http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3023034
The above photo linked from a posting by a member of the arksmook Group on yahoo. [photo by owner mentioned on the linked photo and album]
Usually, the big,wide loads are fairly easily identified, but this one is hard to identify.
ANY ideas as to what it is?
Teaser to start the juices flowing on Mother’s Day2012
Counter weight for a very large crane, heading to Houston, TX for export.
As stated, counter weight for a crane or drag line, headed to either Texas Terminals or GulfStream Marine, (both PTRA customers) for export.
Note the dead weight center line targets on it to help in loading it on the flat.
+3 - The hookpin roundrels give it away…
Thanks, to those who responded!
[a single 4 truck, 8 axle flat on a single piece, with its’ own power! ]
Definitely, an unusual move.
A quick question. Are there speed restrictions when moving those four truck flat cars when they are empty. My father had told me back a quarter century or so, that use of those cars was being discouraged because they were so much trouble to reposition for the next job when they were unloaded. It was because the axle loading on each of the eight axles was so light when the car was empty that they would derail at the slightest provocation. Has the science of truck technology improved to the point where that is no longer an issue?
Bruce
Not that I am aware of, we see them here all the time, but then we handle a lot of big heavy loads, transformers, turbines, power generation units, boilers and crane/drag line parts.
By the way, that car came in last night, we set it off on the south end of track 60 at the PTRA, and one of our morning jobs, Port Job 180, took it to Gulf Stream Marine at Texas Terminals this morning all by its lonesome, real hot car, the part is bound for India and has to make the ship which leaves tonight.
Never saw any restrictions on those empty rascals in and out of the west coast ports. (and this was before they widened and deepened the Panama Ditch)…In the bad old days, limited coupler throw on engines was unheard of - They never saw the big, new, locomotive equipment that is so unforgiving handling an unforgiving car.
Wonder if that rascal squeeled a a bit on PTRA’s restrictive geometry in along the docks?
Here is your car, track 60, PTRA North Yard this morning, it headed out about 5 minutes later.
Sorry about the quality, cell phone photo…
JUST WOW!
Ed, You’re Da Man! [bow]
That right there says a lot about the continuing competitiveness and pre-eminence of American engineering and manufacturing skills - to India, even ! (see below)
If that’s just the counterweight (or part of one), I’d like to see that rascal when it’s fully assembled and in operating condition ! [swg]
I also wonder what the multiple holes/ hatchways are for ? Obviously the chief function of a counter-weight is to be heavy, but why make it so big - just adds costs for materials and fabrication labor ? If they’re going to fill it with something, steel would be the best - typically 490 lbs. per cubic foot (“PCF”), whereas concrete is only 150 PCF, sand about 120 PCF, loose stone about 100 PCF, water about 62.4 PCF, and so on. Unless the plan is to fill the counterweight after it’s attached to the crane, and then never have to empty or remove it - or will they, in which case something granular or fluid would be worthwhile using instead.
They couldbe filling it with Lead at teh other end also at 707 lbs a square foot also. Just fill it up with Lead Shot and it will give it the Weight needed. You get the Best of Both Worlds Reusable and easy to Remove.
Thank you for the replies Houston Ed and MC. My Dad may have been thinking about a specific number series of car, or maybe back when jointed mainline trackage was still common. It is just another in a long list of things I wished I had got more clarity on when I still had the chance.
At times it does amaze me that many(most?) of the active railroaders on this forum have seniority dates in effect after Dad retired in November 1985.
Thanks again.
Bruce
Good point, Ed. [tup] (Look for a new thread from me later tonight - you’ll love it ! [:-,] )
Can you imagine it: “Hey, you - go ‘get the lead out’ of that counterweight !” [swg]
Very true Paul,
I see a lot of Caterpillar equipment heading overseas, not much equipment imported, although I think Kubota has a plant here in the states.
So far, most of the Cats we ship out go to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, but my favorite was St. Petersburg, Russia.
Took me a minute to realize they meant Moscow, which has gone back to its original name
Big dozers, so big they came in pieces to be assembled there, and a boat load, literally a boatload of dump trucks, the one that are so big the tires come on a flat car by themselves, the frame on another one, and the bucket in two pieces, each piece on its own flat.
We also seem to be sending a lot of steam plants to Russia, along with generation stations and assorted support equipment…odd, with their weather; you would think they would have an entire industry and infrastructure to build just such things.
We do get a lot of Siemens turbines imported in here, about one a week or so, out of the docks and interchanged with BNSF, no clue as to where they go.
And, just sent out 2 locomotives, NREX 2021 and NREX 2022, which were covered with a tarp, but looked like SD40s that had been lowered a little and modified for passenger use, they had AAR couplers, flat pilot plates and no bumper post, so my guess is not South America…
[quote user=“Paul_D_North_Jr”]
edblysard:
Not that I am aware of, we see them here all the time, but then we handle a lot of big heavy loads, transformers, turbines, power generation units, boilers and crane/drag line parts.
That right there says a lot about the continuing competitiveness and pre-eminence of American engineering and manufacturing skills - to India, even ! (see below)
edblysard:
By the
Beg pardon, Ed, but St. Petersburg was called Leningrad for a while. St. Pete is a seaport, but Moscow isn’t even on a river that connects to anything important (the Volga empties into the Caspian Sea.) In the same vein, Stalingrad of WWII fame is now Volgagrad, farther downstream on the same river.
Judging by size alone, that might be part of a walking dragline, one of those things with a cab about the size of an apartment block and a boom that can reach into next week. Very popular for clearing overburden in open pit mines.
I would imagine that it’s cheaper to ship that load half way around the world empty, then fill it with locally procured weight after assembly. Just like shipping Carrera marble from Italy, then putting it on a building made from locally-produced concrete blocks.
Chuck
No pardon needed, your right, it was Lennigrad…I knew it was one or the other…[:S]
heck if I know would look cool as Wallpaper