Neptune’s Staircase at Banavie, near Fort William just north of Loch Linnhe is kept by British Waterways. It is the longest staircase lock in Britain lifting boats 64 feet (20 m).[1] It consists of eight locks, each 180 feet (55 m) by 40 feet (12 m) and it takes about 90 minutes to pass through the system.[1][2][3]

The current lock gates weigh 22 tons each, and require a team of three lock-keepers (at minimum) to run the staircase. It is usual for them to operate on an 'efficiency basis', that is the keepers try to either fill each cut with boats on the lift or drop, or to allow for passing, i.e. a dropping craft to pass a rising craft on the same fill/empty cycle.

Prior to mechanisation, the locks were operated by capstans, each with four poles, which had to make seven full revolutions to open or close a gate. Each gate leaf had two capstans, one to open it and another to close it. There were 36 capstans on the flight, and 126 revolutions were required for a boat to travel up or down the complete flight. With the advent of hydraulic rams and push-button control, transit times through the flight have been reduced from just over half a day to 90 minutes.[4] The base plinths of the original capstans can still be seen, although the capstans themselves have been removed.

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