That’s my younger son Will on the day in 1997 when we had four houses moved in a caravan, from the campus area to where they are now our rentals. Housemoving is a common occurrence, especially in the US with its wood-framed houses that move surprisingly easily. I’m going to do a post on that whole undertaking soon, but for today, let’s look at some video of some really big road movements.
Yes, this vast desalination plant evaporator weighing 4,891 tons is in the process of being moved over land on rubber wheels. And the logistics behind it, from it being unloaded from its special transport ship in Saudi Arabia (it was built in Korea), to watching it being lowered down on its foundation pads with old-fashioned plumb lines makes for fascinating watching, if big loads are your thing. But admittedly, this rig didn’t exactly go down existing highways.
For that, here’s another video of a 1157 ton reactor vessel being moved over public roads in Tennessee in 1980, the record (at least up to that time) for a heavy load moved on US roads.
Lets do the little load first. Some nice vintage police cars too, as a bonus.
And here’s the desalination plant.
Of course, even larger and heavier loads have been moved, but for shorter distances. Here’s a 14,350 ton offshore rig being moved 150 meters unto a barge.
As a Minnesotan, I am obligated to say it: “Uffda!”
I’ll wait for your story on house moving.
This article reminds me of the History Channel’s “Mega Movers” series. Fascinating viewing.
House moving is a common practice in NZ too mostly at night so as not to disrupt traffic though as a night truck driver they did disrupt me frequently, Houses arent very heavy just wide and bulky and often get sawn into manageable pieces for moving, look forward to your post on that Paul.
The most famous move of a building in Indianapolis was the Indiana Bell Telephone building that was turned 90 degrees and moved another 100 feet in 1930. Big deal, except that the building remained occupied and functional (everywhere above the basement, at least) during the entire time. A fascinating link with pictures is here:
http://www.paul-f.com/ibmove.html
I bet the guys in the basement were surprised when they came up for lunch!
I could be wrong but sure sounds like the great John Forsythe is the narrator of the first video….right Angels?