Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway

Friday, August 23, 2019

Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway

This is the big brother to the Kirkfield Lift Lock and the biggest hydraulic lift lock in the world, located in Peterborough and went into service in 1904. Giant rams lift one lock while the other brings the second lock down from a height of 19.8 metres. One lock is filled with more water to make the locks complete their lift cycles without getting stuck mid-lift.

When we visited the lock was having some operating issues and they had to manual operate the lift locks. It kind of stuck half way for awhile before they completed the vertical cycle.

Kirkfield uses a lot of steel truss construction to hold up the locks, Peterborough uses non-reinforced concrete for the supports with 20,000 cubic metres of concrete used in the whole structure. A massive ram 2.28m in diameter lifts or drops each boat chamber filled with 1040 cubic metres of water.

You can grab a river cruise which will take you into the lift-locks

The Trent-Severn Waterway in this area flows along the Otonabee River, but there is an upper and lower part of the river. The canal along the Otonabee River was started in 1885 and featured five concrete locks (the first in Canda) and four dams. The lift lock was part of a later section of canal work which built an artificial waterway to tie together Little Lake and the Otanabee River at Nassau Mills.

The engineer in charge of building the lift lock was Richard B. Rogers who built the single lift to reduce time spent traversing the waterway as the alternative would have been multiple locks, each slowing down boats passing through the canal.

At the top of the lift lock you can find bathrooms and nearby is the Peterborough Lift Lock Visitor Centre and the Peterborough Museum and Archives.