Many boatyards used a marine railway with a winch and rails to haul boats from the water before the advent of the Travel Lift. The rails extended far enough into the water for a boat to be floated onto a cradle fastened to a rail car, which was attached to the winch by a chain running over the chain sprocket. The winch could be powered by a belt placed between a power source and the belt drum on the middle shaft, or it could be hand-cranked. With the hand crank on the middle crankshaft, the gearing provided a mechanical advantage of 6:1, multiplied by the 18-inch gear handle for a total mechanical advantage of 108:1. On the near crankshaft, the gearing provided a mechanical advantage of 3.43:1 to drive the middle shaft, with an overall mechanical advantage of 370:1. The middle shaft crank was used for small boats or for returning an empty rail car to the water relatively quickly, while the near shaft crank was used for heavier boats that required more force but moved much more slowly.