Illinois Railway Museum Blog

It has been a couple of weeks of good progress but everything taking that little bit longer than we might have hoped.

We waited a full week before UP could deliver the flatcar to the site for loading.  Once that arrived, there was a surge of activity.

Securing plates were welded to the flatcar and then, within 24 hours, the turntable deck and all remaining parts were removed from the pit and loaded last Thursday.  The pictures show what was involved.  The move was done by Hulcher using two of their side lifters, which was a very efficient way of doing this job as compared to crane lifting

One end of the table in place ready to lift

With lifters at each end the table is raised from the pit

The large central bearing was secured to the table and lifted with the main beam to avoid a separate crane lift.

Once the table had been moved from the pit the bearing was released

The lifters then “walked” the table across the site

.. and aligned it with the waiting flatcar

On the flatcar.  Now to tie it down

Preparing to lift the trucks from the pit

Powered truck on the flatbed

Last truck load leaves for Union

The trucks, center bearing and all remaining wiring, rails etc. were loaded on a flatbed truck and were safely unloaded and stored at Union by Monday of this week.

The power trucks are unloaded at Union

Meanwhile the site where the table will be stored is being prepared

At Burnham, with the table now on the flatcar, work progressed in securing this to ensure its safety during the move.  This involved the attachment of substantial steel cables, attached to mounting points welded to the flatcar.  The arrangement and implementation of the attachment must all be reviewed and approved by the specialist group in UP responsible for these large loads.

After a couple of iterations involving the addition of some additional reinforcing plates to strengthen the mounting points on the flatcar, we received confirmation today that table is now satisfactorily secured.

We now await the switching of the idler cars to be connected at each end of the flatcar to protect the overhanging ends.  Once these are coupled, the couplings between these are the flatcar must be disabled (the load consists of all 3 cars so the couplings must be disabled to prevent any possibility of accidental separation enroute).

So, after 75 years, the table is just about ready to leave Burnham and make its way to it new home at Union.

Nigel

After a week of planning, great progress was made on the turntable in the last ten days.  This is critical as site clearing will start this month and we must have the table out before this happens.

JD and Phil travelled to Denver in a truck loaded with tools and equipment and have been working with Dennis and track contractors based locally.

The table before stripping

The stages of the removal are:

1.       Remove and ship the rails, deck, railings, circle rail and everything else that can be taken from the top of the main bridge beam;

2.       Lift the main bridge beam from the pit and lay it on the railroad flat car that will carry it to Union;

3.       Take the trucks and center bearing, along with the remaining ring rails that lie under the beam and load these for transport to Union.

View of one of the drive trucks under the table

A surge of activity early last week saw everything on top of the bridge beam removed, stacked and then loaded onto 3 flatbed trailers.  By Thursday, all 3 were unloaded at Union.  Many thanks to Dave and Carl for their efforts in unloading.  Each trailer was unloaded in 45 minutes, which was an indication both of their efforts and the good work of the team in Denver ensuring that everything was carefully strapped and loaded.

First the electrical supply arch is removed

Starting to remove the walkways

The decking itself is removed

Now we have the bare bridge ready to be lifted from the pit

and the parts are already arriving at Union

Unfortunately, the weather meant that we have a future job.  Heavy rain Wednesday night meant that we could not use the long term laydown areas for rail, ties, etc. and had to locate everything for outside storage on gravel surfaces.  So there will be lot of relocating once the weather improves.  However, the electrical boxes and other sensitive items are now all in covered storage.

After this rush of activity, the guys in Denver have been preparing the oak timbers that will be used to mount the bridge onto the flatcar but have now run out of work and are returning home.

Everything is prepared with heavy lift equipment lined up to lift the bridge from the pit and onto the flatcar.  However, we must now wait for the flatcar to arrive on site, along with the idler cars that will travel under the overhanging ends of the beam.  All this is ordered and in-transit via Union Pacific to the Burnham yard but it is currently expected to be late this week before they arrive.  Once they do, there will be another rush of activity but, until then, there is nothing more that can be done.

Congratulations to Dennis and the team on a very successful job so far.  Now we all wait in anticipation of the lifting and loading operation.

Nigel