The Big Chute Marine Railway

Today was filled with so much I doubt I will be able to relate it all here... it has been another awesome day! And a “big” surprise rail trip taken a day earlier than we thought it would occur.

We left with dark skies over us and sprinkling rain falling... must have rained hard during the night as the bridge was soaked and had to be wiped down before we could sit in the chairs or see out of the isinglass.

Looking down at the water it was still emerald green but in the distance it took on the dark gray sky color. On deck I wore my wool sweater but with the wind blowing as we cruised along I was still chilled. Soon the sun came out and there was no more rain today..... it became a day filled with sun, dark green trees on rocky cliffs and beautiful lakes. The houses we saw were few and far between and were more like mountain homes than cottages. We were going into a more remote area along the Severn River.

The Train Bridge that would not open!

There was a boat up ahead of us just being let through the bridge.... But it began to close as he went through..... So the Captain tooted our air horn the required three short blasts just in case the bridge tender didn't see us....it still closed!  So we idled and thought we heard him say something to us... Walter turned the engines off to listen... when the guy walked down from the high control house I called to him saying, “Sir, we didn't hear what you said?” He said, “I didn't said anything!”... no further explanation... we must have heard his radio???? Then he said, there is a train coming so I can't open the bridge.  I asked when the train would be here and he said, “It will be here when it is here!” and he walked off to another little house on other side of the river.   We waited and waited and Waited!  We decided that if there is a train moving anywhere in Canada he doesn't open his swing bridge. 20 minutes later, sure enough, there was a freight train.  About 5 minutes later he slowly walked to the steps & up to his control house. Then began the screeching and awful sounds like the whole bridge would fall apart.  We would not have minded the wait IF there had been a place to tie up and cut off the engines.  We kept drifting into the weeds so had to keep moving the boat and by now also watch out for several other boats now waiting behind us.  After 30 minutes he did open the bridge.

Bridge that did open for us.

The beautiful waterway today.

Okay, so they built the locks to get boats around waterfalls and rapids.. but not all rapids apparently.  The chart said, “Ragged Rapids” and there they were!  The water was deep enough so we went across this area just fine but obviously the bottom must have had boulders on it the way it was boiling and churning.

A mountain lake.

The Swift Rapids Lock #43 drops you 47 feet. The top of the lock gate was closed off but I was given permission to walk across the top of it to take this picture before the water came back up for us to enter it.

What we would call in Western North Carolina a mountain type cottage.

Here is our first view of the Big Chute Marine Railway.  It is coming over the hill and down into the area where we had tied up.

There was no room on the public dock or at the nearby marina. So we tied up at the end of the blue line hoping not to be called today.  We wanted to take photos and get someone to take our picture in the boat traveling on this railway tomorrow.

Here the railway carriage is lowered into the water to release the boats aboard it.

Chart shows how the slings work for large boats like ours and the smaller ones.

To our surprised we were called into the Big Chute today!... well, we were ON the blue line after all! No time to find someone to take our photo.. we were pretty excited as we listened carefully to the instructions given to us over a loud speaker.

Miss gg in the slings

We were both standing on the fore deck as the carriage came up out of the water....there are no lines to tend.

Starting over the hill.

Over the hill.

Starting down...this is where the Captain who doesn't like heights SAT down on the deck box.

EEEK!

Carriage going back down into water.

Where we just came from.

Later after we docked at bottom for the night we walked back up to watch some more of this amazing & ingenious machine.... the boats on the carriage stay level all the time because the front wheels are on one track and the back wheels are on a separate track.

Here the Marine Railway is crossing the highway.  Notice the people walking on the sidewalk … shows the size of this machine.

This photo shows how our boat looked in the slings.

We go through one last lock tomorrow and we will complete the Trent-Severn Canal.  We will then be in Georgian Bay.... a place of beauty from the pictures we have seen.  What an amazing Day!