I was very lucky to be invited to spend a few days cruising the canals south of Brussels, including the second biggest boat lift in the world. Lots of big commercial traffic.

 

https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2022/06/13/belgian-boating-part-1/

https://scholargypsy.org.uk/2022/06/13/belgian-boating-part-2/

Some great pictures and a tidy cruiser too.

 

I always thought those big lifts would be adept at removing body parts and the 'danger of decapitation' sign sort of confirmed this..🤔🤔

8 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Some great pictures and a tidy cruiser too.

 

I always thought those big lifts would be adept at removing body parts and the 'danger of decapitation' sign sort of confirmed this..🤔🤔

The historic lift was fascinating, you could see exactly how it worked. Guys with a bucket of ash to get a good seal, opening sluices, moving hooks to lift the gates, the safety catch to stop the gates falling on you, and a large crowbar at one point,

 

As the lift goes up they might take the opportunity to grease the runners

 

The base of one of the rams about 2m across - these are full of water which is transfered from one side to the other with the first tank descending and pushing the other up. As the ram takes the weight the surrounding structure is rather lighter than our own lif t at Anderton which was converted from hydraulic long ago and  uses cables pulled up by electric motors (as does the new giant lift in Belgium)

9 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

 

As the lift goes up they might take the opportunity to grease the runners

Thanks! They didn't do this when we were there, but it was raining most of the time...

5 minutes ago, Phoenix_V said:

 

The base of one of the rams about 2m across - these are full of water which is transfered from one side to the other with the first tank descending and pushing the other up. As the ram takes the weight the surrounding structure is rather lighter than our own lif t at Anderton which was converted from hydraulic long ago and  uses cables pulled up by electric motors (as does the new giant lift in Belgium)

What I couldn't work out was whether / how the cassion was held tight against the connecting channel when at the top or the bottom- as this structure could not obviously resist forces along the line of the cassion.  You could definitely feel the whole structure sway a bit, ditto with the monster modern lift, once the seal was broken.

17 minutes ago, Scholar Gypsy said:

Thanks! They didn't do this when we were there, but it was raining most of the time...

What I couldn't work out was whether / how the cassion was held tight against the connecting channel when at the top or the bottom- as this structure could not obviously resist forces along the line of the cassion.  You could definitely feel the whole structure sway a bit, ditto with the monster modern lift, once the seal was broken.

I assumed there was some sort of lock device as there was a delay between arriving and gate openning?

The old lifts do break down often and there was the alarming accident 20 years ago when a barge broke its back as the lift tried to go up before the boat had exited at the bottom! Belgian attitudes to health and safety are not confidence inspiring!

We thought the large lift was very smooth only the ground outside receeding showing movement. The inclined plane on the other hand rattled rather alarmingly.

There is a small museum at the large lift.

Strangely in Belgium it is never the operatives fault if they work for the state it’s called an accident. After the incident the bottom lift was dismantled so unfortunately in 2011 when we were there the old lifts were not available so we had to go in the big new one. The Peniche in the photo is the one with the broken back the other boat is a Berrichon which has been at the bottom of the lift for years

 

7 hours ago, Phoenix_V said:

I assumed there was some sort of lock device as there was a delay between arriving and gate openning?

The old lifts do break down often and there was the alarming accident 20 years ago when a barge broke its back as the lift tried to go up before the boat had exited at the bottom! Belgian attitudes to health and safety are not confidence inspiring!

We thought the large lift was very smooth only the ground outside receeding showing movement. The inclined plane on the other hand rattled rather alarmingly.

There is a small museum at the large lift.

I agree with you re H&S - our route to the shops in Seneffe was via a rather chaotic demolition site. 

My cruising companions were delayed at Ronquieres for a couple of hours, as a particularly clanky section of rail was replaced. 

What an amazing experience. The size of those structures are awesome. 

On 15/06/2022 at 13:17, Dav and Pen said:

Strangely in Belgium it is never the operatives fault if they work for the state it’s called an accident. After the incident the bottom lift was dismantled so unfortunately in 2011 when we were there the old lifts were not available so we had to go in the big new one. The Peniche in the photo is the one with the broken back the other boat is a Berrichon which has been at the bottom of the lift for years

 

We have almost exactly this photo, taken about 10 years ago.

31 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

We have almost exactly this photo, taken about 10 years ago.

Yes you may well have it’s a stock photo. I have some of mine from in the tank but can’t find the ones showing the external view. I also somewhere have photos taken over visits to the site when it was in construction.

43 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Yes you may well have it’s a stock photo. I have some of mine from in the tank but can’t find the ones showing the external view. I also somewhere have photos taken over visits to the site when it was in construction.

I was outside our motorhome when I took our photos. Decades ago my whole family went to Ronquières for the day, to see the inclined plane in operation.