     Contact: Dave Barnett, Mark Metcalfe |
Equipment Express (EEI) was tasked with finding a way to get a 192 Ton generator rotor from the Bruce Power Nuclear Generating Station, located on Lake Huron near Kincardine, to a multi-modal transport connection for furtherance to an overseas destination. While barge transport had been utilized in this area in the past, a winter transport schedule was not going to allow barging for this cargo. EEI set out to develop an over-the-road transport solution to the closest rail siding. Transport route surveys quickly established an optimum, 190 km route that included (19) structures that would require engineering analysis before this ‘super-load’ could cross them. The suitable transport arrangement for this load, route and the predictable winter weather was judged to be (2) prime movers and a 22-line hydraulic trailer and was 200’ in length, this creating (15) critical corners on the route that would require detailed surveys for transport clearance analysis. After all the engineering and analysis was complete, to a positive result, and the rotor was loaded and transport permits were in place, a sudden winter thaw resulted in a ‘half-load’ restriction on 17 kms of the route. It was only after a week of freezing temperatures, and geotechnical testing of the subject road-bed to insure adequate load-bearing strength, that the rotor was transported to the rail siding without incident. There EEI loaded the rotor to railcar by jack & slide and tied it down.
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