For those that may be interested in how it got there.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/themes/story_31_1.html
Jarrell
Thanks, Jarrell. I remember a few months ago, someone on the forum posted a link that showed a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy being moved from a train yard in Oklahoma(?) to a another spot just a few miles away. I still remember that one of the pics showed a blown tire on the heavy-duty trailers. I can’t imagine trying to move a 500-ton locomotive NOT under it’s own power.
Tom
I am very happy to see that someone is ponying up the resources to preserve our (your) rail heritage. That is one honey of a locomotive, although I prefer the PRR version with its Belpair firebox.
I could put my nose to those windows for hours just taking it all in.
Tom, my wife was looking over my shoulder reading the article and she said she had no idea they even built trailers that size.
Anyway, I’d like to get up to the Smithsonian and see the Southern.
Jarrell
ahh the ultimate indignity … a steam engine being moved by a truck [V]
i least it’s a better fate than being cut up for scrap .
nice article , and one more reason i need to get to the smithsonian for a week or so
Have you and your wife ever seen footage of the Cape Hatteras(sp?) lighthouse move from a few years back? I’m trying to remember: Did they move it 300’ or 300 yards? At any rate, it’s pretty impressive when you think about what it would take to move a “non-movable” object like a lighthouse a substantial distance over soft sand.
Tom
Very intertesting! It makes you wonder how they would do something of that magnitude with todays technology.
Terry
This beats all, they can move a monster like that and I can not get a son to MOVE and get a job!!! [:D]
Neat link, thank you
The 4023 was moved at Onaha to the park along side the 6900.
The web page for the UPHS is below that shows the move.
Here’s a photo from the website…
They had a broken axle also. That is some moving machine!
Jarrell
There was a program on cable that showed moving a Big Boy AND a Centennial. I foget which channel, probably history or learning channel. I thought the moves were done at a UP facility, but I could be wrong on that.
The moves were very impressive. The Big Boy had to be moved across a UP mainline without shutting down the line. Trains could be routed around the moving site for only about 4 hours, so there was a bit of drama thrown in to the move. With the flat tires and brocken bogie, they barely made it across in time! Wish I had recorded it, but I’m never prepared for stuff like this.
Darrell, impressed and quiet…for now
That is some cool stuff. And I remember when someone posted the big boy moving link.
This is interesting,I’ve herd of it done but never seen it done! The southren oregon historical society is re-storeing an Three truck shay and they are trying to find someone to move it when its done.
it weighs 70 tons.not as big as the one in the picture but a hand full just the same! Nice work jarrell!!
JIM
Jarrell, thanks for the link to moving the Southern steam engine. I worked for Frank W. Hake Rigging for 13 years as a mechanic and driver and remember that trailer, we also had a 500 ton capacity lowboy trailer that wheighed in at close to a 100 ton empty. The old timers that worked there when I started talked about many jobs they have done but none of them mentioned the Smithsonian. My father worked there for close to 25 years and would bring me into Hake’s yard when I was young to see some of the things they hauled such as old trolleys going to museams, helicopters for Boeing, and a couple small steam locomotives. Again, thanks for the link, I’ll have to show him.
That show on the Big Boy and Centenial was an episode of Monster Movers that aired on the Discovery channel. I’m sorry I didn’t record it too.You can probably buy it from the Discovery channel though.
Next Saturday UP 6900 & 4023 will be unveiled to the public in their new home.
New home across town in Omaha, Nebraska.
http://www.omahabotanicalgardens.org/about_the_garden/kenefick_park/
Click the link to see pictures of the moves from downtown Omaha to the new garden.
Yep, that’s the website! I didn’t read the article again. Wnen they moved the Big Boy, were they also going to refurbish it at all? (Overland Router, just read your post. Thanks for the update. [:)])
The one that’s always impressed me is the moving of the Saturn V rockets at Cape Carnavel. I saw some great old footage of engineers, walking along beside the platform as it literally inched along - gauges in hand - monitoring and checking the bearings to see whether they were overheating or not. I’m trying to imagine how in the world they would go about fixing a seized bearing or broken tread linkage - with the Saturn V STILL attached to the top.
With the Saturn V weighing in a whopping 5-6x the weight of a smaller 4-8-8-4 Big Boy (6,300.000 lbs vs. 1,250,000 lbs.), it would have to be just a horrendous nightmare to tackle a problem like that.
Tom
FYI: I just read a very interesting link on the Cape Hatteras lighthouse. (If you are interested, see http://www.nps.gov/caha/question.htm for details.) Turns out that just masonary section of the nearly 200’ structure - i.e. the portion above the first floor - weighs in at a whopping ~2,850 tons (5, 160,000 lbs) alone! That DOESN’T include the weight of the base nor the footings - which would add another 900-950 and 700-900 tons, respectively. What will they move next?!? [:O]
I’ve seen that beauty on three different occasions (been to DC 3 times) as the Museum of American History is one of my favorites at the Smithonian. Here is link to the Smithsonian that tells a little about Southern Railway 1401.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=22
The museum has a very good collection of locos (including the “John Bull”) and other Railroad items. It is a definite must visit if you are in DC.
I just read that it was neither. In 1999, they moved the lighthouse a total of 2,900’; from it’s original location to its current location.
Tom
a turntable in the frount window COOL
B