Boat Lifts.

A copy of the Anderton Lift - in Belgium

If you get the chance to visit Mons, in Belgium, you should take the opportunity to go and have a look at the boat lifts they have on the canal du centre, between La Louviere and Mons. What is amazing is that they have 4, yes, 4 lifts that are clearly based on the Anderton lift, all looking (when I went to see them, anyway) rather shabby and unkempt. There is a good reason for this. They have been replaced with the next picture below. They are however now a World Heritage site, and you can see more detail on these at: http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/fourlifts.html

The stretch of canal that has the 4 lifts on has been bypassed, and the change in levels resolved by….
A real, man-size lift.

This is the giant boat lift of Strepy Thieu. Now, this is what you could safely call a boat lift. This enormous item has replaced the 4 redundant lifts, and the capacity of the canal has been greatly improved as a result. It's interesting to note that the Belgians still consider that it's worth continuing to invest in canals as a commercial waterway, while we only consider their value as purely recreational.
Yes, it really is that big.

So, let's have some statistics. I included this picture as it demonstrates the height the lift goes to. Consider the height of the lamp-posts - they are motorway size in themselves. This monster lifts 1,350 tonnes 80 metres (260 feet) into the air, in just 10 minutes. Think about that for a moment. It's an enormous feat of engineering, and certainly well worth a visit. A reason to visit Belgium, now that's not something you find on every website.

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