Oversize Load

(Update: Transport of wind turbine parts;

really big loads that need two lanes to move

oversized loads on flatcars and Schnabel cars)

When I drove home Jan 19, 2015, I planned to stop in Gilman, IL, to get pictures from the east side of the coaling tower that is still north of the town.

20150119 0156

When I was on the ramp, I was able to get a picture of the oversize load I saw go across the bridge. When I saw the load on the bridge, I was too chicken to try to get the camera out of the case at interstate speeds. But when I got on the the ramp, I saw that it was going slow enough that I was able to grab a picture. Note that the rear of the steel frame holding the load is supported by a carriage that has six axles or 24 wheels.

Most of the front carriage is blocked by the load. But I believe the back of the front carriage is like the rear carriage --- 3 axles. And the front of the front carriage is a tongue that transfers weight to the 3 axles of the tractor. A normal big rig is sometimes referred to as an 18-wheeler, 10 wheels for the tractor and 8 wheels for the load. In this case, we have a 50-wheeler; 14 wheels for the tractor and 36 wheels for the load.

I was able to get plenty of shots because the traffic was stop and go on US-24 because this rig was turning into a Mobil filling station. I happened to be stuck behind a grain truck so I deliberately took a shot of the rig turning that included a closeup of the grain truck. Evidently the turrets for the two carriages have equipment so that the turning angle of the rear carriage mirrors the angle of the front carriage.

Really big loads like this one require two escort vehicles. On the highway, one would be in front and the other would be in the back. They both have two red flags and flashing yellow lights.

I always wondered why there was a vehicle in the front. Then I got an answer one time in Louisville, KY,  when I was coming off the I-65 Ohio River bridge and taking ramps to get on I-71. I merged in behind an oversize load that was wider than the 12-foot lanes. Before it came to a curve that did not have a wide enough shoulder to hold the overhang of the load, the rear escort moved into the right lane and blocked traffic so that the load could use two lanes to go around the curve. So a function of the front escort is to spot trouble spots and radio them back to the crew so that the rear escort can block traffic and the driver knows he is going to have to leave his lane. Another function of the front vehicle is that it stopped traffic in the oncoming lane so that the rig could make a left-hand turn.

I've never seen the front escort have a tower mounted on it to verify bridge clearances. We can see by the awning of the filling station that the industry does have clearance standards and this load was carefully designed to (just) fit under that standard.

John W. Coke -> Rail & Highway Heavy Loads

Update: Note that the truck looks European. I have noticed that the pictures of really big road hauls tend to be in Europe, not the USA. Imagine how big the wind turbine is that has this for one of its blades.

J.C. Lake posted
Tommy Beaty Spreading the load.

Basil Whitey Walker commented on Lake's post
I know a little something bout that. Maybe the same bridge

Loco Steve Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

Moving day!

On my way to work one day i was confronted by this! It Is now part of the elevator in Hurdsfield North Dakota

If you click on this link you can see where it is now..

goo.gl/maps/0vhH

Roy Walters posted
Thanks to my Son for invite to this page! We have the perfect trl built to move the Manitowoc 18000 & 16000. We've put smaller ones on it too, but anyone need one moved, we can do it fast & safer than a RGN. We have large RGNs, but this step is made for these Houses!
[Unfortunately, I don't know what a "RGN" is.]

Jeff Turner posted
November 1957
Bill Edrington It would have been something to see this go through "The Hole" at Panama. I was 3 years old at the time, and can remember NKP trains going through the area about that far back, but I sure didn't see this one.

Ben Stalvey posted
Manitowoc on the move. The good old Hake Manitowoc Transporter
[Now they use modular trailer technology for big loads, but before they were developed they used the tracks of crawler cranes.]

A comment on the above posting. The comments have several other photos.
[The front of the right-hand transporter is close to the rear of the left-hand transporter.]

Kon Rurtz shared

Dave Amoruso commented on Kon's share
[The "bddy" link goes here. I thought the "mile-long bridge" was next to O'Hare. But the description says it is the one over the BNSF yards. The project page has a 2-minute video and a couple of EarthCams.]

