On the Road Load page 2:

On the Road Load page 3:

On the Road Load page 4 (on sbiii.com):

On this Road Load Page 5:

On the main RR Schnabel Car page:

On the Schnabel Continuation Page 0:

On the Schnabel Continuation Page 2:

Something has to lift these giant loads; see Big Cranes.

  and to SB,III's MODEL RAILROAD Page for a goodly set of model RR links (yea, verily, forsooth!).

Highway and Off-Road Variants of
SCHNABEL and other
giant RAILROAD CARS

(continued)

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If this subject interests you, you must also see Tom Daspit's site, linked on page 1!

* - Spelling of the Name:  SCHNABEL vs. SCHNABLE - "Schnabel" is the KORREKT spelling!  It is the German word for "beak", which I originally thought referred to the beak-shaped loading arms, but now know was the name of the German inventor of the design ca. 1930 or so.  I don't know where or when I started using "Schnable", but it was wrong and I don't mind admitting my error.

If I ever find my original CE and Krupp materials (referred to below) and they show "SCHNABLE" (however unlikely), I'll have to correct this back again!

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ABB Image from R.I.C.A. (see below)

ABB Power Generation, Inc., Schnabel Car with what appears to be a Reactor or Boiler Load.

Then here is the Krupp-built 36-wheel CEBX 800 toting a 35.080m (111' 9³/₄") reactor vessel on 05 Jan 1991 in Saskatoon, Sasketchewan (Canada); it is a composite panorama made up of six (6) or seven (7) photos:

(1991 photos courtesy of Jim Banner - all rights reserved)

These railcars are shown here as teasers; see RR Schnabel Cars, et seq., for more on these rail equivalents of giant road vehicles.

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Road/Highway Schnabels

(continued)

CRNL Coker to Ft. McMurray

Jim Patterson was kind enough to send me these images of the road move of a giant coker fractionator drum from the manufacturer, CESSCO, in Edmonton, Alberta, to CNRL (Canadian Natural Resources Limited) in Ft. McMurray, Alberta.  CNRL extracts oil from bitumen (a tar-like substance) found in the Northern Alberta oil sands, which contain over 300 billion barrels.  This unit is 190 feet (58m) long and weighs 1,091,000 lbs (495Kg) and is carried on highly specialized trailers with approximately 700 wheels.  It takes five days to haul it 600 miles.  In order to cross the North Saskatchewan River, it must travel east on Highway 14, then north to the Duvernay Bridge, then back west on Highway 28 to Highway 63, through Boyle and Grassland, and north to Ft. McMurray.  Ca. 19 Feb 2007, it rested in Wandering River before getting to its final destination ca. 20 Feb.  Highway signs, overhead power lines, street lights, etc. all have to be disconnected while this unit passes through.  The move is being made by Mammoet Transport.  {I'd guess the drum is some 30' (~9m) in diameter - SB,III}

It was fascinating seeing it cross over the bridge with two trucks pulling and one pushing.  The engineering must be very intricate handling it going down hills as well as pulling up the hills!!  You will notice that there were two more trucks on the other side of the bridge to hook up and pull it over the bridge and up the hill on the other side.  They hook together with ropes.  It is very important not to have too much extra weight on the bridge.

The observer(s) wanted to see the unit turn off Highway 55/63 onto the Ft. McMurray highway.  It is a 90 degree turn......as you can see in the pictures, it was a piece of cake.  The coker pivoted on top of the two trailers, the pilots on each of the trailers had control of the 700 wheels to turn the corner with ease; there are two pullers and two pushers.  It took about five minutes.

It only travels in the daylight.  Police reroute the traffic ahead and behind the unit as it travels so slowly and you cannot pass it going either direction.

There wouldn't be any room to pass anyway.

The clear span between trailer supports on the coker fractionator was about 65' (20m).

To transport the drum over the over the bridge required a transportation frame, with tare weight of about 75 tons, to which has to be added the weight of the reactors on a short span, plus the trucks and trailers; the bridge in the picture is over the North Saskatchewan at about Duvernay or Two Hills, Alberta.

(Ft. McMurray coker photos courtesy J. Patterson - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.}
Picture 116-1 (l.) - CNRL Horizon Project Coker fractionator preparing to cross North Saskatchewan River at the Duvernay Bridge, AB
Picture 116-3 (l.c.) - Two tractors pulling front SPMT's plus one tractor pushing rear SPMT.  Two additional tractors pulling from north side of the bridge using ropes.  Weight restriction of bridge limits equipment allowed on the bridge at one time.
Picture 116-4 (r.c.) - Same as Picture 3. Picture 116-5 (r.) - Disconnecting long pull rope and re-configuring tractors.  Note road sign moved out of way.

(Ft. McMurray coker photos courtesy J. Patterson - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.}
Picture 116-6 (l.) - same as 005.
Picture 116-8 (l.c.) - same as 005.
Picture 116-9 (r.c.) - Four tractors plus SPMT's pulling coker up riverbank of North Saskatchewan River at Duvernay, AB.  One push tractor at rear SPMT.
Picture 116-10 (r.) - Two SPMT's c/w Dble 12 line - 4 file; 192 wheels per SPMT x 2 = 384 wheels plus tractors ~ 500 total.

