Step 1: Receive reports of stranded caboose on the outskirts of unsecured town.



Step 2: Create and maintain a defensive perimeter around town, speak to local townspeople, determine the presence of IED's, eliminate IED's, eliminate hostiles. Once secured, roll in the engineer equipment.



Step 3: Assess situation, and determine appropriate lifting apparatus.



Step 4: Yep, that'll do.



Step 5: Load caboose onto tractor-trailer. Load trucks onto tractor-trailer.



Step 6: Determine appropriate destination for newly-acquired caboose. Oh look, a locomotive - the perfect place!



And that's how the Marine Corps moves a caboose.



So at this point, you may be asking yourself: what the heck was that all about?

For the Marines, the caboose was actually simulating a destroyed MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle) and to recover it, they had to ensure that the surrounding area was safe for heavy equipment to move in. This operation was just one part of a multi-week field exercise.

For the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum, the consignee, it was the rescue of a rapidly deteriorating historic piece of equipment that will ultimately play a part in a full-scale diorama illustrating cooperation between the Marine Corps, Navy, Army and civilian railroads during Desert Storm.

You can visit the Mechanized Museum's website at http://www.themech.org.

As retired U.S. Navy, I salute my Marine brethren: Semper Fi, guys!

I always liked the slogan, "Looking for a few good hacks".

As I recall, there's an old saying that goes something like: "The Marines have landed and the situation is well in hand." I once had a job assignment that involved going "on base" at Camp Pendleton. If there was one word that could describe the general atmosphere, it would be "confidence". Even a rank civilian like me stands a bit taller there.

As a 23 year veteran of the US Navy, I have never been afraid to chide the Jarheads I come into contact with (though always with a smile on my face) not to mention giving all seabees, bubbleheads and airdales any situationally appropriate put down. :-) {note: don't usually lower myself to talking to the Army and Air Force :-) }

But when you look up "military", I think first of a Marine. No one salutes like a Marine, no one says sir like a Marine, and I would be willing to bet no one runs into a building full of bad guys like a Marine. I have no regret not being a Marine, but thank God there are those who are.

There was no question these Marines were going to get this caboose moved. They were pure professionals. And this was all in the middle of a combat operation. There were people shooting weapons all around us, there were simulated IEDs going off, and there were (fortunately simulated) casulties right next to us. For this excercise I was "immune" from the combat, but I swear that enemy sniper up in the building across the road had a bead on my safety vest. :-)

Any pics of that other rolling stock? Quite an interesting little train there...

And now, Greg, I understand the "moving a caboose" project you mentioned while in town at MCLB Albany last week! Nice job!

I did tell you about that didn't I. Now you know all my secrets.

Thanks for meeting me. Was a nice dinner. I don't mind escaping the cold back there though. Weather was MUCH nicer in Oceanside. :-)

Greg

Pick up and move the caboose, no out riggers, looks to be a positionable head with many ways to sling the chain. I bet it is even 4 wheel drive. Not real big. WOW I want one of those green thingy ma bob they were using. That is the closest I've ever seen to a portable over head crane. (think inside the shop type overhead crane). It looks like the head would side shift. Much easier than swailing and extending the stick at the same time for a side ways move that you would have with a normal crane.

The piece of equipment that lifted the caboose was a Kalmar Rough Terrain Container Handler. It weighs in at about 60 tons, can lift 25 tons, and can pick up containers up to 40 feet in length. It is twelve feet wide with nearly six foot tall tires. The "lifting head" (not sure of the actual name) can swivel and can also tilt up and down (among other things); these features were very useful when positioning the caboose onto the trailer and then later, back onto its trucks.

Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the other rolling stock, but I can tell you that the boxcar is an ex-Cotton Belt car, and that the gondola was very well used...

Eventually those machines will end up on the surplus donation list, and when that happens one of us should grab one and get into the caboose moving business!

Assuming you aren't just being funny (so many of us have a such a dry wit that just doesn't always come across well online) The cost of transporting the machine from job site to job site would probably be more expensive than the actual caboose move. Now if you happen to have one on site, they are great, but at 60 tons and 12 foot wide, it will need a bigger truck than the caboose/boxcar/etc.

Now if you're moving a flatcar from the Seabee base in Port Hueneme to Camp Pendleton, should work great. Or if you can move your rail car to a nearby intermodal terminal, you might have half the battle. But then again, I'm not sure the commerical versions have all the extra hooks and stuff, and the other features the military needs to handle stuff over the beach or off road.

Now, a special trailer that can keep the caboose as low as possible, without having to cut off steps and or battery boxes, would seem to me like a real useful thing to have.

Greg

Leave it to the Marines. While we fiddle around with jacks and cribs - or worse, 2 giant expensive cranes ...

They actually read the weight specification of the thing they're lifting, and compare it to the capacity of readily available loaders.

There's a lesson!

As Greg said, the operative word here is "AVAILABLE." <:-)

U-Haul doesn't seem to stock these things. Ditto Ryder or Enterprise--and I've worked with guys that rented some off-beat things from the latter two.

I was being a bit humorous, but in all reality one of these container lifts can be hauled on a standard lowboy without much problem. The machine is basically a cross between a heavy forklift and a telehandler, and is designed to be hauled over the road. I looked at a pair of the larger version of this down at Camp Lejune surplus lot a couple of years ago. Probably could have acquired one off the donation list for about two grand.