(Photo: Henryk Borawski)
The 51-mile Elblag Canal stretches across 6 lakes from the Polish cities of Elblag to Ostróda. One 6-mile section includes an elevation difference of 326 feet, which is more than conventional locks could adjust for when the canal was built in the middle of the Nineteenth Century.
So Georg Jacob Steenke, the engineer in charge of the project, developed a novel solution. To cross the steep section of the canal, boats slip onto converted railroad cars, which are then pulled across the land to the next lake.
Although the Elblag Canal is no longer in commercial use, it's actively used by recreational boaters and tourists. It's the only canal of this type still in use in the world.
-via The Presurfer