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In this episode.

It's big, it's exciting, it's powerful.

The planet's first and only rotating boat lift.

I think this is a massive achievement.

It's proved itself to be an iconic piece of engineering.

And the pioneering historic innovation.

Look at that.

Absolutely jaw -dropping.

It feels like being in a mine shaft or something.

It's just so huge.

That make the impossible.

Scotland's five canals are some of the most famous and historic in Great

Britain, allowing for navigation throughout the country's inland

The Scottish capital of Edinburgh is home to the Union Canal.

And just 46 miles away, the country's engineering powerhouse city of Glasgow.

is home to the 4th and Clyde Canal.

However, since this pair of prominent waterways sit at different elevations,

they never actually meet.

In the 1800s, the two canals were linked together by a ladder of 11 locks that

allowed the boats on the 4th and Clyde Canal to climb to the level of the Union

Canal.

But the locks were dismantled in 1933.

And ever since, moving between Edinburgh and Glasgow by boat has been seemingly

impossible.

Incredibly, today's engineers have found a solution unlike anything that has

ever been seen before.

This is the Falkirk Wheel.

The first and only rotating boat lift ever constructed.

It's the only one of its kind in the world.

It's capable of moving boats over an 82 -foot height difference in just minutes.

I think the full -cut wheel is amazing because it is unparalleled.

anywhere else in the world. It is the only rotating boat lift.

Nobody has been able to develop the technology to be able to do this, to

this to life, and to make this happen.

This one -of -a -kind mechanical masterpiece holds the key to connecting

Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The engineering evolved to keep it in operation.

Absolutely no doubt it is challenging, but... To do it to such an iconic

structure is just fantastic.

At 115 feet tall, the Falkirk wheel stands the height of eight double

buses.

This unique landmark is constructed from 1 ,323 tons of steel.

That's the weight equivalent of over 16 space shuttles.

The wheel has a pair of giant gondolas that can carry a combined weight of 660

tons.

Come in, BMK.

Go ahead.

Could you initiate rotating the wheel, please?

Lead engineer Stephen Barry is in charge of the team that keeps this mighty

machine turning.

Part of the checks is doing an operation of the wheel before we open it to the

public. We'll take measurements at the start of the day, and very soon we'll

this 1 ,800 -tonne structure just gracefully move away from the dry well.

Rotation about to commence.

too much effort.

Although it may look effortless, it actually requires an impressive power

source.

Stephen demonstrates how it works in a location that's off limits to the

Here we are in the main rotation drive area.

We have two banks of five motors and gearboxes that all work in unison.

These are the power units that rotate the structure.

To rotate the Falkirk wheel, each of the ten motors powers a cog that meshes to

a rack at the end of the wheel's axle.

As the motors turn the cogs, the cogs engage the rack and the wheel rotates.

Once the motors kick into action, the wheel begins to turn.

And being inside while it happens is a privilege few get to experience.

It's quite an impressive piece of steel and engineering.

It's very unusual to have anyone inside the main axle tube while it's operating.

pretty rare occurrence can be quite disorientating at times to keep

upright we need to shuffle around constantly to make sure that we don't

over the equipment we've just seen is what's carrying out this rotation as far

as engineering and concept goes it's an absolutely amazing structure

In order for this incredible piece of machinery to do its job, engineers have

had to solve a series of tough problems.

Is it possible to move 660 tons of water in boats over an 82 -foot height

difference in a single movement?

The key challenge of what we're facing is trying to take two to three boats and

lift them up in one go.

And that is just not something that can be done simply.

What is the key to keeping the giant gondolas level as they rotate?

We're moving 600 ,000 litres of water within the gondolas, so the challenge is

to keep the gondolas level at all times.

And how can you carry boats across a gap hundreds of feet wide?

Now we've got that challenge of stretching to connect to the Union

There's no shortage of traffic on Scotland's waterways.

So, to keep things moving and avoid delays, head of engineering Peter

has to make sure the Falkirk wheel can lift boats faster than any method that

has come before.

The fundamental challenge that we're facing here is that we're trying to move

multiple boats at a huge amount of water that are going to weigh, you know,

hundreds of tons.

And we're trying to lift them up to the higher level in about five minutes.

The historic solution was to go up using the lock chambers and take hours to do

it. This is where we've got to come back and find a solution to the problem that

we're facing, which is just not something that's straightforward and

Fortunately, today's engineers can turn to those of the past for inspiration.

In Southern Ireland, civil engineer Magda Heidikevich is traveling up the

Shannon. to see a supersized piece of engineering.

