Prior to the advent of railroads goods and supplies were moved using a system of canals.
But the water in canals can't flow uphill or over terrain, so a system of locks were used to raise and lower barges.

Here is a pic of a typical canal.



Note the canal barges along the bank.

In the area of Scotland known as Falkirk, South of Stirling, two canals, the Forth and Clyde, ran to within a quarter of a mile from each other. There was a problem though. There was a line of hills and a difference in elevation of 79 feet seperating them. A system of 11 locks were built in the 1880's to connect these two canals but a single barge took an entire 24 hours to traverse the 1/4 mile.

By the 1930's the canals were silted up and had fallen into dis-use.
In 2004 in a effort to reopen and revitalize the Scottish canals a unique and ambitious progect was completed and officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II as part of her Golden Jubilee Celebration.

I give you my favorite Scottish Engineering project. - The Falkirk Wheel.





Today, The Falkirk Wheel carries tourists on a one hour ride from the lower Forth Canal up to the higher Clyde Canal and back.

Here you can see the tourist canal boats loading for a trip.




Behind the wheel you can see the aquaduct that comes from the higher canal passing through a tunnel that goes through the hill you can see.

Here is a shot of the Wheel from the other side, about half way up the hill.



You can just see two barges nestled into the lower gondola. There are also two barges in the upper gondola.

And then the magic happens.







The entire Wheel rotates. Each rotation of the Wheel can take four barges in each arm. The weight of the barges and water balance the two arms so perfectly that the entire Wheel can be operated with an electric motor using no more power than a normal household refrigerator uses in one day.

This thing is huge. Here is a close up.




The Falkirk Wheel is the world's only rotating boat lift.
I hope you enjoyed this tour of my favorite Scottish Engineering Project.