These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Transporting Wind Turbine Parts
(Update: I've learned that these thing are supposed to be called wind turbines instead of windmills. So I fixed the title, but I can't take the time needed to fix all of the text.)
The peninsula that Manitowoc Engineering used when they started as a ship building company now holds a company that makes windmill tower segments. That company sometimes ships the segments on barges on the Great Lakes.
BNSF made history last week by moving the largest wind blade ever transported by rail in North America: A whopping 80.5M [264.1'] long!
This is a dedicated wind blade train, moving Vestas blades from Colorado to Texas.
Photo by BNSF team member Bryan Echols, who helped ensure this dimensional product got to its destination safely.
Now, that’s some amazing service!
(new window, 12:37) I counted at least 10 crew members on the ground watching the clearances as the blades went around the connector. Then I read Scott's great description. They actually had about 20 workers on the scene.
Paul Wilson posted I hope you enjoy this clip. I made it 13 years ago in the early days of blade transport. The idea was to get the cars moving at 4 mph and then hit a stationary car. They had an impact recorder on the base of the blade frame. You can see it at the bottom of the yellow rope at the end of vid. Only 50 secs but watch to the end for the surprise. The grain car had its brakes applied. Look how far it moves. Michael Lake: Those wind turbine train were a nightmare. The mounting systems they used were very weak and the blades, cells and hubs were always coming loose. Rick Taube: I worked a BNSF job that loaded John Deere combines. We did the same thing with a new model combine. We tied down 3 flat cars and kicked the load into them from both directions. They wanted 3 different speeds. There were impact meters on the combine and they filmed it with high speed cameras. Samuel Plew: I never had trouble with a blade train(although we had a “incident”on the double track in a curve which made the news! I had 10 of the generators on the head end of a local trying to switch my regular customers. Words like momentum, energy and uh oh went through my head. Paul Wilson: Samuel Plew I also have some video of the radius test we did. I’ll post that one day. Bob Johnson: Why wasn't the movement stopped before making the connection...? Paul Wilson: Bob Johnson The test was to check the strength of the lashings in a sudden stop. The fact that the lashings withstood an impact at 2.5 times the target speed was quite good. The impact meter would measure the G force the blade was subjected to. Notice the blades were bouncing after impact. The surface can develop cracks from this.
Frank Lenny Smith posted
Pointe-Claire, QC, Sept 13,2017
Below isn't a unit train, but it is so strongly related to the above video that I include it here. It contains the other parts of wind turbines.
Jim Pearson Photography posted CSXT 3398 leads CSX 513 as it passes windmill parts train W986 tied down in the siding at Hanson, Kentucky, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision, with a 10,980-foot train, as the fall colors begin to show in the landscape on October 21st, 2021. Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2500, ISO 100. Jim Pearson Photography
(new window, 2:33) This train uses three flat cars for every two blades.
Joe Zeller posted I caught this propeller train on 8/16/16. The bridge is the entrance to the Port of Indiana. Not sure how long the Burns Harbor yard was storing this but it's the second time I've seen it. The first time was a "run through" on the CN in Griffith.
John W. Coke posted
Wind farm blades
[Notice how they are held almost vertical because they are too wide to lay flat. Holding them on a slight diagonal reduces their vertical clearence.]
Keith Hoy posted RAILROADING. Load of wind generator blades. Aaron Briar: I've hauled several loads of those and this is the first time I've seen them load that way. Rex Nelson
[A montage of still wind turbines Some comments indicate Aug and Sep are the calmest months.] Keith Hoy posted again Charles Call: You know...green energy items that can't be recycled and are required to be buried to dispose of them. Deanna Stark: Charles Call they bury them in Colorado I think…..however they’re on the cusp of finding a way to grind them and mix it in cement matrix…..last summer I worked cutting up the gear-boxes and towers from those gigantic towers in Chicago Heights IL. They were shipped all the way from South Dakota to be processed. [I've seen a video of blades being ground up to go into concrete.]
