This monstrous piece of engineering is the Falkirk Wheel. Falkirk is between Edinburg and Glasgow, Scotland. Seems there are two canals, but one is 24 meters higher than the other. How do you allow boats to travel between the two? My idea is a waterfall, fun but probably not very practical. Elsewhere in the world, a series of locks and gates allow a chamber to fill and drain, but this is more pretty.

"The Wheel has an outside diameter of 35m, and comprises two 1.4m wide steel, clawed arms rotating on a 3.5 m diameter axle. A pair of 25m long, 300 m3 water filled caissons (or "gondolas") act as containers for boats which are lifted through the 24m vertical distance between the two canals. Drive is provided at one end of the axle through a system of hydraulic planetary gear units, with stability of the caissons ensured by a network of synchronised gears. It is capable of carrying a total payload of 600 tonnes in winds of Beaufort Force 6 (25-31 miles per hour). Boat transfer time will be about 15 minutes. "