How Slow Can You Go?

Waterford, NY
42 47.20 N 073 40.73 W

Last night when Roger and Carolyn brought us back to Lock 7, there was a big blue tug boat going through the lock.   As the opened the lock on the far end I could see a barge sitting waiting for the tug.  I didn't think much about it but I should have.

This morning the tug and barge left about 30 minutes before we did.  We still didn't think much about it.

Around 0900 we arrived at Lock 6, the top of the flight of 5 consecutive locks that let you down the hill the last 2 miles to Waterford.  The tug and barge were just entering.  Uh oh.  It finally dawned on me.  We would have to follow that rig all the way down and it might be slow.

I had no idea how slow it could be.  It took us 8.5 hours to move that last 2 miles.  That's about the slowest we've ever moved.

The problem was that the barge was so big that it barely fit in the locks.  The tug would push the barge into the lock, then disconnect and back the tug out.  The barge would descend in the lock on its own.  At the bottom they had to use the locks' built-in motorized capstans to pull the barge out.  Then the lock had to be refilled, and the tug lowered.  Then the tug would reattach to the barge and push it to the next lock.  This whole procedure took 90-100 minutes per lock and we were stuck behind them the whole way.  If only we got up earlier this morning!

Anyhow, I got a great set of pictures of the locking procedure for this mamouth rig.  See the slide show here.

Also neat, the tug Cheyenne has a pilot house that can raise or lower itselt.  It lowers to pass under low bridges and raises to allow the helmsman to see over the top of of the barge they're pushing.  They used compressed air to raise it.  It's quite a sight and it's visible in my slide show.