We are headed for Severn and are in Lovesick Lake which every one has theories on where the name came from but no one really knows. Here is the Lovesick lock which was recently redone with steal and hydraulics to control lock. Note how new steal leaks far worse than 20 year old wood. Sarah and Steph are getting bow lines ready.
A lock where lots of work has been put into gardens. It should be mentioned that a standard work week for lock keepers is 66 hours. All their gardening is done in spring and fall when traffic is low. During the winter they are assigned part time to crews that rebuild locks to bring them up to the hours needed to be full time.
Kirkfield is the other lift lock. Lock has a lift of 49 ft and a public road going under it
This lock is all steal. Lift 49 ft, second highest in world to Peterborough. Only 9 in world other seven are in England, Belgium and France.
Hole in the Wall Bridge. It looks small but part of that is it is at an angle to waterway, But with its swift current it is still tricky
Doesn’t look any better after you are through it. Whole crew is saying high.
Doesn’t mater where he is Marley is always happiest under a table. He has two he has claimed on Windsong.
We have passed through many farms including corn, soy and wheat. In the Lake Simcoe area it appears to be hay there are some cattle in the area but hay must be an export crop there is so much of it.
We stayed at this lock over night. A beautiful calm area. This farmer just kept working as long as he had light; I think it was about 9:30.
Waiting for sunset. Sara loves to take pictures. She just has a little camera but she has figured out all the settings on it. She showed me a lot of the settings on mine too.
Here it is.
Passed through Lake Simcoe and stopped at Orillia. Marc’s Engine has arrived in Clayton NY. Tomorrow he and I will rent a car, drive to Clayton, put an Atomic engine and transmission in his minivan, drive it to Hastings Ont., drop it off and then drive back to Orillia, a trip of just over 500 miles.
Note rainbow over Windsong in Orillia. It was much better than the camera shows. I hope this is a good sign.
Big Chute Railway: The Lamprey eel is in all the great lakes as well as Lake Champlain. So far it has not made it into Lake Simcoe and the western half of the Trent Severn. Even though it was more expensive to build and operate and slower than standard locks, it was decided to build another railway in 1978 to replace the original built in 1917. So far it has been successful in blocking the Lamprey eel.
These 3 boats went through before Windsong; yes there are two in front.
How does the rail car stay level. Though there are lots of Hydraulics involved in loading and unloading the level part is quite simple, the rear wheels are inside the front ones and the track is always level between them. This picture shows the offset of tracks.
Windsong loading up for her choo- choo ride.
We are loaded but it took about 20 minutes and had a few very tense moments.
Going down! Good picture to show front and rear tracks.
It’s done! Glad I do not have to do that again till Tennessee
We are nearly done with Trent Severn, just one more lock to go. Some how I think even the dogs know this is last day for Marc, Sue, Sara and Stephanie. We want to thank them; they added much adventure and love to this leg of our trip.
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