Miller Transfer
Something has to lift these giant loads; see Big Cranes.
Jump to SB,III's RAILROAD Page for a goodly set of RR links
and to SB,III's MODEL RAILROAD Page for a goodly set of model RR links (yea, verily, forsooth!).
SCHNABEL and other
giant RAILROAD CARS
(and highway variants)
[continued]
CEBX 800 - Houston - 28 Mar 2005
.
(30 Mar 05)
CEBX 800 was on the move again; she had been rebuilt in March 2003 (per her
consolidated stencil) and was working a 745 ton vessel destined for Suncor in
Commerce, Colorado, on the BNSF. These pix were taken on 28 Mar 2005
moving south out of Houston on the Mykawa subdivision of the BNSF. My
source put in one picture of the BNSF engine dedicated to this move; it was only one
month old and was held out of service specifically to keep it "beautiful" for this move.
A crew was taping during this move; my source was not sure who commissioned it,
but thinks it was the BNSF. He talked to his counterpart in Denver and is going
to try to get pictures of the unloading operation in Commerce. :·)
The vessel was loaded at the Houston ship channel inbound from Belleli Energy in
Italy. Estimated travel time for the move is 25 days. Locals believe this
may be a record move in terms of gross rail weight; this opens quite a can of worms
(see below).
The local BNSF boss bull said they are keeping very close track of this move; word had
gotten out that it was in the area and they didn't want anyone hurt trying to get an
up-close look. One of the perks of my contact's job is that he got to walk up
and get pictures from right next to it while the bulls were running people off the
property. His only problem was scale; to get a picture of any significant portion
of the beast, he had to be back quite a ways.
So, starting with the shiny, new loco, and with a dusk shot so dark nothing shows
(see lightened crop for a sea of white truck side frames, arrows), and ending up with
a gorgeous evening silhouette - she scoons (again):
[Note - there are two sets of pictures with overlapping filenames so I
renamed the second set from -xxx to _xxx]
Image -3
Image -5
Image -6
Image -7
Image -8
Image -9
Image -10
Image -11
Image -12
Image -13
Image _1
Image _2
Image _3
Image _4
Image _5
Image _6
Image _7
Image _7x
(This image cropped and enhanced from photo courtesy of RR source - all rights reserved)
Image _9
Image _10
Image _11
Image _12
Image _13
Image _14
(All photos courtesy of RR source - all rights reserved)
Maximum Weight on Rails (a can of worms): My source has
been railroading since 199x and this is the largest thing he has ever seen on
rails; this makes good sense, since CEBX 800 IS the largest
thing ever seen on rails (not counting the German 80cm
Dora railgun - but she ran on two tracks to fire and was disassembled for
travel on single track). CEBX 800 was originally built for a full 800-ton
reactor move (direct bolting - no tension beams); that was 'way back in 1969.
Each half is 40 tons light, thus giving a total weight on rail of 880 tons.
This Suncor load was shy internal bracing and components to save 40 tons
shipping weight; they will be added on site.
Look at that new stencilling: 1779260 load limit and 740800 light; that's 889.63
and 370.4 tons ("New 9-80" refers to the refers to the light weight of the car).
(31 Mar 05)
A Westinghouse contact told my source that CEBX 800 was originally scheduled
for a nuclear reactor move in California but there were big problems getting
permits from right of way jurisdictions as it was still 'hot', and that reactor is
sitting on a Marine Corps base in limbo so they got the CEBX 800 earlier than
expected. That's not the way I heard it; the missing Krupp brochure
even showed the move; with a brand-new C-E reactor vessel all rusty-red and
shaped like a light bulb, with the fat end barely clearing the rails. The
photos in the newer Krupp flyer,
above, look like that move but that jobbie sure as shooting is on tension arms;
further, that Belleli load is cylindrical.
Ah, memory! I am probably all wet about the original use and
completely forgot that I have the stenciling and weight questions on
Schnabel Continuation Page 0 at
More about 72-wheel 880-Ton Schnabel Car.
More information from my source: the pictures that were too dark show
the amount of overhang on the inside radius of the curve. The load
itself was 13' 7" wide and the one picture clearly shows it at least even with the
outside radius of the curve, which puts the inside edge of the load a minimum
of 9' from the inside rail, on a main line Y that has a speed limit of 30MPH.