(Ft. McMurray coker photos courtesy J. Patterson - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.}
Picture 116-11 (l.) - same as 010.
Picture 116-12 (l.c.) - same as 010.
Picture 117-1 (r.c.) - Two lead tractors and two push tractors preparing for 90 degree turn off Highway #55 onto the Ft. McMurray highway #63.
Picture 117-3 (r.) - Starting the 90 degree turn off Highway #55 onto the Ft. McMurray highway #63.

(Ft. McMurray coker photos courtesy J. Patterson - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.}
Picture 117-4 (l.) - Note front SPMT wheels turning to make 90 degree corner.
Picture 117-5 (l.c.) - Coker pivoting on SPMT saddles.
Picture 117-6 (r.c.) - same as 005.
Picture 117-7 (r.) - same as 005.

(all Ft. McMurray coker photos courtesy J. Patterson - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.}
Picture 117-8 (l.) - Rear SPMT negotiating 90 degree corner.  Note load stabilizing arms connected to flanges.
Picture 117-9 (c.) - One push tractor direct connected to rear SPMT.
Picture 117-10 (r.) - Last push tractor negotiates 90 degree corner onto Hwy 63 to Ft. McMurray.

BIG Ooops! - somewhere between Rawlins and Lander, Wyoming, on 07 Jun 2007, ca. 19:00 local time, an American Transport rig was led astray on a side road and tried to back into a tiny rest area to turn around.  No way, Hose A!  Recorded by my sister with her cell phone camera on 07 and 08 Jun 2007:   (09 Jun 07) and   (11 Jun 07)

My sister's narrative {edited}:

"About 7 p.m., the wide-load pickup leading a multi-axle tractor-trailer truck carrying a 200,000 pound load missed it's turn about 1/2 a mile down the road from where we stopped for the night {to be determined}.  The driver of the truck tried to turn around in a small rest area just across the road from us.  He couldn't make it.  He dropped the tank he was hauling {not quite}right across the road, blocking traffic in both lanes.  Eventually, cars could get around him but no trucks could.  The backlog of trucks in both directions was not of epic proportions as it would have been in Pennsylvania, but there were probably about 15 disgruntled truckers.  We had about 4 hours of entertainment until the winch truck that arrived at 10 p.m. got the truck and it's load back together and onto the highway.  Th{e next} morning, the trucker came back and drove his load away."

The Columbia River Gorge, separating Washington from Oregon between Portland and Pasco/Pendleton, is one of the scenic wonders of the world.  On a 9,617 mile road trip from New York to Portland and back (via many National Parks) in Jun/Jul 2007, I traversed the Gorge both ways and saw many big multi-axle rigs.  Many were running light (telescoped) both east and west on Interstates 70, 80, and 87.  Two sets in particular were of great interest to me and the first seemed to explain what the rig my sister saw (above) and possibly the second I saw were all about.   (27 Jul 07)

The first set (four units) was parked on the north side of W/B Route 14 on the Washington (north) side of the Gorge near Roosevelt, Washington, east of The Dalles (mid-point); I was whizzing along (speed limits out there are rather high) toward Portland on 18 Jun 2007 and screeched to an abrupt halt, turned into an unpaved parking area, and took these three shots:

[Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images]
(All photos 18 Jun 2007 by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

On the way back east, on Interstate 84 E/B near Boardman, Oregon, just about where the highway drops away from the river, on 25 Jun 2007, I spotted a huge blue disc barreling along far ahead of me; it took a while to overtake it and I snapped a grab shot through the windshield as I went by:

[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image]
(25 Jun 2007 photo by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images]
(All photos 25 Jun 2007 by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images]
(All photos 25 Jun 2007 by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image]
(25 Jun 2007 photo by and © 2007 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Some of Weeks Marine's heavier lifts include those made by their 750-ton floating crane #533 hoisting heavy pressure vessels for Phillips-Tosco's Bayway (NJ) refinery:   (02 Aug 07)

[Photo courtesy of Weeks Marine, Inc., by permission - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]

[Cropped enlargement of photo courtesy of Weeks Marine, Inc., by permission - all rights reserved]

Now, here's a giant heat recovery steam generator being transported by Burnell Contractors to a SAGD site in northern Alberta (up around Christina Lake) ca. Sep 2007 - SAGD is Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage, an enhanced thermal oil recovery technology for heavy crude and bitumen in use at the Athabasca Oil Sands and elsewhere:   (11 Oct 07) and (12 Oct 07)

[Cropped enlargement of photo courtesy of a friend - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]

[Cropped enlargement of photo courtesy of a friend - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]

[Cropped enlargement of photo courtesy of a friend - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]

[Cropped enlargement of photo courtesy of a friend - all rights reserved]
(Click on thumbnailed image for larger picture]

© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2007 - All rights reserved.