Great Western Coffee Shop

I recall reading, many years ago about an alleged plan to convey sea going ships across a narrow Isthmus by rail, rather than by building a canal.

It was proposed that a number of standard gauge railway lines be built, parallel to each other, and that the ship be placed upon a number of multi wheeled bogies running on these tracks.
Then hauled at low speed by a number of large steam locomotives, at least one per track and possibly more.

This seems rather improbable, but not actually impossible.
Lifting an ocean going ship complete with cargo sounds problematic, but not actually impossible. Ships were a lot smaller in those days.
Ensuring that the multiple locomotives all pulled equally might be challenge also.

I therefore suspect ye olde April fools day joke.
On the other hand some pretty improbable sounding ideas were actually serious proposals back in the day.

Does anyone recall this idea ? was it an April fool as seems likely, or was it a serious proposal that never saw the light of day.

There are a couple of canal versions in Europe
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/02/the-inclined-boat-lifts-of-elblag-canal.html

http://walloniabelgiumtourism.co.uk/en-gb/content/ronquieres-inclined-plane-fascinating-site

However, I suspect nothing of an ocean going scale

Superb, and beautiful illustrations...Thanks for posting that :)

Not quite the same thing, but we've also got boat lifts in the UK - at Anderton in Cheshire and Falkirk Midlothian

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/anderton-boat-lift-visitor-centre?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt_LYktaq4wIVCrvtCh0f_gpuEAAYASAAEgJb0_D_BwE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

Those are if you like the "wet" and "dry" versions of the boat lift. There's another "dry" variety, on the Severn-Trent Waterway, without even a cradle, so the boats have to be happy sitting on the flat bottom of a "ber roulant". That's at Big Chute (https://www.boldts.net/ontmisc/?x=BigChute), in Canada (Ontario).

I suspect some pretty wild technical doodles of much bigger ones have been done, but nothing built - but you never know, do you?

Then there is the Hay incline at Blists Hill, where the boats went up sideways on cradles.
Finally the caisson locks of the Grand Western Canal and Somerset Coal Canal(Combe Hay)

It was known as the Interoceanic Ship Railway and was proposed for construction across Mexico in the days before the Panama Canal was built.

https://www.maritimeheritage.org/ports/Mexico-Interoceanic-Ship-Railway.html

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/pcsa1.Html

There was an article about the proposal in the Railway Magazine for May 2008.

That is the proposed scheme of which I was thinking. I read of this long before 2008, but of course it could have been published more than once.
Thanks for the information.

"Several rulers of antiquity dreamed of digging a cutting through the Isthmus (of Corinth). The first to propose such an undertaking was the tyrant Periander in the 7th century BC. The project was abandoned and Periander instead constructed a simpler and less costly overland portage road, named the Diolkos or stone carriageway, along which ships could be towed from one side of the isthmus to the other. Periander's change of heart is attributed variously to the great expense of the project, a lack of labour or a fear that a canal would have robbed Corinth of its dominant role as an entrepôt for goods. Remnants of the Diolkos still exist next to the modern canal."

..wiki, Corinth Canal

OTC