Photo of the Week

Here is a wild one for this week. This is a very old colorized glass negative slide showing the Floating Crane Hercules transferring a steam shovel from one lock wall to the next. This method of moving equipment from the West Bank to the East Bank was common. After the Canal was flooded and open for business, equipment used for the construction on the West Bank was stuck there as there was no more track going from West to East. They would tow or drive when it was a locomotive down the tracks on the lock wall and lift it over to the tracks across the chamber. Eventually the equipment would hook up to the new Panama Railroad line and be relocated. I have never seen a photo of a steam shovel being moved. Imagine all the tons of dirt and rock that old shovel dug.

Long live our Zonian memories and life.