The displaced overhang on a yard curve/turnout must approach 20'.
(31 Mar 05)
Aha! Maybe that lovely silhouette shot contains more than just an
æsthetic image? Back to the image processor and - presto, change-o:
Image _15x
(Cropped and enhanced from photo courtesy of RR source - all rights reserved)
Well, it doesn't show the overhang very well to my eyes but it sure DOES show
the open-work of the underpinnings AND it points up something I'd noticed and
forgotten. Look at those tension beams! They are radically
different from the original ones, which were of simple rectangular cross-section;
I can't but wonder if they aren't now extensible - take a look at these details:
Images _11t, _13t, and _15t
(Cropped and enhanced from photos courtesy of RR source - all rights reserved)
Compare those to these blowups of Jim Banner's photomontage of the
Bi-Provincial Uploader moving through Saskatoon in 1991, with
greatly-extended tension beams:
(cropped from 1991 photo courtesy of Jim Banner - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed image; click on the picture for a larger image]
I never realized before that this appears to show (through the accumulated
snow) the standard old tension beam, hung between two new tension beams at
left and right; to save you scrolling, I cropped the left, center left, center right,
and right segments of this photomontage:
(cropped photos from 1991 photomontage courtesy of Jim Banner - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images]
This car and its accessories have so much detail that it presents an endless
challenge, plus, as it gets modified over the years, it keeps getting more
challenging and the old details seem to melt into the dim past.
Just for example, I seemed to recall that the car, as originally built, had no
cabs (not so), that small cabs were added over the controls after delivery (but
that's clearly wrong - see the cabs at Krupp in the photos on the main page),
and that Trans-Alta lengthened them to the present long version. I
think that comes from the original drawings, which I now can't find;
they showed no cabs.
Hold the phone; here's another source (let's call him Anon-2) with more shots
of the Belleli vessel just after being unloaded from the heavy lift ship in the
Port of Houston onto CEBX 800 there:
(03 Apr 05)
(photos courtesy of Anon-2 - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images]
The consist on its way north-west to Commerce, Colorado, though Alvin,
Texas:
These last three night shots may be beautiful images, but I can't see anything,
so I lightened and cropped them drastically:
(cropped and enhanced from photos courtesy of Anon-2 - all rights reserved)
On its way north-west to Commerce, Colorado, though Somerville, Texas:
(photos courtesy of Anon-2 - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images
(slightly out-of-focus, though)]
Thanks, Anon-2!
CEBX 800 - Denver - 15 Apr 2005
.
(08 May 05)
Well, she made it to Denver, Colorado, on 15 Apr 2005 and Keith Hahn came
in from Longmont to catch her:
Image a
Image b
Image c
Image d
(All 15 Apr 05 photos courtesy of K. Hahn; cropped and enhanced
slightly - all rights reserved)
Now, let us await with great patience (HA!) her arrival at Commerce and photos of the
unloading process.
In mid-December 2005, perhaps the biggest shipment ever sent by rail (and road) was
assembled in Duluth harbor for movement across Canada to OPTI Canada’s Long Lake
Upgrader oil sands project south of Ft. McMurray, Alberta. Many photgraphers
are covering the move:
(photos by and courtesy of K. Newhams/Duluth Shipping News - all rights reserved)
[pictures re-sized 05 Feb 06 - by request]
The above Duluth pictures were taken by Kenneth Newhams of Duluth
Shipping News,
http://www.duluthshippingnews.com/; you can see his entire coverage
at Lake Superior Warehousing Co,, Inc.
(click on the links at the top of that page). Mr. Newhams takes most of
the pictures on that site; LSWCI was the stevedoring contractor for the
November/December Schnabel car transfer.
(31 Jan 06)
[My apologies to Mr. Newhams for unknowingly miscrediting his photos.]
Peter Robitaille sent these shots taken out on the road:
(photos courtesy of P. Robitaille - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images]
Wild set-up, eh?
Look also at the main and succeeding Schnabel pages.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of Schnabel Railroad Car pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2001, 2002,
2003, 2004, 2005,
2006
- All rights reserved.
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