"On the emporia sub in Gardner at Clare crossing @ 2:39 pm on 8-20-17. Was out on the emporia sub with another railfanner out of view. A train was coming and just barely got it and I noticed some huge parts on it. Now I've never seen these parts before and so I had to ask a facebook group what they were and they told me they were generators and turbines for the windmill blades. Forgive the video in the beginning for lack of focus"
(new window, 1:30)
Andrew Aguilar posted pictures of a train of windmill turbines. (The "house" that turns on top of the tower to which the propeller hub attaches.)
John W. Coke posted
Windmill generators
[Notice that four, instead of the usual two, trucks are needed to hold this load. When you consider that two trucks can hold 286,000 pounds or 243 tons, it puts in perspective the kinds of loads cranes have to lift to build the windmills.]
John W. Coke posted two photos with the comment: "Wind turbine blade transport."
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4 RT BurnhamWindmill hubs and nacelles, Vestas ships these as well as blades from their plant in Brighton Colorado, these look like GE or Siemens wind turbines.
Jesse Elser posted seven photos of a crane in a lay down yard. Unlike the cranes that build the towers, these cranes need to be tall, but they are still heavy lift. Look at the size of the hook. Ben StalveyGroup AdminLittle 14000 short and stought Ken WrightWas there on Monday to unload. RJ Corman doing the unloading at the Watco yard.
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5 Ben StalveyGroup AdminThem towers I don't think are here from Manitowoc WI Jesse ElserWe brought our tower from Brandon, SD Ben StalveyGroup AdminLocally these bases are made here in Manitowoc WI. Just not yours guess. Jesse ElserI've never been to that plant but there are also plants in Newton Iowa and Clinton Illinois for them. The GE ones
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Two MLC 165 cranes tandem loading 12 wind-tower segments into a barge
This job done by Trans-Link of Manitowoc WI was featured in several crane magazines. Even in the Manitowoc Looking up magazine. Working in tandem two Manitowoc MLC 165 cranes were used operated by Pat Siehr and Troy Flentje. To load these wind tower section made by BroadWind Of Manitowoc WI on to barges. Often times one does not realize water transportation is a good option. Saves on oversize load permits, Escorts, Fuel Costs etc. Trans-Link has a great team always up for a challenge. They run this dock here in Manitowoc WI
Noah KielStill cost 76,000 from here to St. Louis.
The comments also have a couple of videos.
I assume the segments were made by Broadwind Towers. It is nice to see that Manitowoc's old shipbuilding/crane manufacturing facilities got reused after Manitowoc moved south of town. It will be interesting how the southern facilities are reused now that crane assembly has been moved to Shady Grove, PA.
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Update:
Scfreenshot
See how Mcfadyens from Scotland makes a 90 degrees right turn with a 60 metres blade with railings on both sides on the bridge. Great to see the possibilities of the SWC Super Wing Carrier. Without, it is almost impossible to do such a transport. More information about the Super Wing Carrier: https://www.nooteboom.com/trailers/super-wing-carrier/… Tim KeelerNooteboom makes some really nice trailers.
Gary Swain shared Mike Bags's photo
Two Local17 crane operators unloading wind turbine parts. Trip8&9 [Manitowoc 888 and 999]. Gary SwainThere's 36 new turbines going up in Chautauqua county NY, town of Arkwright.
Gary Swain shared Mike Bags' Wind turbine laydown yard. I selected some of the the photos that show the two cranes have to pick up a tower segment and then walk it to a far corner of a 1400' by 500' storage lot. They will be doing dozens of tandem picks to store all of the tower segments. He expects to be employed all winter. The blades don't weigh much, but they are 180' long.
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[Note the crawler tracks of each crane are pointed in the same direction as they haul the segment across the storage lot. In the left background you can see they have already moved one segment into storage.]
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[I never noticed the cradles that are attached to the flat cars until I saw this photo.]
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[Much better exposure.]
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[Back for another one. But in this case the cradle stays with the segment.]
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[I assume they are parked for the night.]
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We have to walk the puppies all the way over there.
Richard W Robinson posted
A little crawl action
[I wonder if this is the same laydown yard as the above or if there is another big project in progress.]
Randy Griggs posted two photos with the comment: "Wind turbine work in 2009."
