Since nobody else bothered to mention this, thought I would. Tonight (Sunday) at 9 pm Eastern, the Smithsonian Channel's program Humongous Moves will show the moving of British A-4 Pacifics Dominion of Canada and Dwight D. Eisenhower from North America to the UK for the Great Gathering.

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I hope I'm not hijacking the thread. I've only been involved in one ship loading where multiple rebuilt SD-40's were loaded on a ship for a trip to the middle east, along with a couple of containers of spare parts. I remember being astound at how deep the holds went below the water level. In any case, I will cheerfully admit that the pucker factor was significant. Still, all went well, and we went home happy and the ship sailed. Sadly, the operation didn't go quite as smoothly on the other end, when one of the locomotives was dropped five or six feet, upon unloading, when the timber cradle under one of the trucks gave way. At least, that's what I was told. I later heard that the unit had been repaired, but never did hear how long the repair took or what it cost. Lifting locomotives, whether on land or onto ships, is certainly not for the faint of heart. That's for sure.

G.F.Payne
B'more

Most of you have probably seen this one, but if not, check it out.

Model railroaders aren't the only ones who drop brand new locomotives. Here we see a brand new EMD GT46C-ACe dropping about 20 feet onto concrete. It didn't end well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvyIrsZ7Zhs

BTW, if you've seen the episode of "Monster Moves" back in 2013 where they featured this move, you have already seen this show.

They've used the same concept as you used to see with coffee table train books, take the same content, put a new title on it, and sell it again!

"LNER A4 Pacific's numbers 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower & 60010 Dominion of Canada need moving from their museums in Canada and America to the National Railway Museum in York to take part in the 75th Anniversary celebration's of sister engine Mallard's speed record of 126mph which was set back in 1938."

Given the risk to the artifacts and the expense I can't see why anyone would do this.

Me neither. The compensation for the loan and promises for if the locos were lost somewhere along the way must have been substantial.
Beats me how you could even underwrite for something like that.
Remember the Chinese locomotive that was bound for the US but lost in the Bay of Bengal when the ship sank?
Talk about a pucker factor when these locos were on the water...

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Brilliant response Kelly, they are light years ahead of us in terms of restoration, ambition, and sheer enthusiasm for heritage......the response to havig the locos back in the UK was truly staggering and well worth any risks involved.

Mike Pannell

When I visited NRM a representative said there were thousands of visitors each day the A4 exhibition was going on- at both Swindon and York. Plus both of the North American locos are now in far better condition thanks to their journey.

Steve

To the Brits, no doubt. But I bet to the two museums who owned the non-UK locomotives, I bet it was a nail-biting experience every moment while they were ‘on the water’…

They are safer on the water than going down the highway - as are we all.

But even more safe inside the structures they were in before being hauled to the boat.
Clearly, the museums considered the risk worth it but I can't help but wonder what kind of insurance policy existed for a disaster at sea and who carried the policy?

To museums over here British Locomotives are just curiosities no more no less, lets not pretend they are incredibly important to the museums they were donated to.

Mike Pannell

They must have some significance, as Green Bay reportedly turned down an offer of $1 million to leave the loco in Britain.