Not sure if this was done before, but is it possible or done before? There are rolling stock like passenger cars that are nearly the same height as F Units. The slightly smaller PCC cars are also trucked, as I recount. Are F Units light enough to be moved?

Yes and no.

Technically speaking, yes. It just requires specialized equipment with several more axels than your average heavy haul truck. Most states go by axel weight on the truck/trailer combination so by adding dollies, you can make it legal.

The maybe not side is that when you look at the height and weight, it may be better (read cheaper and easier) to either ship on its own wheels or on a heavy duty flat car. A lot of this decision depends on where it's moving from/to. It's a lot easier to move high/wide/heavy loads west of the Mississippi River as clearances are generally better.

I'm happy to help any way I can.
Russ
Russ.Swinnerton@TheCRHS.org

The long and the short of it is, yes you can truck a F-Unit over the road. There are 2 basic ways, exploded and expensive, all depends on the size of your wallet.

By exploded, I mean, everything removed from the car body and trucked separately to meet street & highway load limits. Then reassembled when you get to the new location.

By expensive, I am referring to using specialized centipede like trailers, like the ones used to move the UP Challenger and Centennial from the railhead to the overlook in Kenefick Park, Omaha, Nebraska: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 800&nseq=7 These trailers use dozens of tires to reduce the point loads (force where the tire meets the road) to levels that asphalt and sometimes dirt can handle. With these you won't be going fast, most travel at a walking pace on closed roads.

Rich C.

I recall seeing a photo of the MBTA moving a F40PH by truck.

A quick look at the math: Starting weight for an F7 around 230,000#; remove two Blomberg trucks with motor/wheel combos, 39,000# each; remove roof hatch with fans and radiators, probably around 8000#; remove 16-567B engine 35,000#; remove main generator and companion alternator 19,200#; remove steam generator, if it still has one, around 6000#. What's left is still around 84,000#. If it didn't originally have an s/g and was ballasted instead, the shell is closer to 90,000#. Still pretty heavy, high and wide for over the highway movement.

PC

84,000# - slightly less than a 44 ton GE switcher, which are moved by road all the time. 10' wide - well within the road movement envelope which is usually around 14'. Height would be the only problem, and that is dependent on the route chosen and the deck height of the moving rig.

You're going to be into some pretty specialized equipment for this move, but it is definitely possible to haul 100 tons by road (the locomotive's trucks should be hauled on their own floats).

Before getting too deep into estimating, you'll want to consider several things:

- How far would you need to move this beast by road?
- Are there any low bridges that will not clear the unit?
- Are there any narrow bridges, tight intersections, etc. that will be an obstacle to the move? Are there areas that parked vehicles would block the move... a chat with the police will be helpful, to ensure they're willing to close off parking in those areas for the duration of the move.
- Are there any weak bridges, culverts, or underground pipes (sewers, water mains, etc) that won't support enough weight... there are ways to compensate but you need to know about them as they'll add cost and complexity.
- How many low wires are there... is there sufficient slack to clear... what utilities own them?
- What are the loading and unloading areas like (space, ground conditions, is there rail flush with the ground so equipment can drive across the track, etc. Take photos.
- Have lots of photos and folio drawings with basic dimensions and weights handy, as the contractors will need those. Take plenty of shots above/ around the trucks, fuel tank, low steps, and pilot as these areas will affect handling the load and ground clearance/ overall load height.
- How much dis-assembly are you prepared to do for the move?

These are all things you can determine fairly fast, and the contractor(s) will appreciate your having done some homework.

Then, and only then, should you start consulting float services and house movers for quotes.

As long as your move isn't too long, house movers may be your best bet, and most of these guys have a can-do attitude, great imagination combined with skill at hauling heavy, awkward loads, and generally avoid throwing expensive technology at what in reality isn't a high tech job.

You will find as well, that house movers will be far more willing to move the locomotive in one piece (except the trucks), clearances allowing. Unless weak ground, bridges, etc. are a problem, these guys won't be too worried about weight. They'll just throw more bogies at the job, and if they don't have enough, there seems to be a great network where they can rent what they need from competitors at reasonable cost. They can suspend the engine inches above the ground, and most will raise it if needed to clear bumps... no fuss, no muss, just place jacks and lift.

Often, house movers will be far cheaper, and far more accommodating than the big float services that throw expensive technology at jobs like this.

Our most difficult jobs, a CNR ten wheeler and a two story, duplex railway house, were handled by a house mover, and if successful in our bid to acquire a 100' turntable, it will be moved by a house mover.

We have moved the ten wheeler's tender, nine heavyweight passenger cars, nine freight cars, a snowplow, and six cabooses (one subsequently went by road to ECRM) using float services.

By doing the needed homework in advance and working with reliable contractors, all these moves went smoothly. Not always cheap, but smoothly with no nasty surprises.

Best of luck with your proposed move- even if it proves to be impractical or beyond the available budget, doing the homework and going through the quoting process with various contractors will prepare you for the ext opportunity.

Hope this helps a bit, and best of luck!

Steve Hunter

Nominal height on the F7 is fifteen feet, if you remove the pilot you can cut that about a foot without having to pull the fuel tank, battery box, etc. Having the hatches off and air horns removed saves another 10 inches clearance on the roof. But you are still looking at thirteen feet height, more or less, not including deck height of the rig. Removing everything under the frame would only gain another foot or so, due to the draft gear pockets still being in place.

It would be interesting to see what all of this would cost with the equipment removal (depending on how much you chose to ship separately), crane service for pulling the components and loading, shipping the carbody, shipping the removed components, crane service again to unload and reassemble, labor to disassemble and reassemble, highway permits and shipment escorts.

PC

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Even without removing anything except the trucks, a house mover would keep this load under sixteen feet, or fifteen with the pilot removed, since they can suspend the load so close to the road. That just might be low enough to avoid any trouble... we moved our snowplow, 16'8" loaded height, about sixty miles with minimal added cost due to a number of heavy telephone cables that had to be raised. Finding the best route took some exploring and added many miles, but saved thousands of dollars and considerable labour.

There might be no need for heavy dis-assembly and (depending on the loading/ unloading area) very possibly no need to use cranes at all.

It all depends on distance, but if I had to move an F, this is the route I'd be taking.

Hopefully the OP will be able to share some rough figures with us, after he explores the options!

Steve Hunter

I know for certain that I've seen a photograph of an F7 being trucked in the way everybody says is difficult: replacing the front loco truck with the front bogie of the road haulage and the back truck with a road wheelset. I believe this was the unit which was later set up at a hobby shop, attached to a building, in California or whatnot, which implies that the unit was substantially gutted beforehand.

I've consulted with counties in the relocation of several covered bridges over the years. With covered bridges, you have the option of moving it completely intact, semi-dismantled (minus roof), one truss at a time and then the floor and roof, or dismantling it completely and reassembling it. As with what we've discussed here, it's all about how far you have to move it, what's in your way (can the bridges take the load? the road? any overhead bridges or wires?), how much time you have, what you intend to do with it at the other end, how much you want to spend or save, and all the other variables.

I saw that photo many years ago also. It was a completely gutted F7 off of the ex- USS Atlantic City operation in Wyoming. Being it was out west, clearances were not much of a problem.