An inclined plane is a type of
cable railway used on some
canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in
caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings.
History
Inclined planes have evolved over the centuries. Some of the first were used by the Egyptians to bypass waterfalls on the Nile.[1] These consisted of wooden slides covered with silt which reduced friction.[1]
Timeline
600BC – The
Diolkos, an early Greek inclined plane, was in use.[2]
1792–1921 – In 1792 the
Shropshire Tub Canals were built incorporating a number of inclined planes. One of these, the
Trench plane closed in 1921 and brought to an end boat-carrying inclined planes in Britain[4]
1797–1822 – At
Worsley Navigable Levels, a coal mine operation in Greater Manchester, England, an underground incline started in 1795 was completed in 1797.[3]
1806–1828 Two inclined planes built on the Stollen Canal at
Gliwice, Upper
Silesia.[3]
1831–1924 – Between 1825 and 1831, 23 inclines were built as part of the
Morris Canal, New Jersey, USA.[5] This waterway, 100 miles (160 km) long, connected the
Hudson and
Delaware Rivers, rising more than 1,400 feet (430 m). In 1832,
Frances Trollope, publishes in "
Domestic Manners of the Americans" her account of a visit the previous year to see one of the inclined planes of the
Morris Canal. In 1924 the canal was abandoned and later dismantled. The Morris Canal's design was reused for the planes on the
Elbląg Canal.[9][10] (see below)
1837–1865 – The extension to the
Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal, Wales opened in 1837, including two counterbalanced inclined planes and one single-track one.[11]
1860–present – The first four inclined planes of the
Elbląg Canal in
Germany (
East Prussia), nowadays
Poland, were opened in 1860.[5] A fifth incline was added later to replace five wooden locks. This canal reused the design from the
Morris Canal for its inclined planes.[10]
1900–1926 –
Foxton Inclined Plane was built in England to help overcome shortcomings of the Foxton locks on the Grand Union Canal. Mothballed in 1911 and seeing only occasional use and dismantled in 1926.[5]
The electric inclined plane at the
Krasnoyarsk Dam in
Divnogorsk,
Russia[12][13] The ship capacity is up to 1500 tons[which?], maximum ship size is 80 by 17 by 2 metres (262.5 ft × 55.8 ft × 6.6 ft) and elevation is 104 metres (341 ft). This is an electric
rack railway. The track gauge of the railway is 9,000 mm (29 ft 6+5⁄16 in), making it the widest gauge railway of any type in the world.[14]
^
abFoxton Locks and Inclined Plane A Detailed History. Department of Planning and Transportation, Leicestershire County Council. 1988. p. 3.
ISBN0-85022-191-9.
^David Minor (July 1996).
"A CANAL CHRONOLOGY".
EZnet.
Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2011-12-16. 1788 -- An inclined plane is used for the first time to raise canal boats, on England's Ketley Canal.