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John W. Coke posted two photos with the comment: "Wind turbine blade transport."
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1 of 4 photos posted by Goldhofer Transport Our FTV 550 is an unquestionably reliable and rigorously tested product that guarantees absolute safety. It has been proven to work flawlessly for our esteemed client Ogawa. The FTV 550 is ingeniously combined with the PPU490 + PST/SL-E 3 06 x 02 + PST/SL-E 6 12 x 04 self-propelled heavy-duty modules, which enables it to easily handle gradients of up to 15% and cover an impressive 15 km distance. As depicted in the photo, it's capable of transporting a 51 m Vestas V wind turbine blade with ease. Suffice it to say, it's an ingenious and unparalleled solution!
Goldhover Transport posted Also in 2019, Enercon puts the world's longest »VENTUM« flatbed semitrailers with pendulum axles from us into operation. The »VENTUM« is the first semitrailer which can be extended up to 5 times.
John W. Coke posted three photos. Wim Kimpeif you negociate the signalisation car at the back, this is the result. This happened some weeks ago in Germany. The driver survived, but was seriously injured.
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Notice the green frame behind the two "orange men" under the blade. That was the dolly that was supporting the blade. But a significant part of the blade extends past the dolly. When the blade turns like this, that extended part turns into the next lane. The "oversize load" escort car that was behind the blade should have been in the outside lane because the blade was overhanging into that lane. The comment implies that the driver of the wrecked truck went around the escort car and thus it not only rammed into the blade, it shoved it further down the road so that it was then overhanging the lanes in the other direction as well.
Mike Six posted
Good Morning!
Night shift unloading trains. Fun fun fun!
Bay Crane posted
[More tower segments being stockpiled.]
I learned of this Siemens plant because it was near a UP derailment on BNSF's former Santa Fe route. It is rather obvious from the satellite image that they make blades and that being able to ship by rail is important.
Daniel Fredrickson posted some photos with the comment: "BCOL 4611 leads a westbound windmill train through Princeton late this afternoon [3-23-2018]."
The local newspaper finally wrote about these parts for 106 windmills. It has three photos. 900 semi-truck loads to transport the parts to Walnut Ridge Wind Farm in north-central Bureau County. They will move two turbines a day between 2-5am with an agreement for the two convoys to be clear of the East Peoria city limits by 6am. "Each turbine requires nine trucks to move: four pieces of the tower, three blades, one hub and one generator that powers each unit. The blades are each 204 feet long. The generator weights 258,000 pounds and requires a 13-axle truck to move."
John W. Coke posted
J & L Contracting LLC. hauling a wind turbine nacelle
John Menges posted
eastbound windmill component train at Watseka this afternoon
[Note there is room to put a third hub in the middle of the flat cars. But that would probably exceed their weight limit.]
John W. Coke posted two photos with the comment: "Wind turbine parts."
[Obviously, tower segments.]
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Cleveland Crane and Shovel Sales posted (source) four photos with the comment:
🚧Windfarm parts offload🚧-Manitowoc 999💪🏼-These turbines will be among the largest land base wind farm components to be erected in the USA😱-These vestas turbines have only been used in offshore applications until now👍🏻
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Bay Crane posted
in Westfield, Pennsylvania. Steve White I saw 60 Blades on Barges on the Mississippi River while in New Orleans a while ago. How long are the blades and what does one blade cost ?? Steve White Sorry, I answered my own question on google...For a 1.5-MW turbine, typical blades should measure 110 ft to 124 ft (34m to 38m) in length, weigh 11,500 lb/5,216 kg and cost roughly $100,000 to $125,000 each. Rated at 3.0 MW, a turbine's blades are about 155 ft/47m in length, weigh about 27,000 lb/12,474 kg and are valued at roughly $250,000 to $300,000 each...
Neil Ruddy posted five photos with the comment: "Derailment spills windmills at Avon, IA yard."
It appears to me that something stopped the truck of the front flat car with so much force that it stopped the front flatcar so quickly that its load slid off and the flatcar behind it rode on top of the front flatcar. But I have no idea what could stop a truck with that much force.
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Sam Carlson posted
Oversize Load!
