As I was driving to Laramie on Saturday morning, around thirty miles outside of Fort Collins, CO, I spotted this enormous contraption parked in a lay-by on Hwy 287. As it was still semi-dark, I merely marveled at in in passing. Twenty miles later at the Wyoming border I saw another almost identical one parked there. After I did my day’s work and was thinking about them the whole time, I vowed to stop at one of them on the return trip. Well, as it was snowing in Wyoming, I decided to skip the northern one (which had not moved) and hoped that this one was still there. Thankfully, it was.
I decided to park near the rear, from which vantage it seems even larger than from the front. My biggest problem ended up being fitting the whole thing into my viewfinder. I was concerned that there would be someone there to shoo me away, but there was not a soul to be seen.
I’m no Johannes_Dutch and as such am not particularly well versed in my big rigs. However, approaching this Kenworth leading the train, it became obvious that this was no normal rig. For one, while not really evident in the picture, it was enormous (that’s the problem with scenery in general in the western United States, it’s hard to get a sense of scale). The wheels and tires were a lot larger than what is found on regular rigs, likely around 50% larger in diameter. The hood also seems longer and higher, presumably to cover a much larger engine than standard.
Here’s a side view of the lead vehicle. Barnhart is a large American rigging company specializing in the transport and installation of seriously oversize loads. The have locations across the US but curiously not really any in the Rocky Mountain region, making it somewhat curious to see them here.
The “trailer”, if it can be called that, is a sort of modular affair built by Goldhofer. It’s really multiple sections that appear to be able to be added to or subtracted from depending on the need, in this case divided into two halves with 11 sets of 4 wheels/tires per side (so 8 total side by side) making each half account for 88 wheels/tires and 176 in total. The shot above was taken from the rear but it looks pretty much identical from the front.
The tank in this case has one end mounted to the first assembly and the other end on the second assembly, letting each platform rotate with the tank above it moving around a corner as needed (think of a train car with an independent set of wheels/axles at each end and the “car” pivoting above it.) Each set of wheels in this case appears to be able to move and turn independently as well as in concert with the others. I didn’t get a picture but there is a separate motor/generator of some sort mounted at each end presumably to control/power the hydraulics. I also added a short video at the end of this post where the motor is visible so please forgive me for my on location oversight. It was cold out.
Part of the mystery was solved when I saw the manufacturer of the tank. Eaton Metal Products is a Denver manufacturer of Heavy Wall Pressure Vessels. Their website is quite interesting and features a lot of pictures of various projects including some showing Barnhart moving them. So presumably this came from Denver but in this case was heading South back towards the general Denver direction.
I can only assume that for whatever reason the riggers had to drive up I-25 North to I-80 West to Laramie and then head back south on Hwy 287 to presumably deliver this somewhere slightly north of Fort Collins and that it would not be possible to come through town the normal way, thus lengthening the trip by a factor of about 3x. Denver to Fort Collins is about 60 miles, Fort Collins to Laramie via I25 and I80 is about 90 miles, and then Laramie to Fort Collins via Hwy287 is about 70 miles.
I’m supposing when these things move it is with all kinds of escort vehicles and done in conjunction with the various authorities en route; these having been parked all day Saturday makes me think that either delivery was not possible that day or the approved route was limited to certain days and times, perhaps the middle of the night.
Here is the first of the “pushers”, in this case a Western Star. While not as large as the lead vehicle it was nevertheless immense with an elongated hood as well as carrying steel plates and other heavy items on its back, either for traction weight or some rigging purpose.
And here is another Western Star bringing up the rear, also loaded with heavy steel plate. While I doubt this whole thing moves at any kind of high speed, the coordination it must take for the three separate drivetrains as well as the trailer itself must be an immense undertaking.
I’m sure some of you have seen similar things in action or perhaps even have experience with them, any more info you can add would be appreciated, especially in regard to how the trucks differ from normal trucks that haul regular good. While we see all manner of heavy equipment moving up and down the local highways and freeways on occasion, this is the largest thing I have seen myself. Of course I didn’t actually see it move, but that’s likely a good thing, I can just imagine being stuck behind it for miles. Below is a video of a similar but smaller rig that was shot in Texas a few months ago to give some idea of it in action.
That video at first confirmed my belief that the rig really does pretty much crawl along, especially when I saw another video that had a “handler” walking alongside one on a major highway. But then I started watching a few more videos and here’s one with a larger load that seems to be doing around 40mph, which I suppose is okay on the open road but still somewhat terrifying. The action starts at about the 0:20 mark.
Barnhart’s own website is a whole ‘nother rabbit hole that I got sucked into for a little bit with lots of info and some other videos and there are tons more interesting videos on YouTube if this whet your appetite to spend a whole lot of time doing something other than what you are probably supposed to be doing…
Great (big) find! I’ve always been fascinated with large-haul operations, especially since I had a bunch of my houses moved. I’ve watched some fascinating videos on the subject; anything can be moved, if the budget is big enough.
This is why I LOVE this website, Its like a box of chocolates.
+1 (or in this case, + 11!)
Exactly And everything you get is sweet!
Thanks for a truly amazing find. At a certain scale of transportation engineering – this rig, or moving an entire large house, or those semi-submersible ships that can carry other ships, etc. – you just have to sit back and say “Wow.” Great photography, too.
“Check your tire pressure Sir?”
“No, just fill up the tank, please.”
Just . . . wow. What little I know about these wide and oversized loads is that they have to submit routes in advance to the state DOT, which will then plan a route that can accommodate them.
