Would it be possible to develop a cab and trailer rig, owned by a railroad museum or two, with built in ramps and wenches and rails, which could accomodate up to a GP9 or a heavyweight coach, with an experienced crew, and might be able to relocate various pieces of equipment more cost effective than asking each railroad museum to go seek trucking quotes on their own?

Almost every railroad today will not handle older equipment - so trucking is the only way to move equipment.

If this could be done, perhaps swapping of equipment and loaning of equipment would also be a possibility.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

The problem with this approach is that every state has different weight laws and rules about what is allowed on the road.

In a word, NO.
Why?
Having just been directly involved in the move of the former Fremont Dinner Train to Baldwin City, KS, it is not that simple.

A GP-9 weighs around 125 tons.
Our passenger cars without trucks were about 45 tons. They required a 32 wheel rig to legally move interstate. The trucks went on a separate flat bed trailer. The rig to move a GP would be much larger and expensive.
This is a specialized move that the average museum cound not afford to own such a rig.
There are several private contractors who have the equipment and expertise to do this.
Usually these are one time moves and the capital cost just does not justify the cost, IMHO.

Ira Schreiber
co-owner
The Kansas Belle Dinner Train formerly of Fremont, NE.

OK - how about just to move railcars?

First you need a driver w / all the qualifications, then a DOT number, home base plate with all the states you "Might" travel thru , then Insurance, then permits and escort cars
and know all the laws, hours you can travel, weight restrictions, size restrictions for every state you travel thru

and this hasn't even begun to figgure in the cost of a decent tri-axel tractor, multipull axle trailer, chains, flags, paper work (log books, fuel tax reporting, workmens comp,) repairs and Upkeep to the equipment................

Lot cheaper to hire it done.


(34 yrs in the trucking industry, ain't too much I haven't hauled)
Farmer

Jim what is hard about the one rig approach is shown in Ira's post. In Massachusetts the company I drove for could put a 45 ton excavator on a triple axle lowboy with a triaxle tractor that had blanket over weight/width permits for the year and go about their business. Ira needed more axles to make the load legal where he is and I would guess the move was done on a one time trip permit. Another example is in California look around at the trucks. I noticed when visiting out there that the gas tankers and the gravel trucks are all pup setups. The companies are running trucks like that because it allows the highest gross weight under California rules. Now come out to Mass where you can have a yearly permit for 99,000 lbs on 18 wheels you don't see the same setup doing the same job.

I've fantasized for years about getting a trailer something like

http://trans.landoll.com/trailerspecs.cfm?trlrID=52

along with the railroad rails option. It won't move a GP-9, but it could move an awful lot presuming you have the vertical clearence and the wheels of the load will fit on the deck.

You can rent or hire the tractor which minimizes some of the arguments above (DOT number, license, insurance) but the capitol cost is still up there. Of course, making this happen means I have to win the lottery, but it sure could be a fun way of traveling around the country visiting RR museums.

Since I do already own a tractor and have the license, it's not impossible, but then again, if I really win the lotto would I still want to be getting dirty as opposed to just hiring others to do the dirty work for me? :-)

Back to reality though, the cost of the hardware to do this unless you're doing it all the time just won't support the operation. And there are companies with the hardware already who know how to use it.

Greg

Can I audition the wenches?

dave

I was going to comment on the wenches, too. I prefer the older versions but when it comes to winches, I rather have new.

Anyone have binders full of wenches?

You mean like this? The Niagara Railway Museum recently moved a flanger with it.


The Elgin County Railway Museum had a coach moved a couple of years ago with this. Both trailers are owned by the same company....

BTW, the railroads WILL move most older equipment if it is on a flatcar. Reading 2100 was moved a couple of thousand miles on a flatcar a few years ago, so I would think a GP9 or a coach would be a piece of cake. :)

This may be of interest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMEZlkLMK5M

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBXaS06tso
This one was video-ed by Scott Lent.

Howard P.

The LA Fire Department has a 3 axle Landoll trailer like the one I want or the one pictured that we've used a few times. It doesn't have rails on it, but we've a panel that we bolt together and set on the trailer.

Greg

Someone from "Back East" is welcome to correct/amplify this comment, but as I recall, Seashore (or one of the other northeastern trolley museums) had a rig called the "Highway Monster" that was used in the 1940s and or 50s to transport streetcars to their refuge. It was probably good for 25 or 30 tons--not enough for a heavyweight passenger car or any locomotive above the "critter" category, but enough for a typical streetcar. Nowadays with most of the "collectible" trolleys already in museums (or long gone), just about everyone usually calls Silk Road or one of the other specialists.

Ben Minnich was a master on moving trollies to Seashore. Ben would jack up one end and put a dolly from a trailer under the rear and then put the front end on the fifth wheel -and away he went. One of the last moves was from a property in Colo that Ben bought because it had 2 streetcar bodies within the house that he wanted. Over the course of a few years, he removed each one and rebuilt the house so he could stay there.