mbinsewi A web site is still up, with lots of pictures, but I didn't see anything about the locks, but, I didn't look at every gallery or picture. https://gulliversgate.com/ Mike.
A web site is still up, with lots of pictures, but I didn't see anything about the locks, but, I didn't look at every gallery or picture.
https://gulliversgate.com/
Mike.
I sent an email to them asking what's happening. I'll let you know if I get a response.
Update:. I got a response, not it was just a robo-reply.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
My You Tube
That sure looks like a good start. Thank you all for your comments. I agree working locks would make it so much better than a static display.
Apparently, they have filed for bankruptcy in October 2019. Ticket sales did not reach the annual rent of $5.7m. While the homepage says they are moving, there is some doubt that they will ever open at a new location.
If you plan a working model of the locks - Fleischmann made a 0-4-0 electric rack engine the chassis of which could be used as a basis for the mules. The loco is no longer made, but maybe available through an auction site.
They sell currently to the tune of,say, $60 - 80. They have a working rack mechanism.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
There was an exhibit in New York City called Gulliver's Gate that I was fortunate enough to see about a year and a half ago. This was, or is, an HO scale model which highlights noted features of the whole world. It was built in sections in several countries and assembled in New York.
This is not actually a train layout, but each section has some trains running around it. (Oddly, although the section railroads did not interconnect and each was modeled after the national or regional lines, I kept seeing BNSF and Rio Grande boxcars everywhere. I was obsessed by this, and finally tracked down the train guy, who told me they were just track-cleaning cars they hadn't gotten around to repainting yet.)
Anyway, the Central and South American exhibit did model working locks of the Panama Canal. They did this with real water and actually had working locks where the water level was raised and lowered. I think the ship traffic moved on hidden tracks of some sort. This was a pretty large exhibit.
I do not know what happened to Gulliver's Gate. Some online information says they are permanently closed, other info says they moved, and other stuff says they're still operating.
I've never seen nor read anything in this forum on the canal operations.
It does look interesting.
It looks like they only operate on the locks, so in order to have a working layout, your going to have to make a working lock. Or else it's just a static display.
It doesn't look like the mules would be too hard to build. The drive might be a challange. It looks like they work on the principle of a cog railroad.
Without working locks, there wouldn't be much action on your railroad.
to the forum.
I've never seen any discussion of the Panama canal here. Probably only a handful of members have ever seen it in person. In case anyone wonders what a Mitsubishi Mule is:
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I just went through the locks at the Panama Canal, and thought it would make a fun layout. I loved the Mitsubishi Mules and other machines on rail there. I am wondering if anyone has found the mules and/or done a layout of that yard. It looks kind of specialized and I think it would make an incredible small n-scale layout. I am having a hard time finding anything on it. It is not a traditional engine or layout and that is what intrigues me.