Ruben Calderon posted three photos with the comment: "Moving our Manitowoc 21000 last week....all 8 tracks, swivel, carbody, wide strut frames and upper super structure with the lower counterweights!"

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Steve Kraus commented on Bob's posting
[Moving the bottom part of Nickle Plate 624 from Hammond, IN to a restoration facility. The boiler had already been loaded and moved.]

Kenny Burrell posted
Hard hard to look at. I pray everyone is alive and healthy. 450k lbs never good. Keep in mind these guys are good so all jokes aside a life could be lost.
Donald Peterson that was a while backGary Starling That was in Clinton moMark Stambaugh What happen to make them roll over like that is my question. I mean the lead truck is in the road but the pusher is rolled over. And it looks to have Jeep's so I'm kind of lost to why it rolled over.Corey Gerber They said when it happened the steering brokeCorey Gerber Happened last yearMark Stambaugh The steering on the Jeep or the pusher [I wish I knew wat the "Jeep" was.]Corey Gerber From what was said the Jeep but it was last year so I might be mistakenRandy Neal thats terry emmert rig out of clakamas oregonKenny Burrell It doesn't take much but if the pusher pushed when he didn't need to would cause the blk marks.Dennis Harmon Those look like brake marks,not acceleration marks.

BNSF, cropped
Designed by Mammoet, a leader in the heavy lifting and heavy transport industry, this is one of the world’s largest module cranes. It is so large that it takes two months to build and another two months to disassemble. The crane's boom length alone is 587 feet – twice the height of the Statue of Liberty. The 4,000-ton crane was transported in nearly 200 20- and 40-foot intermodal units, including flat racks, open top/side containers and closed containers. All of the containers were engineered to carry a specific component of the crane and can handle weights in excess of traditional intermodal containers. Some of the 40-foot sections of the crane superstructure can actually double as open containers during transport. Most of the containers were transported in intermodal well cars, although some required heavy-duty flat cars.

ctvnews
The largest load ever to hit Alberta's highways reached its final destination Thursday.
The splitter, a piece of polypropylene equipment, started being moved from Edmonton to a petrochemical plant near Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. on Sunday
According to the Alberta government, the "historic super load" weighs 820 tonnes and measures 96 metres long -- making it approximately as heavy as eight blue whales and as tall as Britain's Big Ben.
[The link is well worth clicking. The article has videos and more photos. Unfortunately, there is a lot of redundancy in the videos. I recommend the following video because it doesn't have the clips where a reporter sticks a mic in various people's faces.]

Another posting I came across. I saw a third posting, but its video was just too bad to include here.

Screenshot @ -0:17 from post
[Did they have truck trouble? I notice that only three trucks are pushing and one is setting in a parking lot. I wonder if they had to take down some electric line poles. It is barely going to mess the one that all of the people are standing next to.]

John W. Coke posted two photos with the comment: "Too much weight for that lane?"

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Jerrid Moore commented on John's post

Jerrid Moore commented on John's post

J.C. Lake posted two photos with the comment: "Had to use both bridges today. One bridge wouldn’t hold the whole load by itself."
Steve Winfield Where was this at?
J.C. Lake Steve Winfield Hwy 35 over San Bernard River
Old Ocean, TX
Kent Hurley Pushing a trailer? [That caught my eye as well. Then I realized on a regular road that would be the rear trailer and he would have to push.]
Jay Ashworth I am a little surprised they didn't stay right in the middle of each bridge deck - it would seem to me that the loading would be better / safer / less dangerous / insert your favorite adjective here in that condition. Presumably there's a reason not.
Bryan DuBose Trailers were placed on the bridge per an engineer's direction as this is deemed the strongest area on the bridge beams, columns e.t.c. TXDOT requires photo proof we crossed per there direction.
Paul Rodriguez What was the weight?
J.C. Lake Paul Rodriguez 1.27 million gross. [Some think this is basically photoshop. Four example, four tractors would be used for that weight.]
Pratap Varma Whats the total distance ... and how long did it take?
Bryan DuBose Pratap Varma 40 miles 7 hours.

