5/5 Seimen B. 11 months ago on Google • 519 reviews
This
old
Henrichenburg
ship
lift
from
1899
is
a
must
see
for
19th
century
mechanical
engineering
and
steel
construction
lovers.
It
is
now
museum
and
part
of
a
larger
complex
with
a
shaft
lock
with
water
tanks,
a
new
ship
lift
decommissioned
in
2005
and
a
new
long
lock
which
is
still
in
operation.
They
all
form
the
lock
park
Waltrop.
The
old
ships
lift
at
the
time
was
an
essential
part
for
ships
to
navigate
the
Ems
canal
to
Dortmund
with
the
Ruhr
industries.
It
was
inaugurated
in
1899
by
emperor
Wilhelm
II.
The
large
structure
is
very
well
preserved
and
you
can
go
inside
the
large
trough
in
which
the
ships
were
hoisted
or
lowered
14
meters
which
would
have
taken
an
average
of
45
minutes
including
entry
and
exit.
But
the
actual
lowering
or
lifting
process
took
only
about
2.5
minutes.
You
can
see
the
five
big
floats
in
the
33m
deep
shafts,
the
buoyancy
of
which
would
lift
the
trough
without
much
extra
energy
because
the
weight
of
the
through
with
water
and
ship
would
equal
the
upward
pressure
from
the
floats.
You
can
climb
the
two
towers
on
the
upper
side
but
as
the
staircase
is
very
tight
you
must
enter
from
the
side
of
the
museum
as
it’s
one
way
traffic.
On
the
deck
above
you
have
a
good
view
of
the
structure
and
the
surrounding
area.
From
there
you
can
also
see
the
four
large
steel
threaded
spindles
of
over
20m
long
that
controlled
the
motion
sequence.
Next
to
the
steel
structure
is
a
small
museum
housed
in
the
former
boiler
house.
You
get
some
history
of
the
place,
see
how
the
ships
lift
worked
and
see
a
steam
engine
in
operation
(without
steam)
You
enter
the
structure
through
a
small
shop
where
they
sell
the
tickets
