These pictures were taken with a Kodak DX7440 4MP digital camera September 2006.
This trip to Muskoka was in the Port Severn area.
There is a small sideroad which leads to this point. The road goes over the dam. This is just before the town of Big Chute.
These pictures show the building housing the new hydro generators as well as some of the older generating equipment on display.
The Big Chute Marine Railway is located on the Trent Canal and is the second last lock before entering into Georgian Bay.
We've been here before but this time boats were coming and going on the railway. If you look on YouTube you'll see some videos. I have a few, but it's a pretty slow thing to watch! A cable system, driven by electric motors, pulls or lowers the train from one water way to the other. Notice how there are two sets of train tracks - basically keeping the boats horizontal.
Boats are also held on their front and by a sling on the back. Small boats can be taken 3 wide or more if they're flat bottom. There are posts which can be individually jacked up with slings - to support a large boat or several smaller boats. It's quite a nice system.
This is a special railway which can pickup boats and move them. This was built in stead of a lock. The pictures show the marine railway in operation.
This is a roadside hike which looks pretty popular. We came out of it with around 20 beer bottles. This is about 1/2 of the way between the 401 highway and the town of Big Chute.
