The Mules at the Panama Canal Locks
The Ships are guided though the lock chambers by electric locomotives, known as mulas or mules. They are used for side-to-side and braking control in the rather narrow locks. Forward motion into and through the locks is actually provided by the ship's engines and not the mules'. A ship approaching the locks first pulls up to the guide wall, where she is taken under control by the mules on the wall before proceeding into the lock. As she moves forward, additional lines are taken to mules on the other wall. With large ships, there are two mules on each side at the bow, and two each side at the stern — eight in total, allowing for precise control of the ship.
The mules themselves run on rack tracks, to which they are geared. Each mule has a powerful winch, operated by the driver; these are used to take the line in or pay it out, to keep the ship centred in the lock while moving it from chamber to chamber. With as little as 60 cm (2 ft) of space on each side of a ship, considerable skill is required on the part of the operators.
This image shows the two lines attached to the starbord side of the bow.
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Franzi48 28/06/2011 18:44
Wieder eine super Aufnahme von Dir++Lg Franzi
Emir Hadzidervisagic Roki 28/06/2011 9:34
Complimenti per i questa classica composizione diagonale come del ottimo lavoro, tante belle cose, cordialita...EmirClaudio Micheli 27/06/2011 13:29
Ottima!:..piacevolissimo il taglio conferito!Ciao
Sally Dunn 27/06/2011 9:35
Powerful machines for ones so small! The engineers are very talented!Hugs
Sally
Dragomir Vukovic 27/06/2011 4:18
great 1melkart (pepe jaime) 26/06/2011 21:41
Buenísimo encuadre aéreo. Felicidades Adelemontse suarez-noguerol 26/06/2011 21:09
Un encuadre de lujo!! eres un genio Adele!! gracias por tus viajes y compartirlos con nosotros :)))Silvia Simonato. 26/06/2011 14:52
Gracias por hacernos viajar contigo Adele,,,,Gran punto de toma!!!!Saludos Silvia
Werner R. Albert 26/06/2011 11:52
Interesting explanation and good docu.hugs
Werner
willy ombret 26/06/2011 10:58
belle photowilly ombret
TeresaM 26/06/2011 9:57
Encore une surprenante et excellente prise de vue sur cet endroit, Adele.Amitiés & bon dimanche,
Mark Billiau. 26/06/2011 9:50
Good docu shot and what an ingenious system they have !Very interesting information to read.
Mark
s. sabine krause 26/06/2011 9:45
the "ropes/wires" attaching the ship to the mules look so thin and fragile!! a great shot again, adele! love how there are those two "curving motions" in it, with the ropes curving one way and the tracks holding the mules curving another… hugs, sabine.Lawson McCulloch 26/06/2011 7:43
The whole process has been so well put together. A fine shot showing the process of travelling through the Panama Canal.best wishes from Lawson.
Ruth Hutsteiner 26/06/2011 2:59
Interesting and informatively.Hardly comprehensible that the small mules can manage this heavy work.
hugs
Ruth