We're approaching this big, huge concrete building.

It's quite impressive.

This hydroelectric power station was once the largest in the world.

This is just unbelievable.

Over 90 years ago, it could provide electricity for the whole country.

But building a huge dam across one of Ireland's busiest waterways had its

challenges.

So we are in the boat here, and we need to get to the other side of the power

station. And there is a 30 -meter height difference. So we need a solution. How

are we going to get from here to the other side?

In 1925, engineer Frank Rishworth came up with a solution on an unprecedented

scale.

The Ardna Krusha lock.

Look at this amazing structure.

It feels like being in a mine shaft or something.

Doesn't feel like a lock.

It's just so huge.

It's one of the deepest locks ever built.

capable of lifting boats over the 98 -foot height difference in just over an

hour. The walls are just so high, and I feel like I'm really, really tiny here,

and the structure is just overwhelming.

To lift boats, its giant chamber must be filled with a staggering 2 .8 tons of

water every second.

Can you hear the sirens?

It starts filling up now.

It's filling up pretty fast.

It is really exciting to hear the sound of the water bubbling.

But figuring out how to control such colossal volumes of water was another

challenge for Rishworth.

There is a high level of water behind that gate.

So if that gate was open quickly now, the water would have just rushed out

violently.

In a traditionally sized lock, once the gates are closed, water enters slowly

through a gated channel known as a sleuth.

And the boat gently rises.

But the staggering volume of water needed at Ardnachrusha makes this method

impossible. You don't want a rock right in the lock.

You want something that is safe for the boat to pass.

So in order to dissipate that kinetic energy, we have to manage the water out

a slow manner.

To do this, engineers turned to a revolutionary design, filling chambers.

First, a gate is opened to allow the water from upriver to enter the chamber.

As the water falls to the bottom, its energy is dispersed.

before being transferred on to fill the lock and lift the boat.

Almost 100 years since its introduction, the Ardna Krusha lock is still a mind

-blowing piece of technology.

It's pretty amazing to be able to just jump in one hit.

Frank Rishworth's innovative engineering allows boats to climb 98 feet in about

an hour.

An achievement that was previously thought impossible.

So we're leaving the lock.

And it was really, really cool to see the water rising and how we were at the

very bottom of the shaft. And now we're up here in the canal.

It's such an amazing piece of engineering.

Back in Scotland, engineers will need to employ the incredible design found at

the Ardner Crusher Lock.

Because the Falkirk wheel aims to move boats the same way, only much quicker.

So that's us moving.

It's exciting.

It's powerful, yet quiet.

Edinburgh and Glasgow are the two largest cities in Scotland, and

designed the Falkirk Wheel, the most ambitious boat lift in history, to

them by water for the first time since the 1930s.

But because the Forth and Clyde and Union canals are busy waterways, the 82

-foot height change needs to happen in a matter of minutes.

To move boats at these previously unheard -of speeds, careful control of

water is critical.

We're in the dry well area just now. We are below the water level of the main

basin. And this folding gate is holding back all the water that's contained

within the Fulcate Wheel Basin.

That's over 450 ,000 cubic feet of water.

The challenge here is how we manage the water and how we connect.

that water from the basin to the gondolas.

So that's done by this mechanism in front of us here, which extends and

with the gondolas and allows water and boats to move.

It's a brilliant solution that enables boats and water to quickly transition

between basin and gondola and allows the wheel to turn.

When the wheel comes into its docking position, We need to secure it in a very

accurate position. So we fix it and clamp it in position with these

latches.

And hydraulic rams.

Next, to bridge the gap between basin and gondola, a mechanical seal extends.

and the space is filled with water.

We have various valves and hydraulic valves to push water

into the interspace.

Once the interspace is filled, the gates are lowered, allowing both to board the

gondola.

We're coming in at the lower basin.

The wheel is going to take us through a single rotation and transport us from

the lower level up to the higher level in about five minutes.

As we hear there, that's the operations team saying that the boats are now in

the gondolas and the gondolas can now start to be prepared for rotation.

So that's us moving, almost imperceptible.

It's big.

It's exciting. It's powerful, yet quiet.

The wheel's ingenious design allows it to utilize the weight of the water

its gondolas to help power its rotation.

A perfect way of referring to it is being counterbalanced.

As the gondola at the top descends... Its mass is used to help lift the

at the bottom.

So in here, the gondola weighs 300 tons.

We've got the gondola at the other side of the axle here, which also weighs 300

tons. So no matter what position it is, it's always going to be balanced.

