tarboat's photos with the keyword: union canal

The Leamington Lift Bridge crosses the Union Canal near its terminus at Lochrin Basin in Edinburgh. The bridge was installed around 1906 where Fountainbridge crossed the canal replacing a previous bridge built in 1869. When the canal was shortened in 1922 to make Lochrin Basin the terminus it was moved to its present site to replace a wooden drawbridge. It fell out of use by the 1960s, but as part of the Millennium Link project to restore the Union Canal, it required to be restored at least to allow boats to pass. A report published in the year 2000 had suggested fixing it permanently open, but the decision was taken to restore it to full working order.

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift in Scotland, connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The wheel raises boats by 24 metres (79 ft), and is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world. It was fully constructed and assembled at the Butterley Engineering plant in Ripley, Derbyshire. The structure was then dismantled in the summer of 2001, and transported on 35 lorry loads to Falkirk, before being reassembled into five sections on the ground and lifted into place. The caissons or gondolas carry a combined weight of 500 tonnes of water and boats, with the gondolas themselves each weighing 50 tonnes. The official opening was in 2002.