Trolley boat on Teltow canal retuschiert f

A trolley boat (a descriptive

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

not used contemporaneously) is an electrically driven boat on canals and particularly in canal tunnels. It takes its energy like a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

from one or two overhead wires respectively.

History

Test of a trolleyboat named after Frank W

Frank W. Hawley converted a conventional steam-driven canal boat into a trolley boat and demonstrated its benefits and limitations 1893 on the Erie Canal. It had two electric motors with 19 kW (25 hp) each, which drove the

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s. On a 2 miles (4 km) long section of the

Brussels–Charleroi Canal The Brussels–Charleroi Canal (; ), also known as the Charleroi Canal amongst other similar names, is an important canal in Belgium. The canal is quite large, with a Class IV Freycinet gauge, and its Walloon portion is long. It runs from Ch ...

operated from 1899 a propeller driven trolley boat as a tug. Another installation was built in 1933 on a section of the

Marne–Rhine Canal The Canal de la Marne au Rhin (, ''Marne–Rhine Canal'') is a canal in north-eastern France. It connects the river Marne and the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne in Vitry-le-François with the port of Strasbourg on the Rhine. The original o ...

and is still in use. A 3 miles (6 km) long overhead cable was installed at the 2 miles (3,3 km) long

canal tunnel {{Refimprove, date=September 2009 A canal tunnel is a tunnel for a canal. The building of a canal tunnel is crucial to help a waterway that is normally used for shipping cross a difficult section of terrain. They are also constructed to reduce t ...

of the

Canal de Bourgogne The Canal de Bourgogne (; English: Canal of Burgundy or Burgundy Canal) is a canal in the Burgundy historical region in east-central France. It connects the Yonne (river), Yonne at Migennes with the Saône at Saint-Jean-de-Losne. Construction beg ...

in the French Canton de Pouilly-en-Auxois. In 2012 Diversified Marine in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

built the new ''

Buena Vista Ferry The Buena Vista Ferry connects Marion County and Polk County across the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located a few miles south of Independence, near the community of Buena Vista. The river is approximately 720 feet (220 m) ...

'', which obtains its energy through an overhead cable, to connect Marion County and Polk County over the 220 meter wide

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

.Buena Vista (Oregon) ferry retired, new boat coming.
/ref> The

Straussee Ferry The Straussee Ferry (German: ''Strausseefähre'') is a passenger cable ferry that crosses the Straussee lake, near the town of Strausberg in Brandenburg, Germany. Overview The ferry service is operated by the Strausberg Railway, using the ferr ...

is the last remaining trolley ferry in Germany, since the ferryboat of

Haßmersheim Haßmersheim ( South Franconian: ''Hassmerse'' or ''Hassemse'') is a municipality in the district of Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europ ...

was decommissioned in September 2014. It has a single wire overhead power supply.

Additional photographs

La traction électrique sur le Canal de Charleroi.jpg, Trolley boat on the

Teltow, a trolleyboat on the Teltow Canal.jpg, ''Teltow'', a trolley boat on the

Teltow Canal The Teltow Canal, also known as the in German, is a canal to the south of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. The canal lies in both the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, and at points forms the boundary between the two. It takes its name from ...

Pouilly-en-Auxois (Côte-d’Or) - Remorqueur Electrique sortant du tunnel du Canal Bourgogne.jpg, Trolley boat at the canal tunnel of

Pouilly-en-Auxois Pouilly-en-Auxois () is a Communes of France, commune in the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department in eastern France. It is the summit of the Canal of Burgundy, which passes in a tunnel under the town. Geography The town was originally s ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Low-Tech Magazine - Doubts on progress and technology - Trolley canal boats
Electric boats