The other gondola that's above us at the moment, and we'll see it, it's going to

come past us, and it is going to carry and transport us up to allow us to

connect into the canal at the top of the wheel.

The view is just magnificent.

Because of this brilliant system, the Falkirk wheel can smoothly lift hundreds

of tons over an 82 -foot height difference in a matter of minutes.

But now, engineers need to keep the wheel steady as it continuously moves

that weight.

There's 300 ,000 litres.

of water in each gondola so it's absolutely safety critical that the

always remain level it's another challenge that can be tackled with a

back in time to the birthplace of an iconic american landmark oh

that's so cool

In Scotland, engineers have designed a one -of -a -kind innovation that will

connect the country's two biggest cities by water.

This is the Falkirk Wheel.

The only rotating boat lift on the planet.

Weighing in at almost 2 ,000 tons.

The Falkirk wheel is more than three times as heavy as the world's largest

passenger jet.

It can lift loads equivalent to the weight of 100 African elephants over a

height difference of 82 feet in under five minutes.

But to carry such oversized loads, engineers need some equally oversized

strategies.

We're actually below the gondolas just now.

And here you can see the bogey wheels that the gondolas ride on.

These wheels take the full weight of each gondola.

So we have eight bogey wheels for each gondola.

Here we are actually on top of the rail system.

So this is the rails that holds each of the gondolas.

Engineers have cleverly designed this system to require minimal maintenance.

So we've got a graphite block that's constantly in contact with the bogey

to give it lubrication.

That lubrication then transfers onto the rails, and that helps us to get a

smoother operation that reduces friction on the rails and on the wheels.

It's really quite a critical component.

for the Falkirk wheel operation. Without these, we would not be able to rotate

the wheel.

From this spot, the true scale of the Falkirk wheel comes into perspective.

You can hear that that's some of the wheels starting to move as they come

pressure.

You can see the bogey wheel.

They're very smooth.

They're keeping the gondolas stable.

The bogey wheels and rails that support the gondolas ensure every rotation of

the Falkirk wheel is fluid.

It's really quite impressive, even although I've seen it many, many times

before, it still...

It never ceases to amaze us that this massive structure rotates so efficiently

and, you know, so reliably.

So how does this massive structure rotate 180 degrees while also keeping

water -filled gondolas completely level?

We can have up to four boats.

on the wheel at any one time you know so we could have more than 200 people

rotating on the gondola so it's absolutely safety critical that the

do not tilt at all.

The challenge is to come up with a mechanism that allows the structure to

but keeps the gondolas level at all times.

To overcome this critical challenge, the team behind the Falkirk wheel must look

to the pioneers of the past.

In St. Louis, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi,

engineer Dan Dickrell has traveled to see a landmark piece of engineering

history.

This. This is the Gateway Arch.

It's an incredible piece of engineering and architecture.

Standing a staggering 630 feet high, this 43 ,000 -ton structure

is made of concrete and stainless steel.

Millions of tourists flock to the arch every year, with many opting to head to

the very top.

to take in the stunning views that stretch 30 miles to the east and west.

The Gateway Arch is the tallest U .S.

national monument and the tallest arch in the world, and it could hold the key

to keeping the Falkirk Wheels gondolas level.

Construction on the Gateway Arch began in 1963.

And after two years of hard work, the final piece was craned into position in

1965.

But the striking curved shape of this epic structure posed a serious challenge

for engineers when it came to transporting visitors to the top.

The first proposed solution was elevators.

The problem with elevators would be it would only take you about 300 feet.

The rest, they'd have to walk stairs or ramps.

This wasn't a viable solution.

The second proposed solution was escalators.

The problem was escalators can only go so high. So you have to have a series of

escalators that would move the passengers slowly up to the viewing

This wasn't used because it would be too labor -intensive to maintain.

With elevators and escalators limited to traveling in straight lines, a new and

unique solution was needed to conquer the arches' curve.

But Dick Bowser, a college dropout with no formal engineering background,

developed an ingenious way to keep people moving.

And this is what he came up with. It's a unique piece of engineering.

Bowser's innovative tram can carry passengers through the arch in one

movement.

and his concept could be useful for the engineers at the Falkirk wheel.

So here's how the system works.

There's a track that goes all the way up the arch.

The capsule, in this position, is suspended below the track. But what

it rises, the capsule rotates around. So at the top of the arch, the capsule's

sitting on top of the track.

Each capsule sits on wheels within a carrier frame.

