Butterley Engineering: Built like a giant Meccano set

A technical plan of the Falkirk Wheel, constructed by Derbyshire firm Butterley Engineering

The Falkirk Wheel, under construction at the works of Derbyshire firm Butterley Engineering

THE Falkirk Wheel was constructed and assembled, like one giant Meccano set, at Butterley Engineering’s steelworks in Ripley.

A team of highly skilled local craftsmen carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces together to an accuracy of just 10mm to ensure a perfect fit.

The structure was then dismantled and transported in 35 lorry loads to Scotland before all being bolted back together again on the ground and finally lifted by crane, in five large sections, into position.

The total 600-tonne weight of the water-and-boat-filled gondolas imposes immense and constantly changing stresses on the structure as it turns around the central spine. Normal welded joints of steel would be susceptible to fatigue induced by these stresses, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted together.

This resulted in more than 15,000 bolts being matched to 45,000 bolt holes – and each bolt was hand-tightened.

The Wheel works when boats enter the upper gondola and are then lowered, along with the water that they float in, to the basin below. At the same time, an equal weight rises up, lifted in the other gondola.

Each gondola runs on small wheels that fit into a single curved rail fixed on the inner edge of the opening on each arm, and a series of linked cogs act as a back-up to ensure that the water and boats always remain perfectly level throughout the cycle.

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