I'd bet they did their hustling at 30,000 feet.

I doubt they were air freighted, but I also suspect it's a safe bet they didn't use any of the idiots from the cable series Shipping Wars to haul them either! My guess is that they were given to the most reliable shipper they knew, with an order to expedite, and nearly a blank check to get it done.

Surely trucked. Team drivers can go nearly non stop. Surprised there are no posted photos but not being parked overnight at a truck stop or motel parking lot because they drove straight through may be part of the reason.

Think about how awkward it would be to fly them, what with loading and restraining. Are you chartering plane(s)? Are you putting them on a lift and rolling them in and chaining them down inside? Are you putting them on a commercial flight? In a container or chained to a pallet? Will the carrier be satisfied with the restraints? You still have to lift them onto a truck to get them to the airport and lift them off again once there. Ditto at the other end. If flying commercially you must fit into their schedule. By the time you do all this the team truckers could be a quarter of the way there.

Now maybe if you had a Skyhook or Chinook helicopter giving door to door service...

Steve

Air freight is a highly unlikely scenario. A single wheelset for 844 probably weighs in excess of 20,000 pounds. And there are four of them to transport. Airlifting that kind of weight is only possible at large airports and requires very specialized LARGE cargo aircraft, probably TWO of those. And BARRELS of $$$.
From a practical standpoint, freighting by truck, due to the 35,000 pound interstate weight limits (80K total vehicle gross weight) would require TWO trucks. Express ground transport is easy, available and only costs BUCKETS rather than barrels of $$$.

Still wondering why they were sent to two shops? Once the machine/operator is setup it's kind of a wham-bam operation. Easier to keep track of dimensions, etc that way.

Divide and conquer.

I'm still wondering why so many found themselves surprised at the idea that pros with resources could get a job done fast a right. I'd have been more surprised if they couldn't. Nothing like volunteer world, where the idea of a commitment is "maybe, if it's convenient."

dave

What is the tolerance for matching driver diameters on that engine?

Don't know what the tolerances are, but I do know that the drivers are supposed to be the same diameter. A 0.120 inch difference in diameter puts the centerline of the axle just .060 lower than the others, well within the ability of the loco's equalizing sysytem. Assuming 84 inch drivers, a .120 inch difference in diameter will result in about 3/8 inch difference in CIRCUMFERENCE and I suspect that this is also well within tolerance. Obviously the UP accepted the differences and got the loco on the road ASAP.

Excessive chatter and gouge marks on the flanges were noted by UP personnel. Any validity to this, and might a novice trucker damage a part to where it might look as though remanufacturing caused this?[/quote]

You got the shops backward, and no, the trucker can't do that kind of damage,novice or pro.

Could a bad truck driver take an 1/8th inch off the drivers he was hauling? Yes but he would probably have to stop somewhere and use a lathe.

The way it went down between the two shops is this. Tvrm had the 1 and 4 because someone at u.p. thought the the main weighs 14 tons versus the actual 14,000lbs, 14 tons would be in excess of the crane capacity. The number 1 was the first to be turned since it had the worst flange wear, the finished diameter of that driver set the standard for what the other drivers were to be turned to. So, if there is a difference between the diameters then tvrm having turned the first driver is the shop with the "correct"diameter wheels.
Since the thing has been running though I doubt this is true, 1/8" difference is not only illegal but would cause rods to run scorching hot.

"Gouging" in the flange? I would suspect the difference noted is just what is seen between a wheel which is single pointed with a follower attachment and one that's machined with standard form tools. OR, a witness mark was left in the base of the flange. This is something that used to be a standard practice.

John

Maybe there's a microscopic within-tolerances difference and a decimal point got shifted somewhere as these stories go around.

@Ron: LOL at your trucker / lathe comment!

Steve

Well, for those of you who were wondering about the relevant standards for driving wheel diameter, 49 CFR Part 230.113(k) states that the variance in diameter when ALL tires are turned or new tires applied must not be in excess of 3/32 of an inch. That's 0.09375 inches. So, if UP844 is now under steam, the drivers HAD to be within this standard else the FRA would have ticketed them. Highly unlikely that UP would have risked not passing an FRA inspection.

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God Bless you, Kelley

And, unless you sent the UP, Strasburg, TVRM a nice, fat check to offset the cost of machine work and repairs, have a nice big cup of shut the heck up.

The internet has provided yet another reason to despise railfans.