From Trainorders, sounds like Big Boy 4023 in Omaha is being prepared for a move by truck... Wonder what those big round things are under the boiler?


http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,868996

They are not road trucks but building movers can pick up almost anything with rubber tired dollies.

Last year a company moved our 156 foot long schooner C A THayer indoors for re-building. Their next project was in Chicago where they moved a German submarine, over 250 feet long, into a new building at the Museum of Science and Industry. I think they opened the new exhibit last month.

You may recall that several years ago all the museum's rail equipment was moved indoors. One of the steam engines is now on something like the seventh floor!

And speaking of Big Boys, didn't the Forney Museum in Denver move one to their new campus in the last year or two?

Ted Miles

The difference between schooners and submarines and locomotives is that engines have wheels already built in. The Big Boys roll on roller bearings, as do most of the other big engines moved by truck lately. With a small amount of preparation, the 4023 should roll easily on its own wheels, as did Steamtown's 4012 and Forney's 4005. I can understand some resistance by major railroads to move plain bearing engines on their own wheels, but those with roller bearings have caused very little trouble when moved after long storage.

I'm sure speciality movers could move the Queen Mary by road with enough preparation and funding, but in the case of engines that can move easily on their own wheels, I just don't get it. I think there is just some kind of strange mental block here..

In this case I would guess clearances and weights had something to do with it, but I see your point on smaller engines.

Only other issue I can think of is unwillingness on the part of the railroad to have a schedule disruption for a 25 mph tow.

Is there a potential for damaging the locomotive frame by moving it in this manner? Suppose the tires when slack or the truck hit uneven pavement? Just ruminating about this...
The intelligent thought would be to place her on rails and make her available for moveing periodically.

Scrib's a house moving & whatever moving company from David City is supposed to be doing the moving. To the best of my knowledge UP still owns 4023. I have several engineer & conductor friends around Omaha who I have asked to get the lowdown here.................................Wooly

Sorry, I have no idea how to post a link. The UP Web page has a press release from last September showing the new resting place for the 4023 and the DD40 at the new Kennefick Park. There is no mental block, just no track leading to the final resting point, pannel track is NOT an option. The move is the only way to accomplish the task. The 4023 and the DD40 can be moved by rail and both have been moved by rail during all of their past moves.

John E. Rimmasch

To post a link just type in the address, i.e.:

http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/history/loco/locohs02.shtml

The above is a cool link, but below is the one you referred to:

http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/railroad/2 ... park.shtml

To post a photo just type in the link to the photo:

http://www.rypn.org/rypn_files/articles ... rgutti.jpg

This will make the link to the photo work, but to make the image appear in the post at the beginning of the photo link type "[img]"%20and%20at%20the%20end%20type%20"[/img]" (minus the quotation marks), so that you have

"[img]"%20%20"whatever%20your%20photo%20link%20is"%20"[/img]"

in one continuous string (again without the quotation marks)

Here is what John Bush from Omaha told me about the move " They’re going to move it along with the 6900 down to the southern grounds of the Lauritsen Gardens area, immediately on the north side of I-80, where the hill rises up from the river valley to meet the bridge (or, immediately north of the Q’s Gibson Yard). They’re taking them down 10th St. to Bancroft and east from there. They’re taking the tender down by itself, and they’ve removed the front truck. I’m not sure if they’ll put it back in place for the move or leave it free until the final placement. The plan is to remove 4023’s cab, and it’s boiler (believe it or not!), then separate the front and rear engines, moving it in “pieces.â€

Though the new park may look dramatic to passing motorists, it doesn't really sound like the best place for the welfare of the two engines. No mention was made of shelter or access control, and I think the 4023 still has its lagging intact. I never saw them at the former Kenefick Park, but have heard they were not well cared for there. It sounds like they are just exchanging one poor location for another. That, coupled with the tremendous costs of moving the two beasts by road really seems like a waste of time and money that will not benefit the two engines much at all. I last saw the 4023 about 35 years ago in the Cheyenne roundhouse; too bad it couldn't have just stayed there..

They weren't well cared for at the old Kennifeck Park but when 4023 sat in front of the old shops at Omaha under the I 480 overpass it was in great shape. The place where they are moving them does not seem like the best of places to me & not the best part of town anymore. I would be concerned about theft & vandalism. Seems like a lot of money being spent & maybe not a lot of thought being put into it.........................Wooly

When BLW 4-10-2 demonstrator 60000 moved to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in 1934, it rolled on its own wheels: they used temporary track and lifted the track behind it and relaid it in front. It didn't have to make any sharp turns.

Hey, that's the way that Santa Fe Northern 2903 went into Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry back in the late fifties, and the way that IRM took it back out. Laid the panel track right on the street. However, it's a slow go, and the street has to remain closed all the while the engine is in transit.