I learned this in a lawsuit in which an oversized load was being routed around the I-465 beltway around Indianapolis. The driver was familiar with the area and knew that he was being sent the long way around – about 3/4 of the way around the circle. He decided to take the shorter, more direct route. It was shortly thereafter that he learned that the overpasses on the north side of the beltway were older and built to a lower clearance than those on the south side which were both newer and higher. He had an expensive day.
Yeah, transportation logistics is big fun, and big dollars.
To my eye this looks like too much trailer & truck for the open road, but a lot of mine access roads are quite challenging so you’d need the load really spread out.
Had a project in Nevada a couple of years ago where trucks had to be dragged up the last muddy hill by a bulldozer. Some of the drivers were not too pleased with that.
I had a much, much smaller load, but your comment served to bring to mind a similar experience. We were actually laughing by the time we made it out of the quagmire, figuring A) we won, and B) we got a good story out of the experience.
Is that a 7810 pulling out?
Not sure, I’ve never paid that close attention to it. I’ve driven his smaller JD and Cat Challenger, tho, which was fun.
Thanks Jim, this is really cool. I’ve never seen a heavy hauling setup this elaborate before. The pusher rigs are especially impressive. The weight of that cylinder must be massive, as the wheels and tires would spread out the weight, to prevent road damage.
As a kid, I used to love when wide load convoys would approach on the highway. Much of the time, it was pre-fab homes. A couple weeks ago, I was surfing a site that documents the history of every highway in Ontario https://www.thekingshighway.ca/photographs.html and I came across this neat photo (below). It’s parts for Canada’s first nuclear power plant being hauled on the Trans-Canada Highway through Deep River, Ontario, in 1957.
This is like an Australian road train on steroids! Seriously, while visiting Australia we had to pull over to let a group of trucks hauling some sort of enormous tank pass. Although in that case it was being hauled in three pieces by three rigs, but it was so wide it took up the entire road.
Edit to add: Come to think of it, this really is a “road train” in a sense. Actual trains use multiple locomotives depending on how much they have to haul. This setup uses multiple tractors for the same reason.
Did I miss it? What’s in the tank ?
I don’t know, but given how heavy its weight apparently is, it would be a HUGE problem if whatever was in the tank got out.
A whole lotta tigers? 🙂
I’d be very surprised if it isn’t empty, and being transported to wherever it will be used. Any gas or fluid could be transported in smaller batches with much less hassle than this.
Reminds me of the old Willis Brothers song,”Give me 40 Acres” (to turn this rig around).
I love that song — now I’ll have it in my mind for the next week.
Cool find, it’s worth noting that the lead Kenworth has planetary reduction gears on the rear axles, something usually found on construction equipment. Also the plates on the Western Stars are ballast for traction and their main function may be extra braking.
It seems to me that the “pushers” are more likely being towed. These trucks would be hooked to cables and pulleys by riggers to help slide the tank into place at the installation. The plates would be placed under the tank supports to protect pavement and to aid in sliding the tank while installing. JMHO.
It seems to me that the “pushers” are more likely being towed.
No, they’re pushing. This is a common arrangement for these extremely heavy loads. The last thing they would do is to make the lead truck pull even more dead weight.
I watched a move like this a few years ago. The loads were components for a proton therapy particle accelerator that was being installed at cancer treatment facility in Oklahoma City. The builing in which it was installed was partially built, the the accelerator was craned in, and the building finished around it. . The trucks and equipment were much like the ones shown, but instead of steel plates, the trucks had huge concrete blocks mounted on their backs, and the move shook the ground as it went by. And yes, the extra weight on the pushers help with both traction and braking. All 3 trucks are earning their keep.
This is making me think of the beer tanks through Hamilton. Hydro crews lifting wires or taking them down as they passed. Party atmosphere on the streets it went down. Night moves.
What a rig! I would imagine routing something this long (and likely with an equally impressive turning radius) would be quite a challenge. Bridges, overpasses, signal lights, would all pose a challenge.
I would love to know the weight of this as she sits.
Thats an impressive set up, all old gear sure but its big stuff, that vessel must be quite heavy, Large wide loads I see quite regularly especially lately as Ive been on night shift houses move at night here strangely enough I met one being moved in two pieces on my out ward trip a couple of weeks back two 8 metre wide loads thats a whole two lane highways worth so I had to pull over to let it past, Woke up on my day off to loud machinery noise and found afore mentioned house being replanted across the street on an empty lot, been caught behind a couple recently too they arent particularly slow even uphill but the bulk restricts cornering speeds some but hey I’m on hourly rate no rush.
definitely a cool rig but nothing has yet to impress me as much as the Saturn V crawler(s). 12+ million pound payload!
Never seen anything like this.
Several years ago they were bringing in some large trusses for a freeway project that required a crazy compound trailer and IIRC a couple of pushers. However they moved it at night.
I think you are probably correct about the round about way required by the size making a lot of places off limits, either due to the weight or the lack of maneuverability.
At the peak of the cold war, the secret A-12 had to be transported from Lockheed in Burbank, CA to the Nevada test site. The trailer was 35 feet wide and over 105 feet long. It had a steerable rear axle with separate driver. The complete story is here. http://roadrunnersinternationale.com/transporting_the_a-12.html
May be there’s something cut from the beginning of the second video, but the 40mph rig does not seem to be preceded by escort vehicles etc.
A good source of tricky oversize movements is Youtube videos of the Airbus A380 fuselage and wings being moved from Bordeaux to Toulouse for final assembly. Teh French have got these down to a fine art.