I'm not knocking the trucking industry, it's just that I was posting on a sometimes passionate railroad forum. When is Rome. . . .

I have worked with Lenny with Venisia Ent and D.C. Tunison with the Flagg Coal. Both are very professional and great to work with. This project is going to require five to six trucks all at the same time. Nothing spectacular, just MOW equipment to help us keep our historic stuff on the railhead.

Thank you to everybody for the info! It is very much appreciated. I knew this bunch would have some good references.

Ryan

I have had very positive experiences with Daily Express out of Carlisle, PA. They have moved some monster loads for Juniata Terminal and I deal with them during Military equipment moves at Conrail. Top notch folks...no job ever seems too big, too small, too far, or too close.

EBL

IRM has used Silk Road as well as a number of other haulers. I believe the CTA in Chicago uses (or used) Silk Road to haul rapid transit cars to NY state for rebuild.

They are not always the cheapest quote but they are very experienced and quite professional.

I think the bottom line is to use someone experienced in hauling rail equipment, and to make sure our valuable load is insured for possible damages should the worst come to pass. That is not always the case.

And if the move crosses state lines, check to see the hauler is familiar with permitting and routing in each jurisdiction.

Bob Kutella

We used Norfolk Southern when we moved the 5288 down from Steamtown. Oh wait, they're a railroad. Sorry.

The Tennessee Valley Authority used Edwards Moving for all of our transformer moves and some other big stuff. These are primarily short moves where we need a hydraulic trailer. I don't think we've used them for anything over 8 to 10 road miles.

We've used Leneny and Venisia several times and would recomend them. Silk road didn't have equpiment big enough to haul a locomotive (2 months ago) in Ohio. One of the worst states to haul in or through I understand.
We used a company Called "Movin' Iron" out of Red Bay Al. to bring a G.E. from the golden Gate to Ohio and it went great. ?They haul big chunks of the Titanic around as well.
I found a company called Diamond Heavy haul out of Kent OH, there rates seamed okay but we haven't used them as of yet.

I almost forgot to mention Oswalt, who moved our crane. They were very professional and careful. The crane wasn't that big but it was awfully heavy.

In the past we've used J. Supor & Son based in New Jersey: http://www.jsupor.com/home.html

I'd like to chime in and add my comment in favor of Silk Road. They are a very professional operation. The latest delivery of a single truck car was unloaded in less than 2 hours.

Wesley

Two offhand comments from someone who has helped with more than a couple road shipments of this nature, and used to have a Pa. truck enforcement officer as a family friend:

*See to it that your shipper gets EVERY LAST BIT of paperwork in order, and then go behind his back and double-check.

*Bring plenty of available documentation of how heavy the locomotive/car SHOULD be.

*Ascertain that your mover really does understand what's being moved and how--and what can and can't be welded to.

Two horror stories from my days:

The oft-recounted tale of PRR B6sa 60 being moved from the Pittsburgh area to the Wilmington & Western in the early 1980s. In spite of the fact that this was the same moving company that moved Southern 1401 into the Smithsonian, they got nabbed for weight. As I recall, the loco could have weighed 140,000 pounds if you converted it all to rust, the permits were for 185,000 pounds including rig and margin for error, and the initial reading by the police (weighing one end at a time as the load was too long for the scale) was 260,000 pounds. While the trucker and police argued, the W&W crews set about removing every possible expendable piece of metal from the loco, including the smokebox door, rods, etc.--a total of perhaps nine tons total. When the truck was re-weighed after that, they got a HIGHER reading. Fines, fines, and more fines.

I also recall reading a 1970s or 1980s story about Everett RR's last loco--I think it was GE 80-tonner, #4, built 1943--being removed from Mt. Dallas, Pa. by truck in a nightmare covered by the Bedford Gazette: the house mover hired to move it had constructed an I-beam frame around and under the loco's frame and attached the dollies to it. The rig started north from Mt. Dallas to somewhere a short ways north (Hollidaysburg? Claysburg?), but burned through the axle bearings only a short way into the journey. I seem to recall that the state police caught up with this oversized load and then started questioning not only the wisdom of the move, but the permits, if they indeed actually existed......... I no longer have that newspaper story, but maybe Brother Maples could chime in with "the REST of the story" if appropriate...................