Cold, frosty day here in Sask. Time to do a little more video transfer to digital before I head out to feed cattle. This video I taped February 28 of 2002 showing the biggest building move that I have ever seen. This grain annex was built about 1975 and saw a lot of grain put through before the elevator closed down. All the other grain elevators in town were demolished but this one was sold to a buyer about 3 towns west so a massive move was in order. It took a lot of skilful planning and time to get this huge building up on wheels and then moving without tipping over. Obviously winter time with it's frozen solid ground was an advantage for solid footing. They used an elaborate setup of hydraulic controlled wheels to maintain the level of the building while moving over uneven ground and it worked well.
At -3 degrees F it was cold for man and machinery as you can see by the heavy exhaust clouds from all the vehicles. I did most of my taping from inside my vehicle with the heater running. They parked the annex for the night as it was too late to head out on the highway at 5:00 pm this time of year.
They wouldn't be able to do that in my neck of the woods. Roads are too narrow, hills are too steep, lines are too low and the treetops nearly meet over the centerline!
ReplyDeleteAny idea of how much that
ReplyDeletegrain elevator weighed?
Down this way, they are
moving 'megaloads'-huge
refinery equipment from
Korea, bound for Billings and the tar sands projects
up there in Canada. Narrow
winding road through the
Bitteroot Range, lot of
local resistance, but interesting tech project.
About 350,000 lbs each and there are over 400 trips scheduled...through a wilderness area!
According to the news reports at the time that grain annex weighed in the neighbourhood of 80,000 pounds so I guess you have us beat at 350,000. I think the biggest concern with this one was the height and keeping it from tipping. It wouldn't take much of an angle to over balance and tip I would think. Have you seen part two of the video?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJLJBF94gzU