Big Loads - Post Photos Number 2

I moved a transformer this week. It reminded me of why I generally stay with rolling stock

 

a 317 on a beam will make ya appreciate a 352 on a beam

 

last weeks pay day made me appreciate being back under 8 axle freight this week.

delivered four loads and barely made enough to cover the food tab. Sheesh. 5 and 6 axle rates really are in the toilet.

 

That ain't no lie

 

What makes a transformer worse than rolling stock.

 

Other than the fact that you can't drive it off, transformers in particular can turn into a headache really quickly.

The more obvious portion being, your not always going to a nice easy location.

To the point that we have had a transformers over here loaded on goldhoffers from the trailers they were on just so they could be properly maneuvered into place.

Which is the other thing you get to wherever you're delivering it and then you have to get pretty close to where it's going to sit for most of its life especially if you have to do a Jack and slide.


Fun fact about transformers there are basically two ways they come off the deck. Crane or Jack and slide.

Especially if you go to an active substation it is quite likely that there will be overhead lines that will make it impossible to use a crane.

So you do a Jack and slide. Which is often at least a most of the day event.


But I forgot that the headaches don't necessarily start or end at pickup or delivery.

I have loaded a Transformer and had to sit 2 days at the plant while the final test on the Transformer was done and the customer reviewed the test
And approved it.

This can come back to bite you if they do another test at the delivery site, quite often they will sit and do a test when you deliver to determine that the Transformer is still good. Sometimes stuff jiggles loose or whatever...

Test can take hours, if test goes bad it stays on your trailer and you take it back. Or somewhere.

A lot of the manufacturers that I have pulled them for put a seismic recorder on them and if something goes wrong with it and you record a big bump oh congratulations you bought a Transformer. Gives you a little to think about when you high center the trailer, just saying. (Although admittedly they can take some good hits usually)

I have delivered a few, the one that sticks with me is the one that I did there down on the Mexican border south of San Diego. If you know much about those hills once you get off the main roads they get steep, really profoundly steep. Like me running a 6 in there stuck missed a downshift cause I lost it so quick , recovered landed in first and road that out to the crest cause the actual pause for a shift would have been a dead stop. And then the front end got squirrely..... Had to back out the RPMs get that thing back on the ground. Never thought I would have done that with that small of a rig but nonetheless it happened.

Get it in there waited 3 days for the testing and a crane crew that was offloading it for storage. Just so they could have it for a backup.

We tend to pull for all the big manufacturers, they all have Thier quirks

But yeah transformers it could be a simple run or turn upside down on you real quick. And sometimes that comes down to the utility company or whoever you're working with and what rigging crews you are working with and what sort of level of testing they're going to require.

 

Called ahead of delivery as per instructions on BOL.
Told to call back 6 hours before delivery to confirm time.
Get to site only to be told can't get a crane until next morning.
Sorry ..

 

51k lbs of top heavy fun.