Greetings,

Can you folks send me pictures of passenger cars being moved by truck?

God Bless,
Gerald W. Kopiasz

Gerald and others

I'm interested in the same types of information, and would like to see photographs of Passenger cars being moved by trucks over the highway and I would even like to extend this to Passenger cars being moved on Flat cars over rail.
With some older pieces of equipment becoming harder and harder to move I'd like to know what can be done to move some of this older equipment when moving on it's own wheels is out of the question, whether it is the cars structural integrity, or outdated running gear and brake systems. I know and have seen cabooses and smaller wooden cars moved, but I haven't found much information on moving larger Steal Heavyweight or lightweight cars due to special circumstances. Looking forward as well to any feed back or links to photos of these types of moves being made. Thank you ahead of time for your time and assistance.

Steve

Western Railway Museum just sold a heavyweight baggage car (ATSF 1772) to an agricultural museum near Merced, CA.

It was moved by a house mover, who supported one end's center plate on
a swivel plate above the axles of a low-bed trailer. The other end was put on house-moving dollies connected to the rear center plate of the car.

This made a rather impressive consist to run on the highway (tractor, low-bed trailer, and the car). Hope he didn't have to back up!

The only problem related to preservation was that the mover torched off
anything which would have interfered with the trailer or moving dollies (such as ladders, steam and brake lines, etc.). Fortunately, the car was going to static display so the parts could be welded back for a cosmetic restoration.

We at the Pemberton Historic Trust have moved several cars and our 100 ton diesel over the road. It was difficult but here is what we did.

Our diesel posed the biggest problem since it was too tall to load on a flat bed. So an engineer designed these things that were welded on the ends and under the end of the bed. They had diagonal braces that were welded to the face of the end. Our fearlessleader called them "schnozzles." They weigh about two tons each and there were two on each end welded to the edges. Both were six feet long and had hooks on the outer ends. One set of the hooks was placed on a dolly and the other end was hooked onto the tractor after being raised. This now had the trucks 6" off of the ground. The diesel was then moved very cautiously to our site where we had built up a panel so that the tractor could drive right over it and then as it went down the other end the trucks were on the rails. The schnozzles were cut off and are laying on the ground.

The other mode we used was to transport our N5C and that was on a lowboy trailer that we hire. It is outfitted with tracks that are welded down to the bed. The firm has 54" sections of temporary rail that we bolt together and prop on cribbing that run from the rail on the trailer to the car we want move. At that end we use a tapered rail and pull the car up on the trailer. The N5C posed a problem because it was actually too high to get under power and telephone lines. So we had a choice of craning it on without its trucks or cutting the cupola off. Neither prospect enamoured us so we looked for an alternative and found one. We took a very roundabout route that eliminated all overhead obstacles.

I would imagine that when moving something as large as a passenger car like a heavyweight, the trucks could be removed and the body craned onto a lowboy. Now all of our cars were transported before I began my volunteer work there. I am just telling you like it was explained to me. I did help load out our N6B when it went out for blasting and again when it came back.

Later!
Mr. Ed

I just remembered another way that cars are moved as explained to me by a company that cleans up wrecks. When a car is ready to be moved, a trucking company will lift the car off of its trucks and load the rear on a set of wheels just like the ones under a trailer. These are locked in place so they track straight. Then the front is loaded onto the a fifth wheel that is lowered onto the tractor. Then the whole thing is driven down the highway like a long trailer. He said that not every trucking company is set up to do this but check around and you might be able to locate one.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Yup, where to?

TJ

In 2002, the Friends of the East Broad Top purchased two former EBT cars (narrow gauge) in Colorado and had them trucked to the EBT in Pennsylvania. The delivery/unloading end of the move can be seen in photos on my website:
http://www.dementia.org/~adams/ebt/2002sep5/2002sep5thumb.html

The plywood cladding and tarps reinforced the fragile cars for the long trip. Each car had one platform removed (and stored) from a previous move. In Colorrado, combine #18 was rolled onto the trailer, while baggage #29 required a crane because of it's location. Both were transported still on their trucks, and both were rolled off their trailers at the EBT.

I just loaded a wooden heavyweight clerestory roof business car on a flatcar. It was not too difficult since two cranes could get very close, and we could roll the flat in on the track it had been sitting on after rolling its trucks away.

I like the idea of moving cars on house moving dollies - i seem to recall photos of such a move on this site a while back.

dave

Not a modern photo, but here's one way it's been done...

Check out the website for Silk Road Transport. They did our most recent car move, a short but high wood interurban car from Connecticut to Western Pennsylvania.
The website has some very interesting pictures, including the shell of what appears to be an Amtrak California double deck car bing moved with a tractor and a rear end dolly on what appears to be an interstate highway.

A modern version of the photo above...

And a multi-wheel variation:

This is a link to RMNE's 1991 move of some heavyweight Pullmans from a backyard in Stonington, CT to live rail 6 miles away over US Rt 1 in Mystic. These are not my photos.

One car was bought by Valley Railroad, the other five cars became RMNE property, one of which was sold by RMNE to a private party (it was going to be scrapped and he took it intact).

The first 5 cars were moved in a five day period starting on Monday, April 1, 1991. This project cost over 70,000 1991 dollars. Silk Road did the actual highway moves, with Shaughnessy Rigging out of Boston doing the crane work (120-ton Krupp hydraulic). There were 47 days of prep work required before the move took place, including changing out couplers (old ones had torched draft gear), replacing scrap wheelsets, complete COTS on our four cars, swapping trucks between two cars, building a new 600-foot road out of the property, etc. It was intense.

If anyone wants additional details, please send me a PM.

Howard P.

www.rmne.org

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 6&key=1991

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 6&key=1991

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 6&key=1991

Mr Ed,
Do you have any pictures of the locomotive move and the "schnozzels"? Does anyone have any other practical way of moving a 100 ton locomotive over the road?

Hi,

The Smiths Falls Railway Museum has moved quite a bit of equipment by road and flatcar over the years, including a number of passenger cars, freight cars, and a 4-6-0. While not equipment, we have also moved a two storey duplex CNR section house,

See our photo album at http://elliottd.fotki.com/sfrmeo/coach_moving/for photos of some of these moves.

Cheers,

Steve Hunter




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Greetings,

Can you folks send me pictures of passenger cars being moved by truck?

God Bless,
Gerald W. Kopiasz[url][/url][url][/url][/quote]

DW.
I am planning on going up to the museum tomorrow since it is supposed to stop raining later today. If I remember to take my camera, I'll get pictures of them and send them to you.

Later!
Mr. Ed