The Panama Canal

January 2017 brought us to Colón in Panama, South America to see the famous Gatum Atlantic locks. This is the gateway into the 82km waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
In this photo we see a ship being guided by the accompanying six locomotives, three on each side here. Each loco is exactly parallel to its twin on the other side of the ship with their lines to the ship being electronically monitored in order to retain an exact tension to keep the vessel in the middle of the canal. In some cases only centimetres remained on each side, stopping the ship from hitting the sides. The ships forward motion is brought about by the ship engines themselves. A continues shuttle of trains ran from the start to the end of these locks.

The two pips: One shows the very first (or last) lock entrance to the canal & Atlantic. We can see the giant queue of ships waiting to enter from the Bay. Ships are entering from the Ocean on the left and exiting on the right.
The other PiP shows a close-up of these very unique engines and its computerised pulley system to the ship. It runs along a cogged track in order to transit the steep slopes at the side of each new lock gate (see inset). These trains are known as Mules
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_locks

From here, we were to travel to the Pacific side by way of the Panama Scenic railway that runs alongside the canal to Panama City.

Enjoy full screen.