Recently we loaded the ex G&W 20 onto a QTTX flatcar for shipment to the Lake Shore Railway Museum. The lift required the use of two 150 ton hydraulic cranes, which lifted the locomotive up and then I shoved the flatcar under it with our Alco. We spent the next couple of days doing the tie downs and this morning the local CSX mechanical inspector approved our load for shipment.

We utilized the same 1" cables that the L&NE 611 used for its recent trip on a flatcar. There were 16 total tie downs used, four per side and four on each end. I used four 10' lengths of 2x2 square bar for the rails, and cut 4 x 6 x 1/2 angle into 6" lengths which were welded to the deck, side sills and pilots. I installed the cables first then jacked up each truck just enough to slide an I beam underneath to take the weight of the loco off the springs.

As soon as the clearance bureau gives us the OK, I'll put the car out of the gate for pickup. This is the first rail shipment that I have managed, and it went over very well.

Have Hi-rail, will travel! The only siding that I had available to put the flatcar in was only accessible by rail. Fortunately I have a hi-rail truck so that made it easy to access the car to finish the tie downs.

Nice job.
After IRMs 130' 60 ton turntable was tied down onto the flat car in Denver , the UP then wanted gussets welded onto the tie down angles so they'd be stiffer I guess. Then the load went over the Hump in Proviso. It didn't shift at all.
PS: Don't forget the DO NOT HUMP signage.

DO NOT HUMP signs are great for a laugh from the uninitiated, but in practice they very rarely prevent anything from going over the hump! "Hump to a clear track!"

They will even hump passenger cars, with riders yelling at the hump crew...

Hey Southern Michigan Railroad Society has nearly the same Hi-rail. Ours has been modified a bit since Conrail bought it in 87. The cutting torch is in a steel cabinet and we have heavy duty C channel bumpers.

That locomotive has an interesting history and there's a reason Lake Shore wants it, other than the obvious native interest in a GE 80-tonner built in Erie.

When I was a kid in the 60's, this was the locomotive used by the contractor (Hunkin - Conkey) to build the Kinzua Dam reservoir on the Allegheny River - not the Hoover Dam, but big enough. The concrete batch plant on the far side was switched by this GE.
http://www.atticpostcards.com/images/PI24/101pc2.jpg That's about 60 miles away from Lake Shore. All the material except for some of the rock was delivered by rail. The dam severed the Warren-Olean segment of the PRR, and it was used as the supply railroad by the contractor.

I'm still not sure if this unit made the 6-mile run down to the end of the PRR line segment in Warren(that now ends at United Refining) but I do remember it parked right at the end of the Glade Bridge (Rt. 6) beside the Allegheny Hotel for many years. Same paint scheme.

Lake Shore is looking for any clear shots of this locomotive while it was at the damsite. Other than a couple 'yellow spots' I have on my Dad's pictures, I don't have any.

For 1/2" tabs, the 1" cable seems to be severe overkill. Not saying its bad or wrong, just an observation.

To follow up on Randy's info on locomotives used in the building of Kinzua Dam---

there were THREE locomotives used by the contractor to build the Kinzua Dam, the aforementioned GE 80 tonner and two Plymouth JDT cabless 15 tonners. The two Plymouths were later sold to the National Forge Company, with one going to the NF plant near Warren, PA, and the other going to the NF plant in Erie, PA.

In 2003, the successor to NF in Warren, Ellwood National Forge, donated to Lake Shore the little Plymouth that stayed near Warren. The Plymouth loco that was sent to the Erie plant disappeared.... we think it broke down and was just pushed into the melt...

So now Lake Shore has two of the three locomotives that built the Kinzua Dam.

That of course is added to the 'other' history both machines have. The GE 80 being the first diesel-electric owned by Genesee & Wyoming in 1944, and the Plymouth being one of six owned/used by the contractor that built the electric generating plant at Niagara Fall, New York.

[rayg]

Ray Grabowski, Jr.
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society

Did she leave yet?

It is ready to go. Awaiting clearance bureau approval before I shove it down to the interchange.

Nice pictures. Does your Alco still have working remote control ?

He mentioned in an earlier post it's what he had from a previous shipment so why buy new when this will work with what was on hand

Moved it down to the interchange this evening. Local will be in to pick it up in the morning.
Tim Donahue on the left from the Lake Shore Railway Museum and yours truly on the right, shortly after uncoupling Triple Seven from the flat.

And there she goes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2185Fah0iI