A gearbox and set of gears power a chain drive that rotates the capsule around a

central axis, turning it the opposite direction of the track and

keeping passengers in an upright position for the entire ride.

All right, here we go.

To experience Bauer's engineering in action. Pretty tight space in here.

Dan's taking a trip to the very top.

Oh, my ears are popping.

When the massive Gateway Arch was completed in 1965.

Engineers in St. Louis needed a way to transport visitors to the very top to

experience the breathtaking panoramic views.

Dick Bowser's solution was an innovative tram, able to carry passengers through

the arch in one seamless movement.

Now, engineer Dan Dickrell is testing it out.

If we look out the window, we can see the angle of the track is changing as we

make our way up the arch. And when we get to the top of the arch, the capsule

will actually be sitting on top of the track, whereas when we began, it was

above us.

You can feel a self -leveling process as the capsule slowly makes its way up the

track. Oh, my ears are popping.

What a cool ride.

Oh, I think we've arrived.

Since it's opening.

The tram has traveled roughly 200 ,000 miles, carrying over 18 million

passengers to the pinnacle of the 630 -foot -tall monument.

Oh, wow.

What a view.

Oh, that's so cool.

So we're 632 feet above the ground.

We're really high up, so it makes for a spectacular view.

It's an experience that would be impossible without Bowser's one -of -a

tram.

The capsule's innovative self -leveling technology has gone on to influence

transportation systems around the globe.

Back in Scotland, at the Falkirk Wheel.

Each gondola uses a self -leveling mechanism inspired by Bowser's tram at

Gateway Arch.

Here you can see some parts of the stabilizing mechanism.

That's these large cogs that you see.

This particular cog is fastened to the wheel building, so this cog does not

move.

We have a cog on this end of each gondola.

This gear, this is the connection point between the fixed cog on the wheel

building and the cog on each of the gondolas.

So this mechanism ensures that the gondolas are always level.

As the Falkirk wheel turns, a cog attached to each gondola rotates in the

opposite direction.

This movement drives a gear.

which orbits around the fixed cog on the wheel building, keeping the gondolas

level and stable.

As we can see, the wheel is now rotating.

This fixed cog remains in its fixed position.

This gear has been driven by the cog on the gondola.

as the wheel rotates as the gondolas rise and this gondola goes down both the

gondolas are perfectly level so that's all achieved by this stabilizing

mechanism so we can see the

other gondola coming up to the top now and you can see its gear which is in

constant connection with the gondola cog and the fixed cog

The scale of things at the Falkett Wheel are pretty big.

And this is just another example.

This is quite a simple but ingenious solution to keeping these

massive 300 ton gondolas perfectly level.

So we must take our hats off to the designers.

They've really thought this through and it works really well.

But the wheel itself is only one part of connecting the two waterways.

Engineers have even more obstacles to conquer before both can freely move

between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

There's some real challenges on this site.

How do we get from the Fulcuk wheel across the hillside to connect with the

Union Canal?

And to find creative solutions.

the Falkirk Wheel Team will need to rely on even more of the greatest innovators

in engineering history.

Look at that.

Absolutely jaw -dropping.

Quite a rare view.

In Scotland.

Engineers have unveiled a revolutionary mechanical giant.

The Falkirk Wheel is the world's first and only rotating boat lift.

Built to help connect Edinburgh and Glasgow by canal.

It's a feat of engineering unlike anything that's ever been seen before.

The wheel can move 660 tons of boats and water, a weight equivalent to more than

350 family cars.

It's held together by 15 ,000 volts.

It has been designed to turn 10 times a day for 120 years.

But to connect the waterways between Edinburgh and Glasgow, engineers must

overcome another complication.

Richard Miller is Director of Infrastructure for Scottish Canal.

Challenges on this site.

How do we get from that structure that's the Fulcuk wheel, how do we stretch

across the hillside and make that connection that can hold the canal, can

the water in place, and can allow those boats to sail from one side of this site

to the other?

So as engineers, we needed to think very hard how we could make as efficient a

solution here as possible.

To find the answer, the Falkirk Wheel team must turn to history's great

innovators.

In North Wales... That's absolutely beautiful out here.

...structural engineer Luke Bisbee is on the River Dee.

I think up around this corner is where it starts to get really interesting.

During the canal building boom of the 1800s, this rolling landscape posed a

serious problem for the engineers of the day.

A valley like this doesn't lend itself to canals.

Canals need flat land with a small gradient.

The route through North Wales was commercially essential, so engineers

devise a system that could transport boats across the valley.