[Look how wide the trailer is. It looks like it occupies both lanes of a highway.]
Leroy Brandenburg posted
A wb windmill parts train comes down main 2 beside a stopped stack train at monett mo on 07-12-2019
Michael Landis I’m betting we will see a lot of more of these wind turbine trains in our area in the coming months. Big wind farms are being built around Lockwood-Golden City around the Ft. Scott Sub, and another one proposed in the Purdy-Butterfield area around the the A&M. Leroy Brandenburg I didnt know that, empire electric is closing the asbury plant but there investing 1 billion dollars in a windmill farm.
Gerald Jerant shared
Wind tower sections going south along the BNSF main between Walsenburg & Trinidad Co. This line is mainly a northbound only route for empty coal trains heading back to Wyoming. They must have done some creative scheduling to clear the traffic for this train to go through.
John W. Coke posted [They are now up to 12-axles. And look how low the low-boy is. With that little ground clearance, they would have to be very careful about which railroad crossings they use.]
(new window) "TP&W windmill blade train going east at Watseka on Sunday 16 September 2018. These are the really long windmill blades that stretch across 3 flatcars. Video taken from the Iroquois Federal parking lot between 4th and 5th streets."
Video of two hubs being transported by truck. I don't have a fancy phone, but I understand that they can take a video with a horizontal format. A profile video drives me nuts unless the subject is a crane. The trailer has a significant distance between its two axles. I've seen that on some trailers that haul crane counterweights. It seems to me that the front axle would get most of the load.
12 photos of a train that includes more tower segments. These seem to be coming from a different direction, and thus I assume supplier, than some of the other tower segment trains we have seen. The comments include a discussion of TP&W interchanging with CSX at Lafayette instead of Reynolds.
Bill Vavricek posted two photos of cars carrying turbine blades. I'm not copying the photos because they are vertical for a horizontal subject. But I'm saving the post link because the comments debate the merits of wind turbines. Of note: Phil WhitakerThe wind turbines are not what they seem. We here in Iowa are battling the wind turbine companies. They produce a sound level called infrasound. It penetrates the walls of your home and your body! It causes the thickening of blood vessels, bronchial tubes . It is a very detrimental to your health. The wind turbines create negative air pressure which makes a bat’s lungs explode. Other wildlife and domestic animals suffer also. When these wind turbines wear out they leave them for the taxpayers to get rid of. There is very little of the turbine that can be recycled. It will have to go in the landfills. They dig deep holes in the ground and fill it with concrete to build a foundation for it. They leave that in the ground also. That make everyone that leases their land for wind turbines to a gag order. So they can’t warn others how these things effect their lives. Warren Buffet owns the company building these things and he will not talk to the people that are being adversely effected. They are not what you think!!!!!
[It is hard to tell the "alternate facts" from the "facts" in the comments.]
Courtland Zamacona: Funny, there is a blade on the ground next to the tracks just outside of Needles as it passes under I-40.
Kenneth Gengler: Courtland Zamacona Yep, the blade fell off this very train back on April 24th. This train derailed at Topock, AZ on April 23rd as well.
Gary Dowler: As a model airplane builder, there goes a thousand lifetimes supply of balsa wood! That’s what the cores of these things are made of. This is why my wood supply has tripled in price, and the good, light, low density balsa is getting very hard to get.
Terry B. Carlson commented on Kenneth's post Got this from a friend. Says it is in New Mexico. When the blades are no longer usable, they dig a trench and bury them. "Green", huh?
electrek (source) This 379' (115.5m) blade is being transported to a test prototype of the Vesta V236-15.0 MW. In production, the blades will go to offshore wind farms so they will be transported by ship rather than over roads.
David Schauer posted CPKC attempted to interchange four wind blades this afternoon to BNSF but the crossing lights on Railroad Street would have been caught by the overhang. They were going to try the skunk track (tri-party) but there might not have been enough head room. They ended up putting the cars back in their yard on Rices Point. Duluth, MN - May 17, 2024 In the past BN (BNSF) has moved the gates to allow for the swing here, so I suspect they will do that, or free up some room on the skunk track and tray that approach.
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