The Travels of Tug 44 |
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Strepy-Thieu Boat Lift - Belgium |
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The Strey-Thieu boat lift is the world's highest "lock" at 238 feet. It is located on the Canal du Centre in Belgium.
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This is the lower entrance to the lift. On the right you can see a giant box filled with water and boats being lifted up the elevator, and on the left the gates are just closing.
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Here the canal door is being lifted to allow boats to move in and out of the lock chamber.
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A view looking down into the lock chamber. At the bottom you see the double doors. One light-gray door to block off the canal water, and a second dark-gray door which forms the end of the water box. See also the cables visible along the water box on the right edge. The groups of 7 cables are connected to concrete counterweights suspended from pulleys at the top of the structure. The groups of 2 cables are attached to winch drums, also located in the top deck of the structure.
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Here you see a lift has just begun. The water box is visible with it's door closed on the front. Below is the canal door, with it's safety bumper, and a walkway.
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This is the machinery room in the top deck of the boat lift building. Along each side are the pulleys which operate the counterweights and electrically-driven winches. The pulleys are about 14 feet in diameter.
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That's a close-up view of the pulleys. The group of 7 pulleys to the right are for the counterweights. On the left is a giant winch drum to provide the little power needed to overcome friction. The counterweights do all the rest.
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