Talk:Canal inclined plane

Earliest inclined plane?
I would be very interested to see some dates on this page? I have been working on a page for John Edyvean who used inclined planes in 1770's are these the earliest in the the UK?

Talskiddy 12:03, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * A tricky one because we run into the problem of defintions. The mostly likely case for a pre 1770 inclined plane I can think of is the internal inclined planes inside the Duke of Bridgewater's coal mines. I don't know the exact date those appeared though.Geni 16:28, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

operation
The text stated that boats are perpendicular to the inclined plane, but shows an example where its clearly in line. I have amended the text to says "sometime perpendicular"

timeline
Appears to be suffering from a lack of coverage of developmeants outside the UK.Geni 23:08, 19 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I'll see what I can find. Martin Cordon 21:12, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Caisson link?
Caisson is a DAB page, but caisson (engineering) relates to structures which are effectively the inverse of what's used here (ie a box filled with air and submersed, upside-down, in the water). Something doesn't seem right - maybe there's another sense of caisson that's not yet defined in WP?

EdJogg 15:27, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The word Caisson is the word most commonly used in relevent literature to describe the water filled trough on canal inclines and lifts. Unfortunately, this bears no resemblance to any of the caisson's described in the caisson (engineering) link. An extra paragraph describing the type used on canals may be appropriate. Martin Cordon 12:49, 9 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Paragraph added. Martin Cordon 14:48, 9 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Good stuff - that's what was needed. (It needed a slight tweak to read right, which I've done.) Thanks. EdJogg 18:25, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Grammar
I'm not sure what this sentence means. "On some canals an inclined plane was used just to the transfer the loads up or down to the boats on a rail system." I was going to fix the grammar, but could not be sure exactly what the writer meant. Anyone care to clarify? (I was looking at the article as there were three planes on the Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal), but I have not found any details of how they worked, yet. Bob1960evens 19:51, 22 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I scanned through the history to see if I could identify the original context of the edit. Unfortunately, it was added exactly as typed here. However, I have traced the editor, who added it in June 2006. I have added a comment on his talk page asking for him to take another look at it.
 * EdJogg 23:24, 22 October 2007 (UTC)


 * St. Columb Canal was built using inclined planes but also had an inclined plane that linked the canal to the beach at Newquay. This was for the purpose of lifting up loads. Please feel free to edit it if it doesn't make sense., 10:25, 23 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. This link (which I found on the St. Columb Canal page) includes a picture which clearly shows the inclined plane from the beach. As it was a tub-boat canal, I'm not sure that this inclined plane is particularly different from any other. I would have expected that the tub-boats would be lowered to beach level for loading, and then raised to the canal using the plane. Hence I'm not convinced that the sentence is needed.
 * EdJogg 12:14, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

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Uncited material in need of citations
I am moving the following uncited material here until it can be properly supported with inline citations of reliable, secondary sources, per WP:V, WP:CS, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, WP:BLP, WP:NOR, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 15:09, 26 April 2022 (UTC)

Lede section
An inclined plane is quicker and wastes less water than a flight of canal locks, but is more costly to install and operate. A development of the idea is the water slope. An alternative to consecutive locks is a boat lift.

Operation
Typically, such a feature consists of a slope, with one or more rail tracks on it. Boats are raised between different levels by sailing into water-filled tanks, or caissons, with wheels on the bottom and watertight doors at each end. The caisson is mounted on an angled wheelbase, to keep it horizontal to the water level, and is generally aligned sideways to the slope. These are drawn up or down hill on the rails, usually by means of cables pulled by a stationary engine. In most designs two caissons are used, one going up and one down, acting as counterweights for greater efficiency. When the caisson has reached the top or bottom of the slope, the doors open and the boat leaves.

There are also inclined planes without a tank or caisson, instead carrying vessels up out of the water cradled in slings or resting on their keels. In a few cases the boats were permanently fitted with wheels.

Timeline

 * 1773 – John Edyvean proposed the use of inclined planes on the St. Columb Canal in Cornwall, England.
 * 1773 – Inclined planes proposed on the projected Caldon Canal. (See Peter Lead, The Caldon Canal, Oakwood Press 1990.)
 * 1777 – The inclines were a failure and were dismantled by 1787.
 * 1793 – American born inventor Robert Fulton wrote a letter to Lord Stanhope suggesting inclined planes instead of locks for Bude Canal in Cornwall. Lord Stanhope replied saying his idea for working the plane had already been thought of by Edmund Leach.
 * 1794 – Robert Fulton took out a British patent (# 1988), for improvements to inclined planes including a double inclined plane system to be used to raise canal boats without locks.
 * 1795 - 1805 – South Hadley Canal began operations, on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, United States. The first North American inclined plane canal. Replaced by five locks in 1805.
 * 1801 - 1806 – Inclined plane built on the Somersetshire Coal Canal, connecting a coal mining region to the Avon Canal. Temporary while a system of 22 locks augmented by a pump were installed. Canal ceased operation in 1893.
 * 1806 – Three inclined planes built on the Canal du Creusot near Torcy, France.
 * 1823 - 1891 – Bude Canal completed in 1823 incorporating six inclined planes along which tubs with wheels were transferred between different levels of the canal.
 * 1827 - 1871 – The Rolle Canal in North Devon, England included an inclined plane. The canal was closed in 1871 to make way for a railway.
 * 1834 - 1857 - The Allegheny Portage Railroad, consisting of 36 miles of track traversing 10 incline planes and the first railroad tunnel in the United States, opened in Pennsylvania as part of the Main Line of Public Works allowing barge traffic to travel between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh over the 1,399 foot (426 m) Allegheny Front. In 1857 a new railway between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had taken over the function of the canal.
 * 1837 - 1865 – The canal was replaced by a railway in 1869.
 * 1885 - 1948 – Keage Incline on Lake Biwa Canal in Kyoto, Japan. By 1948 a railway and road had taken over the function of the canal.
 * 1917 - 1923  – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was built as part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Replaced in 1923 by larger inclined plane able to carry boats up to 60 feet.
 * 1919 - 1965  – Swift Rapids Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada was built. Replaced in 1965 by canal lock.
 * 1923 - 2003  – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada replaced smaller lift built in 1917. Replaced in 1978 by even larger lift but continued operation until 2003.
 * 1973–present – Montech water slope the first of its kind was built on the Canal latéral à la Garonne in France.
 * 1978–present – Big Chute Marine Railway in Ontario, Canada added inclined plane carrying boats up to 100 feet in length. The smaller 1923 inclined plane lift continued operation alongside the new lift until 2003.
 * 1983 - 2001 – Fonserannes water slope was the second water slope. It was built on the Canal du Midi in France.

With caissons

 * The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Washington, D.C. later had an inclined plane built to move boats into the Potomac River so that they could bypass Georgetown which was becoming congested with traffic. The inclined plane was 2 mi upriver from Georgetown.
 * Foxton Inclined Plane
 * Ronquières inclined plane on the Brussels Charleroi Canal in Belgium.

Without caissons

 * Big Chute Marine Railway on the Trent-and-Severn-Waterway in Canada
 * Swift Rapids Marine Railway on the Trent-and-Severn-Waterway in Canada
 * Bude Canal in Cornwall
 * Dahme Flood Relief Canal at Märkisch Buchholz in Germany
 * Elbląg Canal between Elbląg and Ostróda in Poland
 * Hay Inclined Plane in the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire
 * St. Columb Canal built by John Edyvean
 * Trench inclined plane on the Shrewsbury Canal, Shropshire
 * Underground inclined plane in the Worsley Navigable Levels