Here's something different...at this site you can watch the little loccomotives pull big ships thru a set of locks on the Panama Canal.
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
Something Different
- Thread starter Vic
- Start date
no ships going through right now but an interesting site. I Bookmarked it for future use. thanks Vic.
Thanks Clerk, There's not much action during darkness but lots of times its non-stop during daylight.
Kewl. some time back I posted a pic of the little switchers there. They go up a %100 grade.
Hey, whats that? THE BOX!
Hey, whats that? THE BOX!
I watched the movie. Man, looks like they may have to touch up the scrapes along the sides of the New Jersey.
t.
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I spent 21 years in the Canadian Navy and hav been through the Panama Canal 5 times (2 x west-east and 3 x east-west).
Those little locomotives are extremely powerful. They are electric and are driven by geared cogs and the crews generally call them "Mules". At each set of locks, a maxumum of 8 are used to guide the ships into position, 4 (2 on each side) pull and the other 4 act as brakes.
Smaller ships get 4 locomotives (1 on each corner).
The cables attached to the ships are very thick steel wire ropes and when the ship is pulled into the lock, all cables are very tight and all locos work Exactly together.
When they start pulling, there is NO hesitation on the part of the ship, It just "MOVES" and when they stop, so does the ship, "NOT NOW but RIGHT NOW".
Co'ordination is paramount and if one loco crew member screws up, it can have some interesting consequences for the ship involved.
In July of 1994 while on a frigate, enroute to the Pacific, we transited the canal and while in the Pedro Miguel Locks, one of the 4 locos acting as a brake unit on the starboard quarter (right rear for all you land types) continued to pull for 3 seconds which yanked us very quickly into the concrete side of the lock, and making a big mess of the Old Man's (Captain's) pet paint job .
In the early 1960's one of our destroyer escorts had a bollard (which are hard points on the deck which hawsers (BIG ropes) are turned up on) pulled out of the steel deck when one of the locos continued to pull.
Accidents are rare and the crews from the line handelers to the loco operaters are generally very professional.
Great site Vic and thanks for posting it.
BTW, there is no peak time to view ships going through the locks, as they are run through the canal in blocks of several in one direction due to the fact that a large part of the canal is only wide enough for single lane trafic and often, there are breaks in the action untill the next block of ships arrives and this can happen both day and night.
Where the ships have to run close to the shore, the shoreline is very well lit and the canal is open and operating 24/7/365.
Have a great one and Cheers!
Those little locomotives are extremely powerful. They are electric and are driven by geared cogs and the crews generally call them "Mules". At each set of locks, a maxumum of 8 are used to guide the ships into position, 4 (2 on each side) pull and the other 4 act as brakes.
Smaller ships get 4 locomotives (1 on each corner).
The cables attached to the ships are very thick steel wire ropes and when the ship is pulled into the lock, all cables are very tight and all locos work Exactly together.
When they start pulling, there is NO hesitation on the part of the ship, It just "MOVES" and when they stop, so does the ship, "NOT NOW but RIGHT NOW".
Co'ordination is paramount and if one loco crew member screws up, it can have some interesting consequences for the ship involved.
In July of 1994 while on a frigate, enroute to the Pacific, we transited the canal and while in the Pedro Miguel Locks, one of the 4 locos acting as a brake unit on the starboard quarter (right rear for all you land types) continued to pull for 3 seconds which yanked us very quickly into the concrete side of the lock
, and making a big mess of the Old Man's (Captain's) pet paint job .In the early 1960's one of our destroyer escorts had a bollard (which are hard points on the deck which hawsers (BIG ropes) are turned up on) pulled out of the steel deck when one of the locos continued to pull
.Accidents are rare and the crews from the line handelers to the loco operaters are generally very professional.
Great site Vic and thanks for posting it
.BTW, there is no peak time to view ships going through the locks, as they are run through the canal in blocks of several in one direction due to the fact that a large part of the canal is only wide enough for single lane trafic and often, there are breaks in the action untill the next block of ships arrives and this can happen both day and night.
Where the ships have to run close to the shore, the shoreline is very well lit and the canal is open and operating 24/7/365.
Have a great one and Cheers!
I just looked at the New Jersey vidio and I note that she rated 10 locomotives (Very Big Ship)
Have a great one!
Cheers!
Terry
Have a great one!
Cheers!
Terry
WOW That is VERY cool! I'll have to check the videos out at work where the connection is MUCH faster.
Thanks Vic for the link and Thanks K.V.Div for the commentary!
That is VERY cool! I'll have to check the videos out at work where the connection is MUCH faster.Thanks Vic for the link and Thanks K.V.Div for the commentary!
Hi Folks, I failed to mention that if you want to see something in particular on that site e-mail them and they will change the camera to view what you want to see.
Also from time to time they set the camera to change its position every 5 mins or so and you get different views of what's going on.
Also from time to time they set the camera to change its position every 5 mins or so and you get different views of what's going on.