tonka
Senior Member
First and Last trucks are Kenworth C500's the red trucks do look to be Oshkosh prime movers
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Transporting an 803,000 lb generator
- Thread starter willie59
- Start date
willie59
Administrator
Actually, this was a co-ordinated effort with TNDOT and VADOT. Six months of planning went into this move. 2.5 million dollars were spent just for permits, road improvements, and other related costs. Some bridges were reinforced, wires had to be raised, and all the bridges and culverts along the route were inspected prior to haul. Once the load began moving, DOT bridge inspectors checked every bridge and culvert as the load was passing and after it passed to insure no damage was done to the structures. I'd be curious to know just how many people were involved in this move.
tonka
Senior Member
lol TNDOT is in the pics...LOTS of ppls involved in this move!
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willie59
Administrator
I'll second that 25c. :notworthy
tonka
Senior Member
anytime fellas... i have some great friends in the trucking businesss, they all know i love heavy hauling and trucks...
willie59
Administrator
If you come across any other pics of the progress of this thing, please do post them. Thanks.
willie59
Administrator
A little history side note. The generator destination is the steam electric generation plant in St Paul Virginia. St Paul is in the southeastern part of Virginia, on the Clinch River. The Clinch River flows out of southeast Virginia into northestern Tennessee. Near LaFollette and Lake City TN is Norris Dam, on the Clinch River. Norris Dam was the first dam built by the newly established TVA (Tn Valley Authority) during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration in the 1930's. Completed in 1936, the dam project provided much needed jobs at that time, and still produces electricity today from the waters of the Clinch River. So shall the Clinch provide southeast Virginia electricity with the generator that is slowly moving down the road today. The Clinch plays an important role in our lives in this area.
http://www.tva.gov/sites/norris.htm
http://www.tva.gov/sites/norris.htm
John, The Tractors in order are; KW, Oshkosh, Oshkosh, KW (Boom Truck)
The KW's would be Cat powered, and the Oshkosh's are V-12 Detroit Powered.
I had that Lampson article sent to me just after it was done last year. Another impressive company doing what they do best.:drinkup
tonka
Senior Member
willie59
Administrator
Well I'll be, that first pic you posted tonka, you can see two bucket trucks following the load. I looked at those two trucks, they looked familiar. Sure enough, the Ford Super Duty bucket truck is a buddy of mine named Gary. I used to work on both those trucks when at a former employer. Small world ain't it.
willie59
Administrator
This is one grade that load would have pulled along the route, as well as an equal grade going down the other side. US 25E crossing Clinch Mountain between Bean Station and Thorn Hill TN. I installed some horizontal drains on this grade when they made the road a 4 lane back in the 90's.
Deerehauler
Well-Known Member
I just can't imagine how to coordinate the drivers of the second pulling truck and the pusher trucks. How do the drivers figure our how much speed/power is needed. Also, since the non-lead trucks are all connected with tow bars, do the drivers let the trucks steer themselves?
I found out a few things yesterday. They plan to make delivery this Friday if all continues to go well. They they went up and down that mountain at 4 mph without touching tha brakes. One of the requirements from both states was that they have as much "jake" braking horsepower as they had pulling horsepower. That's where the Perkins rental push trks come in.(They switched the order around, 1=pull and 3=push trucks) They have worked on this project for 6+ months. It was loaded 2 months ago. They have 2 loads of spare tires along. So far they have only needed a few of them.:drinkup:drinkup
willie59
Administrator
Thanks for the update rigandig. :notworthy
Sadly (for us), there's just nothing in the media about this move. That's a heck of a route they took, going 25E to Cumberland Gap, then 58 through Virginia. Some of those towns along the route would have been a challenge to get through. It seems taking 11W to Kingsport, then north on 23 to Big Stone Gap would have been better. I guess they didn't want to tie up US 23 that far.
Sadly (for us), there's just nothing in the media about this move. That's a heck of a route they took, going 25E to Cumberland Gap, then 58 through Virginia. Some of those towns along the route would have been a challenge to get through. It seems taking 11W to Kingsport, then north on 23 to Big Stone Gap would have been better. I guess they didn't want to tie up US 23 that far.
willie59
Administrator
Here's a decent vid of the load going through Jonesville Virginia. Jonesville is a small town, and US 58 Alt goes through the middle of town. The buildings of the town give a good perspective of how big the rig and load is. It looks like the whole town came out to the sidewalks of the street to watch. I would like to see how the rig manuvered through Big Stone Gap Virginia because 58 Alt makes a right turn in downtown Big Stone Gap. I've read the generator unit was made by Toshiba in Japan, so it would have been transported to Knoxville via barge as I suspected.
YouTube - Barnhart Heavy Haul - Generator in Lee County, VA (Town of Jonesville)
YouTube - Barnhart Heavy Haul - Generator in Lee County, VA (Town of Jonesville)
willie59
Administrator
Don't know anything about the rig myself Autocar, but I'm certain the axles would have to steer or you couldn't corner the outfit. If you look at the drawbar that's attached to the pull truck, you can see a chain fall chain going from the drawbar to a tongue on the lead trailer axle. I'm thinking as the pull truck turns a corner, it pulls the drawbar to one side, thereby pulling the chain that's attached to the trailer axle tongue and would pull it in the direction the pull truck is turning and would steer the axle in that direction. That's as much as I can see.