The Anderton Boat Lift

The Anderton Boat Lift was build in the 1870's to raise and lower canal boats between the Trent and Mersey Canal at the dop and the the River Weaver 15 metres below.  They had been already raising and lowering boats by slower "inclined plane" systems, similar to the Wellington Cable Car, for 100 years at this point.  The boat lift comprises two tanks each large enough to take a 70-foot long canal boat and the water it floats in.  One of these 250 ton tanks goes up, while the other comes down, and vice versa.  They counterbalance each other, with a little more water in the descending one adding weight to make it slightly heavier than the one going up.

Boat emerging after descending to the River Weaver

The boat motoring in at the top of the lift

A pair of 15 metre long, 1 metre diameter hydraulic rams raise and lower each boat.  If you buy a ticket you can ride down the llift in a boat, have a short cruise on the river, then come back up again.

One of the original industries justifying the lift was the salt trade.  Unfortunately there is also salt in the water so the original water hydraulic system corroded.  It was eventually replaced by one using hydraulic oil instead.