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Merritt Burrus posted four photos with the comment:

mobile substation rolling in for a fire recovery last night. the trailer axles all steer for tight turning radius. i dont remember the weight on it, but it is probably in the 130-140k range
basically a 40mva transformer. switch, and breaker in one package

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I shared a video on 4/4/2019 to Rail & Highway Heavy Loads
Two trucks driving synchronously always fascinates me. That has got to be hard to do. At -0:13, I noticed the dozer has two engines, and they are both running.
Roger Schmitke The D-11 has a 32 Liter 12 cylinder engine rated just over 800 HP It does NOT have two engines, just one fairly large one. with V type configuration, twin turbo'd is why it has twin exhaust pipes.
David Willy More than likely, the wind is blowing the caps up, not the exhaust.
Andrew Koetz The flappers on top of the stacks are attached so the hinge side is on the back side of the stack; if they were both reversed they would not do that as the wind would keep them closed........
Andrew Koetz All they would need is to loosen the bolt slightly & spin the flapper 180 degrees.

Jose Maria Mucchiutti posted
18000
[Several of the comments had the same reaction I had --- that is a high center of gravity on a rather skinny transport. The near boom is a mast, and it is rather high. The 18000 is a big crane and its main boom is probably a few hundred feet long. And it is obviously sticking close to straight up.]
Tim Busse Okay i am going to say I don’t see why the risk, either walk the machine or demob and mob up, much safer, it is my opinion that way is more dangerous than walking without mats.Dave Kiekhafer It has to high of a center of gravity. Its extremely tippy with all that boom plus full counterweights. They could have lowered the goldfoffers and put them between the extended tracks, raised the goldhoffers until tracks just cleared the ground and safely transported it onsite.

Dave Kiekhafer commented on Jose's post

Mike Brady posted eight photos with the comment: "Longview NC, this evening. A 220 + ton transformer for Duke energy. Don`t see this every day."

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Mike Andrews posted three photos with the comment: "A little something from history: the 200-inch mirror blank traveling from Corning Glass Works in NY to Caltech for grinding/polishing/aluminizing, and then from Caltech to the top of Mount Palomar for installation."
Jay Ashworth Somebody said elsewhere that that blank weighed 200 tons. Clearly that can't be right, because none of the moving equipment here is remotely up to that category of weight. Do we know what it actually weighed?
[200" is 17'.]

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David Jackson shared

John W. Coke posted
James Poore Our company has 2 of these 6015s ,but we have to move them in 6 loads !!

John W. Coke posted
Tire change at the mine.
Mike Andrews There goes a big bunch of bucks.
Max Thomas Mike Andrews — $50k —- Or up to $100k on the black market — Big shortage in Africa .
[I assume that is per tire.]
ohn Biedzynski I'm guessing this is in Australia.
Max Thomas Yep

A solution for hauling bridge beams in New Zeland.
John W. Coke posted three photos.

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Screenshot
[Mountain grades introduces forces for which the trailer is not designed.]

Screenshot @ -1:14
[The axles directly under the load are not used on the road. They must be used at the beginning and end of the trip to maneuver the tank to and from the big trailer.]

John W. Coke posted three photos with the comment: "Transporting a reformer vessel total load was 300-foot-long, 24-foot wide, 18-foot, 9-inch high permitted load with a gross weight of 885,000 pounds.."

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John W. Coke posted two photos.

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John W. Coke posted three photos with the comment: "Edwards debuted its Faktor 5! The 439' long, 21'4" wide transporter and 4 prime movers were used to haul a 490,817 lb. gas turbine along a 28 mile route crossing 21 bridges at night with a total gross vehicle weight of 1,592,981 lbs."
Dane Kellum Seems like a bit of an over kill. I mean cool trailer but for that weight. You think it was for permit purposes Matt Doster? Gotta be the bridges lol
Stoney McGowan This gas turbine was delivered by NS RR to Gainsville {Prince William Co.} Va and delivered to another site in Ashburn {Loudoun Co.} Va, By Edwards on narrow two-lane roads. 30 miles +/-. Small culverts and bridges on Rt US 15 in Va.

