Écluse 43 Descente en Saône, Chemin-de-Fer - Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne - Maxilly-sur-Saône - France
Posted by: ntpayne
N 47° 20.028 E 005° 25.882
31T E 683686 N 5245126
This is lock number 43 Descente en Saône on the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne and is called Chemin-de-Fer.
Waymark Code: WM14DBW
Location: Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
Date Posted: 06/16/2021
Views: 0
This is lock number 43 Descente en Saône on the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne and is called Chemin-de-Fer. It is situated in the village of Maxilly-sur-Saône and with lock 42 forms a chain of two locks. This pair of locks are the last on the canal before it joins the River Saône.
As this lock is the first/last on the canal there is a télécommande pick up/drop off point (see below for more information)>
The 224 kilometre long canal has 71 locks on the northern side of the summit and 43 on the southern side.
Locks on the southern side are numbered from 1 to 43 and suffixed with 'Descent en Saône' to differentiate them from the locks on the northern side with the same number. These locks are operated by a remote control unit issued to boaters as they enter the canal.
Some of the locks on the southern side operate in a chain and as the boat leaves a lock, the next in the chain is automatically set for it. This means that boats are not allowed to stop in a chain and must continue to the end.
The locks are all Freycinet standard size of 39m x 5.05m. Commercial traffic still uses this canal therefore it remains open all year around.
The canal was initially called the Haute-Marne, then the Canal de la Marne à la Saône and now the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne. The final name was probably chosen for touristic reasons.
Many locks still have lock cottages and where there are still information plates they have the name of the canal as Canal de la Marne à la Saône.
History – The Canal de la Marne à la Saône was one of the key projects under the Freycinet programme voted in 1879, which provided for 1400km of new waterways. At that time a 73km length with 31 locks had already been built (staring in 1862) under the name of Canal de la Haute-Marne. The planned budgets were regularly cut back in the following years, which made progress slow for the period, and the link was not completed until 1907. Commercial traffic survives on this route.
More information can be found here:
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visit link)