Building a masonry structure just simply wasn't an option. It would be too

expensive, take too long, present too large a technical challenge.

In 1795,

engineer Thomas Telford came up with an answer.

The Pont Castilta Aqueduct.

An 18 -pier giant unlike anything the world had seen before.

Look at that.

Absolutely jaw -dropping.

Quite a rare view.

This game -changing structure totally reinvented the original ancient theory

behind building an aqueduct.

Don't get a chance to canoe under a tailbird very often.

And this incredible passage is about more than just look.

It's also an engineering pioneer.

Now, whilst it would have been possible to build a structure like this using

standard methods with masonry.

They would have ended up with a structure that was so massive and so

so time -consuming to build that it would have been impractical and could

have gone ahead.

To span the massive 984 -foot divide some 125 feet above the ground,

Telford turned to a brand new material,

cast iron.

Using cast iron allowed Telford to decrease the size of the bridge, the

scale, to decrease the weight of the arches, and to end up with towers that

could be more slender, could be hollow inside, could keep construction costs

down, and could keep the time of construction down.

Because it's much stronger and lighter than stone, Telford was able to use cast

iron to build a sturdy but striking structure capable of transporting boats

across the valley.

And we can see the result, which is actually quite an elegant, quite a light

structure when you get down here and you look at it.

Really innovative use of this new material.

Otherwise, this bridge would have been impossible to build.

When it was completed in 1805, the Podcasilta Aqueduct was the highest

waterway in the world.

A title that, remarkably, it holds to this day.

So how bizarre it is to be up here on a bridge high up on the River Dee and to

have a boat here coming towards us across the bridge. It's something you

see at this height anywhere else in the world.

And to imagine that it was built 200 years ago is pretty staggering.

And this groundbreaking structure continues to influence and inspire

projects around the globe.

Back in Scotland, the Falkirk Wheel engineers have taken Telford's historic

innovation and refined it for the 21st century.

The Falkirk Wheel is the world's first and only rotating boat lift. designed to

connect Scotland's biggest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow, by water.

Once the wheel has lifted a boat from the 4th and Clyde Canal on the Glasgow

side, the boat still needs to be deposited in Union Canal on the

So now we are on the aqueduct.

The Falkirk wheel just beyond here, the aqueduct stretching out ahead of us.

So over this distance... We go from the solid ground all the way, stretching out

across the sky and then joining with the full -cook wheel.

From below, it hangs in the air, supported by these piers and then these

hoops at the top of it that shape it so that it creates this architectural

feature, shaping the landscape into the distance.

And just like the Pontcasilta Aqueduct in Wales, this visually stunning

structure is only possible thanks to its ingenious engineering and the right

building materials.

We put piles down into the ground to make sure that it had a solid

and then...

creating a structure that would allow us to pour the concrete, reinforcing that

with steel so that it would be strong enough to carry hundreds of tons of

There is no doubt that we have looked at the best of history.

We have looked to the past and we have taken those ideas, we've developed and

we've used modern materials and we've created something here that is an

piece of engineering.

Working in combination with the wheel, the aqueduct allows engineers to achieve

their ambition and join the waterways between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

You can see the boat passing out of the gondola.

And this shows just how important the aqueduct is.

Thanks to these mighty pieces of engineering, boats can now complete a

that would once have been impossible.

For the team behind this one -of -a -kind project, the scale of the

is undeniable.

We get people coming from all over the world to come and have a look at it.

inspirational.

You just have to see it in motion to find that it is just something that is

iconic and just outstanding as a piece of modern -day engineering.

I'm privileged and I'm proud to be part of it. of the team that look after the

magnificent structure.

And we see it in a daily basis that it attracts people from all around the

world.

By counterbalancing its pair of enormous gondolas, powering the movement with 10

hydraulic motors, and keeping the whole operation safe using stabilizing gears.

The Falkirk Wheel accomplishes a seemingly impossible task and

transports boats in a way that has never been done before.

The Falkirk Wheel definitely is an iconic structure.

It's a unique design. It's a unique application.

We take great pride.

and been able to work on this structure.

By learning from the great pioneers of the past, adapting,

upscaling, and overcoming huge challenges.

People said it could not be done.

To create a new waterway, to create a new boat lift, and to find a way of

joining those canals together.

There's no doubt it's proved to be a massive achievement.

Engineers have reinvented the wheel.

It's completely reimagined how to create a boat list, to be able to move boats

and massive structures, massive weights, which makes it incredibly special.

They've succeeded in making the impossible possible.

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