As previously mentioned, most of the Locks on the Trent are manually operated and considered historical. There are a few of the busy locks that have been converted to hydralic but there are several of the Locks that we considered to be engineering feats.
The first is the Peterborough Hydraulic Lift Lock which lifts you 65 feet up in 90 seconds. It also holds the world record for locking through 328 boats, most of which were canoes, kayaks, and paddled watercraft!
The Kirkfield Lift Lock is the second highest Lift Lock in North America, 47 feet tall built from 1900-1907. It’s the second highest Lock on the waterway and takes 90 seconds to lift your boat.
The two other unique types of locks called Flight Locks located at Healy Falls and Ranney Falls are tandem locks that share a common gate. Constructed back in 1910-1914. These were constructed instead of doing a Lift Lock. I call them a 2-for1, as you are lifted up to a certain level and then lifted again to the next level.
The most famous is Big Chute, the only marine railway in North America. It’s 100 feet long and 24 feet wide. It works like a big cradle on railroad tracks to carry boats up and over a land mass. The original Big Chute was constructed in 1914 and the new one was added in 2003.
Reimanns 'round the loop in 2022 