The Falkirk Wheel
27th August 2013
We have the technology.
The Forth & Clyde Canal was opened in 1790 to provide a coast-to-coast (firth to firth) route as a shortcut for seagoing vessels as well as intra-Scottish trade. It was bankrolled by cash borrowed from the government, but it made money on tolls and taxes.
The Union Canal came 30 years later and spurred off from the Forth & Clyde to link up with Edinburgh, connected with the aforementioned stairway of 11 locks. It too was profitable, carrying horse-powered cargo and travellers on steam-driven “swifts” that featured a projecting scythe to slice through row ropes of cargo craft too slow to move aside. It linked Glasgow to Edinburgh in less than seven hours. But the railways put paid to their profitability, cutting journey time and cost.