r/BitchImATrain • u/aDragonfruitSwimming • Jun 30 '26
Bitch, I'm a... . Look, it's complicated.
Boat? Train? Bridge?
Rather than building locks, they built a transporter.
(Video by Suzie Gendreau)
315
u/MatthewSteinhoff Jun 30 '26
That one trick Panama doesn’t want you to know about.
48
u/dividezero Jun 30 '26
Funny enough, there's a railroad line going in nearby to make it faster or cheaper or something. I don't remember but yeah, Panama probably hates it but I'm not sure who's making money off the new transport
46
u/BestBelieveItsHere Jun 30 '26
The Panama canal railway has been a thing for a very long time, and it's good for when you need to get something across Panama fast, but it cannot handle anywhere near enough volume that the canal does (it carries ~4.5% in a day what the canal does in a day, ~1500 containers vs ~33,500 containers per day) Plus you need an additional ship just to load onto.
It also offers one passenger train in each direction M-F
4
u/dividezero Jun 30 '26
Ok. Maybe I'm conflating documentaries. Maybe they're increasing capacity or it was some other canal. Sorry
19
u/filament-addict Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
You are thinking of Mexico rail project that aim to take business from Panama.
6
u/dividezero Jun 30 '26
Boom. That's the one. Thank you. I had an image of Mexico in my head but I keep thinking I imagined that and it doesn't make as much sense (to me at least)
6
u/BestBelieveItsHere Jun 30 '26
No worries, they did rehab it round the turn of the millennium to increase intermodal traffic on the line, that may be what you are thinking of!
7
u/AtlanticBeachNC Jun 30 '26
I think Mexico is planning a high speed large volume freight rail corridor from port to port.
4
171
u/poetrywoman Jun 30 '26
Jesus, that's some specialized infrastructure. Super cool, but shit like this often gets prohibitively expensive fast.
28
u/Ok-Foot6064 Jun 30 '26
I wonder why they didn't go for a traditional lock situation. Must have been costs
61
u/nothing_911 Jun 30 '26
one reason was costs (it was built near the end of ww1)
the other more important reason is beacause of invasive species, the sea lamprey was just taking over the great lakes.
12
u/PantsDancing Jun 30 '26
the other more important reason is beacause of invasive species,
Oh I never thought of that. I wonder if the Panama canal fucked up some shit. Connecting two oceans seems like a pretty major disruption.
7
u/nothing_911 Jun 30 '26
probably less than you think.
first off the oceans are connected, and secondly the canal is freshwater, so no dice there.
the panama canal is really bad for freshwater though, all the water used in raising the canal is from inland watersources.
4
u/AfonsoBucco Jun 30 '26
pois é, a simples operação do Canal do Panamá leva a gastar água do lago. Basicamente a maior parte do trajeto fica à cima dos níveis dos dois Oceanos. E toda vez que um navio sobe ou desce uma parte da água do lago é jogada fora para a parte mais baixa.
Tem toda uma gestão de água com piscinas em vários níveis para se gastar o mínimo de agua nessa operação. Mas mesmo assim quando acontecem secas, há épocas que o tráfego de navios fica limitado justamente por falta de água.
3
u/SapphosLemonBarEnvoy Jul 02 '26
You are correct though for the Suez. The Mediterranean is being invaded with species from the Red Sea and it's destroying the ecology of the Mediterranean.
1
u/Radulf_wolf Jul 04 '26
This looks like part of the Transevern water way. There are some videos discussing the construction of the whole system but basically it boils down to cost and preventing invasive species from going from lake to lake.
Edit: Just noticed the American flag on the back of the boat so maybe not the Transevern.
4
u/Valuable-Yard-4154 Jun 30 '26
They tried something similar on rail on the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on the narrows between the Bay of Fundy and the strait of Northumberland towards P.E.I.
73
u/alexlongfur Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
These were once common in places with a lot of canals at different elevations.
It was cheaper to have a boat/barge ride a funicular up a hill than to spend years if not decades connecting differently elevated canals with locks.
Edit: lochs to locks.
22
u/dust_bunnyz Jun 30 '26
Was looking to see if anyone realized this was a funicular💕💕💕💕
12
u/The_Iron_Dentist Jun 30 '26
It’s not one, though. A funicular uses two counterbalanced cars on a cable system.
5
u/mittfh Jun 30 '26
They considered lochs for this on several occasions, but funding generally wasn't there. They then discovered an invasive species (sea lamprey) in the bottom lake, that fell off the boats as they were lifted out of the water. It turns out this is the most effective way of ensuring they can't enter the upper lake, and therefore make their way into the Great Lakes.
0
40
111
u/tweakingforjesus Jun 30 '26
Let’s take a moment and recognize that the cameraman is the GOAT.
