Sunday-Tuesday morning, July 28 – 30, 2019
Our trip from Orillia through the Big Chute (Lock 44) covered 32 miles and took us through three locks that dropped us a total of 125 feet.
We departed Orillia at 9:20am and began our trip across Lake Couchiching towards the town of Washago. From there we continued on the Trent Canal only to find that our Garmin chart plotter completely lost a 4-mile section of the waterway – yikes! No blue on the map, it all just looked like land. Uh-oh! Fortunately, our backup iPad running Aqua Map did show this section of the waterway so we could see where we were going. Whew!
After arriving at Couchiching Lock 42 about 11am, we waited our turn to enter the lock along with four other boats. Since it was a Sunday, the waterway was crowded with local boaters enjoying the summer weather. By 11:20 we moved into the lock chamber and by 11:40 we were 20 feet lower and on our way again.
Our path continued along the very scenic (and very narrow) canal until reaching Sparrow Lake that took us to the Severn River. We followed the river to Swift Rapids Lock 43, which is a large lock that dropped us 47 feet. The lock doors here were operated by hydraulic rams instead of the “walk around wheel” used at the smaller locks operated by human power.
We arrived at the Big Chute Marine Railway Lock 44 at 3pm and docked at the Big Chute Marina across the river from it. We were able watch the Big Chute operate from our boat for a while before heading out to the Marina restaurant for dinner. We planned to stay here for two nights so we could have a day to tour the small museum and watch how the system operated. (Plus the forecast for July 29th did not look like a good day to ride a marine railway, let alone travel at all!)
Some Big Chute Railway History
The first marine railway constructed at the Big Chute site was built in 1917 to help support the opening of the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW). The railway was almost completely rebuilt in 1923-1924 to increase capacity for larger boats. This version of the Big Chute railway operated until the late 1970’s with just some minor upgrades and a new control building.
It became apparent in the late 1960’s that the old marine railway could no longer handle the increasing boat traffic on the TSW. Building a new lock to replace the old railway was considered, but this would have allowed sea lamprey into Lake Couchiching, Lake Simcoe and beyond, thus passing along a fishing industry nightmare that had already been experienced in the Great Lakes. Instead, the decision was made to build a larger, more technically advanced railway. After a biologist determined that the sea lamprey, if attached to a boat, would fall off before reaching the upper end of the railway, construction began in 1976 and the new marine railway was operational by 1978.
Technical diversion (skip this if so inclined)
A few interesting facts
- Maximum boat length: 100 ft
- Maximum boat width: 24 ft
- Maximum boat draft: 6 ft
- Carriage dimensions: 80 ft long; 36 ft wide; 32 ft high
- Total lift (low water level to high water level): 58 ft
- Overland distance traversed: 748 ft
- Maximum load: 99 US tons
- Maximum speed: 200 ft per second
- Average traversing time: 10 minutes (not including loading time)
Question: How does the carriage keep level while going up and down each side of the chute?
Answer: While one might think there would be some sort moving parts or hydraulic leveling system, the railway has a simple and reliable way to stay level. There are drawings/diagrams and pictures shown in the picture section of the blog along with some videos to help show how the carriage works with the following description:
Control cables run through a series of wheels to the underside of the carriage allowing the carriage to be controlled along the pathway. The carriage is supported by four legs. There are two sets of rails. The two legs on the upstream side of the carriage run on the inside rails, the downstream legs run on the outer rails. The height of the inner and outer rails is set such that the carriage remains level throughout the entire overland trip. The rails run below the water level at each end of the transit to allow boats to float on or off. The operators use slings to position the boats on the carriage and to keep them from tipping over. Smaller flat-bottom boats and pontoons can sit on the carriage deck as long as they can raise their outboard propellers. The carriage operators hang larger boats off the stern of the carriage to prevent their propeller shafts and propellers from being bent when the boat comes to rest on the carriage deck. They can also take larger boats toward the front of the carriage, place slings under the boat stern to hold the propellers off the carriage deck (this has the boat tipped forward a few degrees).
We watched this process for a couple hours during our visit and never saw the carriage operators have any trouble getting a boat through the system.
End of technical diversion section.
High winds and thunderstorms were predicted for the evening of July 29. The forecast turned out to be true and it was a good night to be tied to sturdy dock. The next morning, we could see six boats already tied to the blue line waiting to enter the Big Chute when they opened. We departed the dock at 9:50am once we saw things were moving along. The only other boat on the blue line was a pontoon boat carrying some sort of large wooden crate. Just as it came time for us to start moving toward the Big Chute, we got a message over their PA system (since they don't use radios on the TSW except at Lock 1) that they needed us to hold position for about 30 minutes while they did some maintenance. Good news, bad news, who knows……
It turned out to be good news. While we were waiting, another couple Looper boats that we knew arrived at the blue line. We spoke for a few minutes and agreed that we would attempt to take photos of each other’s passage on the Big Chute. You know the saying, "A picture's worth a thougsand words," - it's very appropriate for explaining the Big Chute. So, thanks to the 30-minute delay and arrival of our Looper buddies, we were able to have photos of us doing the Big Chute!