Mitshubishi Panama's Mule diorama

[Rapidtox]

Hello modellers, for lovers of locomotives, is a diorama of the mules of the Panama Canal, last year I visited the Canal and saw in operation, are impressive, I hope you like it, say hello to everyone.

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[silveroxide]

I was stationed in Panama during the Canal Zone days, the treaty transition and after the treaty was in place. I got to see these mules in action very frequently but did not even think of there being a paper model of them. Somewhere in my storage bin, I have many photos of the canal to include early photos of horse and buggy days. Good memories of those days. I got to swim in at Miraflores, Gatun and the Chagres. At gatun, there is a village is submerged and there is a train underwater that divers like to explore, at least when the US military was there. Thanks for the link. By the way, Lago Managua was the first idea for a trans Ocean Canal and they are still thinking of the possibility of doing that second canal. The excuse for not building it there, was that Nicaragua is prone to great seismic activities.

[SCEtoAUX]

I passed through the Panama Canal a few times in the early 1980's. Those mules were always interesting to watch.

[Rapidtox]

Thanks for the comments, the fact is that the oceanic canal in Nicaragua was projected across the Rio San Juan (Atlantic), from the Great Lake of Nicaragua (also called Lake of Granada), hence by a narrow strip of land to San Juan del Sur (Pacific), really did not materialize this project rather than by the problem of seismic activity, but such political problems presented by the area at that time (1872), the date on which the studies begin to construction of a canal across the Rio San Juan, this initiative was given by U.S. President Ulysses Grant to investigate canal routes in Central America (1870), with all this we know where is the Interoceanic Canal, and as for the activity seismic: Oh my God still active!

[Scott K]

I've forgotten the proposed route, but I remember an old Popular Science article about a proposal to dig a new canal with a series of low-yield nuclear blasts! Eek! I can't see anyone proposing or accepting that idea now...

Scott K.

[Rapidtox]

Here are a couple of flying on the route used during the gold rush in California and a map of the proposed interoceanic canal across Nicaragua.

[Yale]

Quarry Heights, in the Canal Zone, was my duty station 1971--1974, so I read quite a bit of the area's history. A simple glance at the map makes the Nicaragua site seem obvious: Lake Nicaragua drains into the Caribbean via a navigable river, so the only canal you'd need to dig was the ten miles between the western edge of the lake and the Pacific. The catch was the great elevation difference, so that ten-mile canal would need many locks -- a sea-level canal would not have been possible. Furthermore, the narrow "navigable" river might have limited ships to half the size that the actual Panama Canal accomodates.
Despite the theoretical possibility of a sea-level canal at Panama, that nation had its own problems: unstable ground that would force a huge amount of excavation, plus the frequent flassh floods of the Chagres River. The lock canal required only a fraction of the excavation -- and the Chagres River merely became the water supply for the lake that made the locks possible -- no pumps required.
Another major factor in support of the Panama site was a French financial adventurer who had a million-dollar stake -- the US effort in Panama involved restoring value to French assets there. Among the Frenchman's ploys was using Nicaraguan stamps on promotional letters to members of the US Congress -- stamps that featured an erupting volcano.
To return to models, these Misubishi mule are the second generation, acquired during the 1960s. The original canal mules were made in the US, with raised cabs on each end. They, too, would be wonderful subjects for models.