The "Big Shute" Marine Railway

Big Chute Marine Railway is a boat lift at lock 44 of the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario, Canada. It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles over a change of height of about 60 feet (18 m). It is the only marine railway (or canal inclined plane) of its kind in North America still in use, and is overseen by federally operated Parks Canada.

Completed in 1978, can carry a boat up to 100 feet (30 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) beam. It cost $3 million to build. Marine biologists also determined that the railway transfer was the most effective way to prevent the transfer of the sea lamprey, which had been devastating the fishing industry in the Great Lakes

From Rural Ontario