Arques canal lift, a photo from Nord-Pas-de-Calais, North

Photographer's Note

I've just returned from a weekend shopping trip here (actually St. Omer, practically the same town), and came back with no pictures worth posting, so I though I'd dig out these. Quite documentary photos, but an interesting piece of industrial archiology. This is a the Arques canal lift. It's now a static exhibit (having been replaced by a huge fast filling lock), but when in operation it allowed boats to be lifted in troughs to the higher level waterway without having to go through the series of locks that it replaced. It's almost a copy of the one in Northwich, UK, which is still working.

chrisc, ChrisJ, HOBO, Tue, plimrn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

chrisc (90) 2006-02-20 4:28

two years ago I went through a similar lift in N germany ,on the mittelankanal,the drop was38 metres and the size of the container100 by 12 M.seemed to be going down for ever!interesting bit of industrial architecture,nice colouring.

jrj (34843) 2006-02-20 5:53

Interesting photo Richard displaying this very original 'lift'. Good details included, good work this photo and notes.

rbcy1974 (20758) 2006-02-20 7:32

Hello Richard
Nice industrial photo,
I like the contrast between the humanmade elements and the natural ones
Regards
Daniel

ChrisJ (159888) 2006-02-21 3:42

Hi Richard

An interesting structure, with a certain functional beauty. I like the graphism against the brightly lit sky. Congratulations!

HOBO (5282) 2006-02-21 23:50

Good morning Richard,
a very special building. I like the passway over the entries decorated with flowers. Nice to see a ship in the right entry and one in the trough.
Regards
Knut

Tue (82114) 2006-02-23 16:31

Hej Richard,
Thanks for this photo and informative note of this interesting construction. Well composed shot with attractive colours. Well done and thanks for sharing.
Hilsner,
Lars

plimrn (21344) 2006-02-25 23:40

Being a boater, I'm always interested in boaty stuff and this is a great composition. Your good exposure brings the lock to life, in spite of a cloudy day that often leads to flat exposures. I like the orderliness of the equipment that is shown to good advantage with your sharp focus. I would feel safe going through this lock in a boat as opposed to the Panama canal which looks horrifying.