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Before the railways there were canals. When they were built, the UK's inland waterways were a revolutionary new transport system that led to wealth creation on an unprecedented scale. In some cases, natural waterways, such as rivers and lakes, were connected by man-made canals to form a continuous link. Such is the case of the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. The Forth and Clyde Canal was started in 1768. The idea was to start from the Forth and work steadily westward, making use of the River Carron, towards the Clyde. After about ten years the money ran out, and it was another eight years before work restarted. The canal was opened in 1790. The Union Canal, or to give it its full name, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, was begun in 1818 and took just 4 years to finish. It runs for just over 31 miles, and crosses no fewer than three major aqueducts. The Union Canal was originally intended to break the monopoly of the Edinburgh coal masters and Midlothian mine owners by enabling coal to be transported directly into Glasgow. At Falkirk the two canals were about a mile apart, but suffered from a separation of 115 feet - vertically. But just over a hundred years ago, so as to give a direct connection (including a passenger service) between Edinburgh and Glasgow city centres, the two canals were connected by a flight of eleven locks. It took a full day for a boat to get from one canal to the other, most infuriating for any one in a hurry.
With the advent of the railways, much faster than boats, the canals fell into decline, and years of neglect made the canals useless as a means of transportation, and these locks were dismantled in 1933. In recent years, however, people have realised that canals can be very useful, not only for recreational purposes. And in 1994 British Waterways, who now owned the canals, started to look for a way to revitalise canals, including the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal. But they had to solve the problem of the difference in levels of the two canals. What was wanted was some way of getting boats down this 115 feet without using locks, which would have been expensive to construct. After much thought and discussion they found a method of doing it. A revolutionary method, too. It only cost £84.5 million. Fortunately this money was supplied by a partnership between eleven interested parties, including the EEC and the Millennium Commission. The job was completed during the first year of the new millennium, 2001. So, with the restoration of the Edinburgh & Glasgow Union Canal (commonly called the Union Canal), boats can once again travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The completion of the work was officially marked by the Queen on the 24th. May 2002. So, what has brought this discourse on transport in the past. Well, during a recent visit to Scotland, we had the opportunity of going to see this modern wonder. On the journey we kept seeing signs directing us to the Falkirk Wheel. But the driver insisted that all these signs were doing was trying to get everybody off the country roads and on to the motorways. And no way was she going on to the motorways. After several utterances of "I think this is the way", we finally arrived in a rather large car park. "This", I said to myself, "is going to be a Visitor Attraction." You know, one of those places you visit only to find it spoilt by all the visitors. A short walk brought us to a rather large building, the designers of which seemed to have a passion for glass. Having found the entrance I was surprised to find no one standing behind a counter demanding an exorbitant sum of money before allowing us to go any further. Inside the building was the usual cafeteria plus a number of large display boards, the contents of which not only told us what a great construction we were going to behold, but, more interestingly (to me, anyway), details of how it was built and how it worked. "Time for that later", I thought, and passed through the exit to see this strange device.
I am not quite sure what I expected to see, but it certainly wasn't what was there. It is huge. What you can see is over 140 feet high, and there is the bit you can't see under the water. It is revolutionary. After all, what can be more revolutionary than a wheel. They don't call it the Falkirk Wheel for nothing. It does its job successfully, though it could be considered as a rather large piece of modern sculpture. It was first built at an engineering works in Derbyshire to make sure it would work as it was designed to do, and then dismantled like a piece of giant Meccano and transferred to Falkirk, where it was put together again. No mean job, for it weighs over 600 tons and is held together by over 15,000 bolts. It sits at the edge of a large area of water, almost against the Antonine Wall, which is quite a few feet high and made of piled up earth. Not what I would call a real wall. At the other side of the water is a lock gate to allow boats to enter the canal leading to Edinburgh. And round the water is a large area of grass with a picnic area and a children's play area. And the inevitable snack bar. By taking paths leading up to the Roughcastle Tunnel through which the canal passes through the Antonine Wall, you can see the top of the wheel, or, if you are feeling adventurous, take the tow-path through the tunnel and walk to Glasgow. We didn't feel too adventurous that day. So how does it work. Well, the Union Canal, coming from Glasgow, comes through the Antonine Wall via the Roughcastle tunnel and then into a reinforced concrete aqueduct, the end of which is blocked by a sliding panel. The wheel consists of two arms, between which are suspended two gondolas, one at each end, in such a way that as the arms rotate, the gondolas can rotate in the opposite direction and so keep level. Cunning, but essential to stop anything in them from being tipped out. The two ends of each gondola are also sealed by sliding panels. The two arms are pivoted at the centre so that when the arms are vertical, one gondola is in line with the canal at the top, and the other one lies so that its top is level with the surface of the water in the bottom canal. Remember, the vertical distance between these two stretches of water is 115 feet. With both gondolas filled with water the whole device is in a state of equilibrium. With the necessary panels slid out of the way, boats can then enter the gondolas, and since we know (Archimedes told us, after all), that each floating object displaces its own weight of water, the whole device stays balanced. Once all the boats are in, the various ends of the canal and the gondolas are sealed, and the whole lot rotates until what was at the top reaches the bottom and vice versa. Just to make sure that the gondolas remain horizontal, a cog wheel 26 feet in diameter is attached to the gondolas, neatly hidden behind the arm nearest the aqueduct. A wheel of exactly the same diameter is fixed to the main fixed upright. Two small cogs are fixed in the spaces between. The result is that as the arms move clockwise the gondolas move anticlockwise at the same rate. The whole device is turned by a number of hydraulic motors, though the energy required is equivalent to just 1.5 kilowatts of electricity. And it takes just four minutes to turn the wheel the necessary half-revolution, just as much energy as is used by a 100 watt bulb in an hour. It was a trip that I enjoyed. I would have liked to stay longer and had a good look at the mechanics of the thing while it was moving, but the other members of the party (all ladies) decided that they had had enough for one day after the walk up to the tunnel and back, so we left. If you ever get a chance to visit the Falkirk Wheel, go and enjoy it. You can even take a boat trip which includes a lift up to the upper canal and a trip through the tunnel and a little of the way to Glasgow before returning. If you do go, don't forget to take a picnic. Bill Hutchings |
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