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This is a pretty cool timelapse video shot of the Miraflores Lock in the Panama Canal over a 12 hour period.

The Miraflores Lock is one of three locks on the Panama Canal and is located on the Pacific side just passed the Bridge of the Americas.  It is a two-stage lock system that is 1.1 miles long and lifts (or lowers) vessels a total of 54 ft at mid-tide.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, a lock is used for raising or lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels.  The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber whose water level can be varied, rather than the chamber itself be lowered or raised.  It’s a pretty easy concept and a great illustration on how a lock works can be found HERE.

A live camera of the Miraflores Lock as well as other points of interest along the canal can be found HERE.

We are starting a new feature here on gCaptain titled “Interesting Ship Of The Week” and the first vessel we’d like to share this unusual barge transporter near Krasnoyarskaya Russia.

Unfortunately we don’t have many details but the pictures tell most of the story. Visit EnglishRussia.com for the high resolution images.

UPDATE:

Capdiamont offers the details behind this railed giant;

I can’t find the original source he used, but it is a massive electrically powered rack railway that hauls  ships,  up and over a dam in Russia. At the top it has a turntable  so the locomotive  can be turned to keep it’s load straight, no matter which way it goes. Think of the top of the dam as the crest. In order to keep the downhill side always downhill, you have to turn it. This one is unusual because the top of the turntable is slanted to keep the locomotive slanted, so the load stays level. Add to all this, is the massive size of everything. This has to be the longest, and heaviest turntable in the world.

If you look at some of the pictures, you can see the gears to mesh in to the rails. That is my reasoning for it to be a rack railway, even though it doesn’t have the traditional center rack, like you would think. (Source: Capdiamont)

We are glad to get the facts behind this story. Honest thanks also goes out to NavaGear for the English lesson in the comments.