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This is how they transfer loads between road and rail transport.

John W. Coke posted
Dennis DeBruler I'm glad there is a guy standing near the gantry so that we can see how big it is.

John W. Coke posted two photos.
[This is not going to fit under any overpasses!]

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John W. Coke posted two photos with the comment: "Convoy transporting a 96-metre-long pressure evaporator – used to treat water for oil sands steam generators to Fort McMurray."

Mathew Helmer Oh, maybe a new thing is shipping? https://www.google.com/.../edmonton/2020/1/24/1_4782511.html
Ken Eohek Evaporator Vessel made in Alberta at Dacro by Albertans for an Alberta Oilsands Plant in Ft. McMurray -- isn't she a brute

[Ken's comment includes a short video.]

Regis Wiley Pretty sad there's hardly any mega loads going up north anymore.

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A video of the above going around a corner

And the moves just keep getting bigger, especially in foreign countries.

John W. Coke posted
Queensland, Australia, faced a major challenge. It needed to move a 3,000-ton dragline excavator from one coal mine to another, almost 100 kilometers away. ‘Walking’ there would have caused significant wear-and-tear on the machine, and not allowed the company to take advantage of scheduled rail network shutdowns required to cross critical infrastructure. Mammoet was able to provide a safe, effective solution to load, move and unload the dragline using Self-Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMTs),
Anthony Sophios Not to mention waking it 100km would of taken a few weeks. They don’t move very quick.
[All is relative because I'm sure SPMTs don't move very fast either. Especially with a top heavy load like that.]

Michel Bourgeois Are you sure for the weight?🤔
Dragline are most around 6000 8000 tons...
Russ Martin Michel Bourgeois I used to operate them yes they are around 3000tonnes.

Marcus M Wilkinson Don’t under estimate the SPMTS!

John W. Coke posted
Close so close!
[Note that the bottom of the trailer frame is also close to the pavement. I assume that the height of the trailer is adjustable and that it is currently in its lowest position. The trailer is probably higher for normal road travel. And it may be cranked up even higher to go over some railroad crossings. Even at its highest, there are probably some railroad crossings it would have to avoid.]

John W. Coke posted
Mammoet crews transported this 3,810 ton dragline six miles in Texas.
Adam Stephenson Hallsville TX. I believe that dragline goes 13 million LBS.
Tom Cander Barely 1/3 of the Big Muskie!

Whenever I see something like the above, I wonder how can the frame be strong enough to spread the load over all of those wheels at the ends of the frame. Below is an example of what happens when the frame is not strong enough.

Philip Michael Evans shared, cropped
[Technically, it is not an oversized load. But I'm not going to start some "broken truck" notes. My first reaction was that the load should have been placed over the axles. But the comments reinforce my second reaction that it was loaded correctly so that some of the weight would be on the driver wheels.]

I've noticed that steel coils must be heavy because less than half of an ocean-going ship's cargo hull is filled with them. The coils are stacked just two high. This post gives me a data point on their weight.

J & H Trucking Inc. posted two photos with the comment: "Columbiana County, Leetonia

Billy McClurg hauling a 66,000 lb. coil from Alabama to Michigan."

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A Facebook posting with quite a few more photos of hauling the "guts" of a crane.

A Facebook posting of twelve photos of big, steel bridge beams being hauled on the highway.

A Facebook posting of IC transporting nuclear reactor parts from Havana to Clinton.

17 photos of loads hauled by Taggart

video of a large machine transporter, Sleipner DB120

sleipner
Uses an articulated dump truck as the towing vehicle. They are made by Cat, Volvo and Bell.

They have four trucks in back as two rows of two.

3:42 video @ 0:32

Largest load transported through Fort McMurray, AB

Pressure vessel 62m high and 5m in dia., 384 tones

Transported by Mammoet to CNRL on two trailers (320 wheels)

Pull by two trucks and pushed by another four tracks.

Feb. 27, 2009, By Jan Nademlejnsky, jannadem@shaw.ca