Reactor vessel moving to the Alberta oil sands project
When the hydro cracker reactor was shipped from the Port of Duluth, MN to Opti Nexen's Long Lake Upgrader Project in northern Alberta, it was the largest single load ever carried on North American railroads. The reactor and CN railcar had a total weight of over 1,000 tons! This dimensional load moved in a special train service on CN lines, restricted to a maximum speed of 15 miles per hour and only during daylight. Furthermore, due to the extreme weight, the move had to be accompanied by operators whose job was to shift the load when moving through curves - all to ensure that the centre of gravity of the load stayed over the centre of the railcar.