# A Canal, a Ship and the Maple Leaf.



## NS VIA Fan (Feb 22, 2015)

This is a cool video: Time-lapse of a ship passing through the Welland Canal from Lake Erie down to Lake Ontario. And if you go to 6:10.....you will see the ship pause momentarily in the Flight Locks at Merritton just as VIA/Amtraks Maple Leaf passes before the CN Lift Bridge opens. (but you have to be quick.....this is time lapse!)


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## NS VIA Fan (Feb 22, 2015)

Amtrak’s Empire State Express didn’t have to worry about a possible delay from a ship in the canal when it ran between Detroit and Buffalo across southern Ontario. In went under the canal in this tunnel near Welland. Looking out from the rear vestibule.......







And prior to the tunnel.....New York Central trains used this bridge over an abandoned section of the canal at Welland.


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## railiner (Feb 22, 2015)

Fantastic video and photo's! Thanks for posting them!


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## Swadian Hardcore (Feb 22, 2015)

Great post! I wonder how slow that ship actually goes. I think it's a tanker.


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## Ryan (Feb 22, 2015)

Windy day!

Maybe 10-12 knots in the open part.

Tankers don't have a crane and hatch covers like that.


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## SarahZ (Feb 22, 2015)

That was cool.

My dad used to take us up to the Soo Locks when we were younger. One of his favorite things to do is watch the ships go through the locks. He gets so excited, like a little kid at Disney World. We took him up there last spring, as it had been about twenty years since our last trip. The look on his face was worth it. ^_^

I cannot even imagine trying to steer those giant freighters into the locks. It's like parallel parking x 1,000,000.


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## Ryan (Feb 22, 2015)

Bow thrusters are awesome. None of my ships had them.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Feb 22, 2015)

I guess it was a freighter then.


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## Bob Dylan (Feb 22, 2015)

Nice video, it's amazing that these canals and locks were designed and built so long ago before modern technology, and are still in use!


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## kneemeister (Apr 18, 2015)

On the lakes they call them boats. And the "crane" is a self unloading boom.


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## SarahZ (Apr 18, 2015)

If it's a freighter, it's a ship. "Boats" are small, recreational watercraft.


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## Bob Dylan (Apr 18, 2015)

SarahZ said:


> If it's a freighter, it's a ship. "Boats" are small, recreational watercraft.


Except for Submarines, they're Boats!


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## kneemeister (Apr 18, 2015)

No the Lakers are called boats. It's a tradition


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## kneemeister (Apr 18, 2015)

As in "Ore Boat" www.boatnerd.com


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## SarahZ (Apr 18, 2015)

While they are often called boats, they are classified as a ship. Neither of us are wrong.


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## kneemeister (Apr 18, 2015)

Not saying you are, sorry if it came off that way. I was just saying that the Laker crews call there ships, boats. Heck, the last serveral Canada Steamship Lines and Algoma Boats, were built in China, and made the long journey across the pacific partialy loaded with Chinese stone ballast. They had to add bracing in there holds for structural integrity. As Lakers are designed for calmer fresh water, and shallower drafts that was not a routine Ocean crossing.


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## KmH (Apr 20, 2015)

I see the train at 6:20. I bet 6:10 is a typo.


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## NorthShore (Apr 21, 2015)

Or, typically, it's just running late.


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## Metra Electric Guest (May 7, 2015)

jimhudson said:


> Nice video, it's amazing that these canals and locks were designed and built so long ago before modern technology, and are still in use!


I thought the Welland Canal has pretty much been entirely rebuilt over the years? I remember visiting it as a kid and thinking it was pretty darn cool!


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## NS VIA Fan (May 7, 2015)

Metra Electric Guest said:


> jimhudson said:
> 
> 
> > Nice video, it's amazing that these canals and locks were designed and built so long ago before modern technology, and are still in use!
> ...


There’s been four canals……basically on the same route across the Niagara Peninsula. The current canal opened in 1932 but has a newer 8 mile section to bypass the City of Welland that opened in 1973.


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