The route included three tunnels and three inclined planes. Near to Wilkinson's iron works at Snedshill, the Snedshill Tunnel was yards long, and the Stirchley Tunnel was slightly longer at 281 yards (257m). There was also a short tunnel under the London to Holyhead road. They were about wide at water level, and high. The canal was somewhat wider, at and was deep. The design of the inclined planes was modified from that used on the Ketley Canal, where there was a lock at the top, which resulted in a loss of water each time the plane was used. Instead Reynolds used a system where the boats passed over a hump, after which a short downward-sloping section took the boats into the canal. This virtually eliminated water loss, but required the provision of a steam engine at each of the inclines. On the Wrockwardine Wood inclined plane, most of the traffic was in the uphill direction, and so the steam engine was used to raise the boats up the incline. On the other inclines, the traffic was downhill, and so they were counterbalanced, with the descending load raising the empty boats on the other track. The engine was only required to assist the boat over the hump at the top.