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Thought
you might get
a kick out of
this.
For the past few weeks, a "super heavy" load has
been making
its way from
Hardeeville,
South Carolina
to Biggar, Saskatchewan
It is a large
electric
generator
destined for a
clean coal
power plant.
The generator
weighs in at
1.98 million
pounds and
isn't
something you
just jump on
an interstate
freeway with
and truck it
on down the
road.
In order to support such a load without destroying
every inch of
road you
travel, the
weight has to
be widely
distributed.
You also have
to travel back
roads so that
day to day
commerce isn't
completely
disrupted
along your
route. After
all..... your
top speed on
level ground
is less than
20 mph and
this drops to
as little as
1.5 mph on
grades and
slopes. Rush
hour traffic
on an
interstate
would soon be
solidly backed
up to the
state lines in
both
directions.
I finally had time to catch up with the load on
Friday as it
moved along a
stretch of
country road
near the NC
state line,
but was unable
to get near
enough to
shoot photos.
Luckily, one
of the crew
let me know it
would be on
the move again
early Sunday
morning when
they would be
making a
detour around
an interstate
overpass that
was not rated
for anything
near the
weight of the
load.
Here is the rig I'm talking about.... The trailer,
as rigged, is
300 ft. long
all by itself.
There are 36
rows of axles,
each with 8
tires. (288
total) These
can be
augmented with
up to another
additional 80
wheels on
hinged
outriggers,
for a total of
368 potential
flats. Add in
5 each 10
wheel heavy
duty road
tractors (2
pulling and 3
pushing) and
that flat tire
potential
rises to 418.
The outriggers
are not
deployed in
these photos,
so the total
tire count,
for the
moment, is
338.
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The load then had to negotiate the 90 turn seen in
the photo.
This had to be
done while
keeping all
338 tires
solidly on
paved
surfaces. Note
that each axle
is steerable
so it's only a
little less
exacting than
a tap dancing
centipede, but
an on board
computer
system has
things well in
hand. It
doesn't fully
control the
action since
there is a
"driver" in
the chain of
command. Here
the action as
begun and the
lead tractors
are making
their initial
turn.
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As things advance, dozens of power crews are on
hand to clear
overhead wires
and there are
hundreds of
other support
crews and
dozens of
support trucks
waiting to
fall in line
behind the
convoy.
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Notice that each large truck has a box firmly
anchored over
the rear
wheels. Those
are 18,500
pound weights
which give the
truck the
needed
traction this
load requires
to get it
moving.
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Looking closely at the rear section of the trailer,
you'll see it
is sitting at
about an angle
of 45 to the
rest of the
load. Once the
main load was
aligned as
they wanted,
the rear
section
crabbed and
adjusted until
it was in line
and ready to
travel. It was
a strange
action to
watch but it
worked
perfectly.
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Here is a shot of one of the two "Drivers" The
computer might
tell the all
wheels how
much to turn,
but this guy
tells the
computer when
to do it and
how much at a
time. He's
apparently
pretty durable
since the dawn
temperature
was a chilling
25 as he began
his ride.
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Here you can see how the immense weight was
distributed
across the
trailer
sections as
well as the
hinge points
for the
support
bridge. Both
ends are
supported in
this fashion,
making the
whole rig a
lot more
flexible than
it might first
appear. Those
outriggers I
mentioned are
clearly
visible along
the outer edge
of the
trailer.
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The main bridge beams suspend the huge generator
about 18
inches above
the roadbed.
When the job
is completed,
the round pins
near the
bottom edge
can be removed
and the beams
can be stacked
for their
return trip
home. Even up
close they
almost look
too small to
be holding
that much
weight up in
the air.
Standing near
this beam is a
little spooky.
All kinds of
pops and
groans can be
heard, even
when it isn't
on the move.
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