36-Axle Schnabel car moves nuclear vessel to disposal site

I have some general notes on the Schnabel cars. But this vessel move got enough railfan attention (i.e. photos (update: and videos)) that I decided it gets its own notes.

John W. Coke posted five photos with the comment:

The nuclear reactor vessel, encased in steel cylinder weighing 770 tons, from Southern California’s decommissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station has started to make its way toward Las Vegas by rail. At more than 1.5 million pounds, it will be the largest and heaviest object ever moved on a Nevada road.

Red McQueen 750 ton
Mark Wayman Emmert International is handling the complete move from rail to transload to truck and then transport to disposition site in Utah.

John W Coke shared
Larry Beightol Going to Arrowlime

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Jeff Ketterman posted
This is what a REALLY big load on one of our huge 36-axle Schnabel cars looks like with a very tight clearance. They are inching their way thru this railroad bridge in California. This car can shift and lift the load when needed for tight clearances. Sometimes that makes all the difference.
The car alone weighs almost 800,000 lbs. It has a capacity of just over 2 million lbs. Let that sink in.
The loaded vessel shown on the car weighs 1.6 million lbs. Which brings the total on rail to 2.4 million pounds.
That’s a lot.
Jennifer Starr Can the old rail infrastructure support the weight?
Jeff Ketterman Jennifer, nothing moves without a full clearance run on every route for our cars and their loads by the railroads. Much engineering involved. AND, some of these loads move non-direct routes because direct route won’t handle the load.
Pat Armstrong McGowan Here I thought you were just an amazing musician and video maker.
Jeff Ketterman Pat, my REAL job is that of general manager for a heavy-duty rail car management company.
http://www.kasgro.com/
Jeff Ketterman Steve, we now have 500 heavy duty cars in our fleet.
Chip Bruner Afton canyon bridge cima sub 1 if what we called the 3 sisters [But I still don't know where that is.]

Jason Farmer shared
Patrick Cavanaugh As of 2012, there were 31 Schnabel cars operating in Europe, 30 in North America, 25 in Asia, and one in Australia.[1]
Glen Burgess How does the bridge take that weight?
Jim Bullock It depends on the length and capacity of the bridge. Each Schnabel car can carry about 890 tons spread out over 36 axles (72 33" dia wheels)!
I saw one carrying a nuclear reactor, traveling at 12 mph max! Impressive!
Dan Fitzgerald Axle loads and spacing, also [very slow] speed, no impact loading on bridge.

(new window)  At 10:19 is a daylight view.


I wonder if this is the train that delivered the car for the transport of the decommissioned nuclear reactor vessel. A comment mentioned that the CSX train lead the train all the way to California. Note in the above video that BNSF had two locomotives on it when it was loaded. And it doesn't need the two buffer flatcars when empty. It also looks to me that it can go faster than 10mph when empty.
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