23.html (Ministry of Equipment & Transport for Wallonia (the French-speaking Region), in French);
http://users.swing.be/canal-du-centre/bulletin.html (Monthly News Bulletin about the Canal du Centre, in French)
http://www.canal-du-centre.be/ (Illustrated description of the Canal du Centre, in French )
http://users.skynet.be/sky14352/canal.htm (Illustrated description of the Canal du Centre, in French);
http://www.geocities.com/cedricstewart (Illustrated description of the construction of the aqueduct at Pont du Sart, in French and English);
http://www.promosite-tech.be/ronquieres/plan-incline-english.html
http://www.promosite-tech.be/ronquieres/plan-incline.html
(Illustrated descriptions of the inclined plane at Ronquières,
in English and French respectively);
http://www.foudurail.net/thieu.html and http://www.foudurail.net/ronquieres.html (Copiously illustrated descriptions of the lift-lock at Strépy-Thieu and the inclined plane at Ronquières respectively, in French); NEW!
www.hainaut.be/tourisme/parcdescanaux/Seneffe_eau.htm
(Le Centre Didactique de l'Eau de Seneffe - Educational centre
with collection of documentation on the local canal network,
housed in a bridge-keeper's cottage at Seneffe on the disused
part of the Canal de Charleroi, in French. Entrance free: 14h -
17h Tuesday - Friday, 10h - 18h Saturday + Sunday)
For information phone 0475 - 84.79.06
or e-mail : cfavry@met.be
http://www.hainaut.be/tourisme/voiesdeau/ (Guided tours of the key sights at and around the old lift-locks, by boat or road-train, organised by the not-for-proft association "Les Voies d'eau du Hainaut", and other opportunities for tourism in the area, in French);
http://www.peniche.com/8pascenseur.htm
and http://www.peniche.com/26thieu.htm
(Illustrated descriptions of the old and new lift locks on the
Canal du Centre respectively, in French);
http://ravel.wallonie.be/_private/framecartes/Frame2CartX.asp?CART=j07&RAV=1 (Section of the on-line guide to the long-distance cycle- and footpath "RaVEL 1" where it follows the tow-path of the historic Canal du Centre past the four original lift-locks, with map, (click "AIDE" to choose 'UK'(English) - or FR, NL, DE).
http://www.gamber.net/cyclebel/index.htm "Cycling Belgium's Waterways" (Detailed illustrated description of journeys along the Belgian canal network, from a cyclist's perspective, in English);
Web sites about lift-locks, inclined planes etc. outside Belgium include:
http://home.snafu.de/wumpus/xlock.htm (Information on river locks and ship lifts in Germany, in English and German);
Schiffshebewerk Niederfinow (Illustrated description of the lift-lock at Niederfinow, Eberswalde, which operates on the same principle as that at Strépy, in German);
http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/wim/henrichenburg/English_version/index2_html (Information from the Westfälisches Industriemuseum on the lift-lock opened in 1899 at Henrichenburg, near Dortmund, and arrangements for visiting it, in English)
http://www.andertonboatlift.co.uk/index.htm (the official site on the Anderton lift-lock, which reopened in the summer of 2002 after 20 years out of service, in English)
http://www.northwich.uk.com/anderton.htm (Illustrated description and history of the lift-lock at Anderton, UK, in English);
http://www.france-random.com/fontinettes/pagea/index.shtml (Illustrated history and description of the disused but preserved lift-lock at Les Fontinettes, France, in French and English);
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waterway/rg_eng_i.htm
(Index to the official Web pages describing the Trent-Severn
Waterway in Ontario, Canada, including that on: Hydraulic
Lift Locks (in English; some parts also in French at URL:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waterway/rg_fr_i.htm
))
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ontario.htm (Index to illustrated descriptions of the lift-locks and Big Chute marine railway on the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada, in English);
http://www.clickart.fr/vev/uk/sommaire.htm/ (Living Waterways - Voies d'eau vivantes : news about the Canal Adda (Lombardy, Italy), Caledonian Canal (Scottish Highlands), Millennium-Link (Central Scotland), Göta Kanal (Götaland, Sweden), Canal des Deux Mers (Southwestern France) and the Canal du Centre (Wallonia, Belgium), all of which participate in the EU's TERRA programme);
http://www.canals.com/lifts.htm (Illustrated explanation of lift-locks etc., forming part of a comprehensive site on British canals and their use for recreation etc.in English);
http://pro.wanadoo.fr/canaltour/index800.html (Information about excursions on the canal at Arzweiler, Alsace, with a link to a brief description of the inclined plane there, in French - an English version is in preparation);
http://www.canalmidi.com/aufildlo/fonceran.html : Information on the 'water-slope' built in 1990 at Fonsérannes, on the Canal du Midi near Béziers. It was intended to provide an alternative to the ajacent flight of 8 locks erected in 1697 with a total rise of 21.5 metres over a distance of 300 metres.
The principle of operation is that boats float on a 'wedge' of water held behind a moveable dam which is propelled up or down the inclined trough by a linked pair of tractors running on parallel tow-paths, taking about 6 minutes. The direction of navigation thus alternates frequently, unlike the case of navigation through the adjacent flight of locks, where the direction of passage alternates every hour at busy periods. Although this 'water-slope' has never operated satisfactorily, the French Waterways Authority VNF still hopes to get it into working order to relieve the bottleneck here. (in French - an English version is in preparation);
http://archives.republicain-lorrain.fr/tourisme/sarrebourg/plan_incline.htm (Brief description of the inclined plane at Arzweiler, Alsace, in French)
http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/ (Official site for the novel carrousel-type lift-lock near Falkirk, Scotland, which was opened in May, 2002, to provide a navigable link between the Union and Forth & Clyde canals, in English);
http://www.falkirk-wheel.com/ (Illustrated description of the above-mentioned novel lift-lock, in English);
http://www.falkirkwheel.info/ (Technical details of the above-mentioned novel lift-lock, in English)
http://www.wna-magdeburg.de/welcome.html (Official site for the aqueduct across the Elbe at Magdeburg, linking the Mittelland Canal with the Elbe-Havel-Canal, opened in October 2003 as an alternative to the route through the Rothensee lift-lock, in English).
http://www.threegorgesprobe.org/tgp/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=8803 (Key details of the Three Gorges shiplift, China, construction of which is scheduled to start in 2005 and be completed in 2009 when it will be the largest in the world both in terms of height and hoisting capacity, in English).
last update: 14/05/05