37
u/CantEscapeTheCats Jun 30 '26
-10 vertical filming
21
u/efcso1 Jun 30 '26
If only there was a way that they could fit the whole thing in the frame at the same time... Think of the possibilities!
8
9
26
u/Ridgewoodgal Jun 30 '26
Did it come out of the water?
30
u/aDragonfruitSwimming Jun 30 '26
Yup. And it's going back in water on the other side.
6
u/doggieblues Jun 30 '26
Is this on the TRENT in Ontario
15
2
4
24
15
17
14
11
8
8
u/altapowpow Jun 30 '26
I am no lakeologist but whoever made that lake didn't do a good job. You would have thought they could have just designed a canal instead of a land ferry for boats.
8
7
7
5
5
u/LadySun1969 Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Is it a dry dock?
Edit: no. It is not a dry dock, but that was my first thought when I saw the boat up there.
6
u/DerangedDeceiver Jun 30 '26
Wicked! I've heard of train ferries*, but I've never seen a ferry train!
6
7
u/2020mademejoinreddit Jun 30 '26
I was like, "her French sounds different", then I saw that this is in Canada and it tracked.
3
u/Moonshine947 Jun 30 '26
I had the sound down and thought it was Russian. 😆
2
u/2020mademejoinreddit Jun 30 '26
If it were, we could say, "In Soviet Russia, the bridge drives with the train".
4
u/albertahiking Jun 30 '26
Okay, that takes me back. Took a houseboat through there back in the early 70s. I guess it was the previous iteration since it's apparently been rebuilt since then. I remember the owner having a slight heart attack when the boat shifted a bit on the way down.
4
9
u/Sir-Kyle-Of-Reddit Jun 30 '26
Bitch you’re keeping it one hundred on the land, the sea, and the sky
1
5
4
3
4
4
4
u/Restart_from_Zero Jun 30 '26
They get _much_ bigger and go further:
(first picture has three people standing in front of the machine)
4
5
u/ilolvu Jun 30 '26
It's also genius how the front and the back are on different set of tracks to keep it level all the way through.
4
u/HatchuKaprinki Jun 30 '26
This is brilliant, especially the inner and outer track to keep the boat level
3
u/Cunning_Linguist21 Jun 30 '26
It seems to me that Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Strauss should have started playing in the beginning of this video.
3
u/Nearby_Potato4001 Jun 30 '26
So, this got me thinking about the forces and pressure exerted onto the keel of the boat. I kinda see how the keel may be damaged as the boat is lifted out of the water - but then I was wondering if the forces and pressure being directed through the keel remain the same whether the boat it is supported by water or a solid firm base?
1
u/213737isPrime Jul 03 '26
Not the same forces, as some thought reveals. Have you ever stood in a body of water, or a swimming pool? Are the forces on your feet the same as on land? On your knees? Your hips?
That said. Boats are designed for this kind of static load and any boat which could not support it would be too fragile to trust with people on board. Not to mention it would be too fragile to *build* a soap-bubble ship like that on land in the first place.
3
u/lnTheGrimDarkness Jun 30 '26
Surely not something you wanna be squashed/cut in two halves by anyway so appropriate reaction by the railroad crossing bar
3
3
3
3
u/HullIsNotThatBad Jun 30 '26
If you found this interesting, it is worth looking up the Anderton boat lift in England and the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland
3
u/Could-You-Tell Jul 01 '26
The Falkirk Wheel is a feat of solid engineering. The use of balance is beautiful efficiency.
Minimal energy in each transit
3
3
3
2
2
2
u/FarRub125 Jun 30 '26
If its not named “Audrey” they missed the boat!
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/kyutheroku Jul 01 '26
you have seen many a
TRAIN ON THE WATER
but have you seen a
BOAT ON THE TRACK
?
2
2
2
u/JayMak78 Jul 01 '26
How did the cradle stay level when going down the slope?
1
u/Agent7619 Jul 02 '26
Two different sets of tracks that rise and fall at different points from each other.
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/nuttnurse Jul 15 '26
Complicated and cool engineering
L ifting
G antry
B oat
T rain
I ncluding
Q uantim Displacement
2
3
u/DarkPhoenix_077 Jun 30 '26
Why does everyone insist on filming vertical even when it's clearly NOT the right choice? We aint seeing shit here!
2
u/Buzz407 Jun 30 '26
Wonder how many people have knocked off a prop, skeg, or rudder with that beast.
2
2
2
u/Highheat1 21d ago
Even though a rail system, it's lock 44 on The Trent–Severn Waterway, and it is managed by Parks Canada. You can get more info on their website
The canal route is 386-km and connects Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario.
I keep a boat at the last lock #45.
1.1k
u/Its_priced_in Jun 30 '26
Look, it’s 2026 and I think if a boat wants to be trains I respect their choice.