Mobile traffic jam

JeffH · February 05, 2017, 01:35:06 PM

It was heading north and Bundaberg is (a long way) north of here. I would have thought such a load would go by sea.
Usually heavy loads here are going to one of the three local coal mines.

Fulvio · February 05, 2017, 02:40:36 PM

Quote from: 'JeffH' pid='104914' dateline='1486263906'I would have thought such a load would go by sea.

That crane that went to Brissy was 120 tonnes lifting capacity. No way would a minor port have 200-tonne capacity. I remember they made a big deal about Townsville being upgraded from 80 to 124 tonnes a while back.

Whups. Just realised I hadn't told that story here. My bad.

"Mate of mine was an escort for a crane move from Melbourne to Brisbane. It took them a week, and he showed me pictures of the escort vehicles parked under the overhang at their campsites. They had to remove signage at every bridge along 2-lane roads, it was that wide. He reckoned it was one of the most boring jobs ever, except getting through the middle of Shepparton in peak hour. They'd taken down the traffic lights for the night move, but the rig still couldn't make the required right turn, and then the traffic turned up while they were figuring it out."

ausjack · February 05, 2017, 02:49:43 PM

Surely Brissie would have a 200+ tonne crane.

With weight like that no bloody wonder the roads in the bush are stuffed.

Just had a quick look and they have a 280T crane and that was just the first site I looked at
http://www.russelltpt.com.au/services_1?gclid=CMmIxN-M-NECFYSXvQodj7gABw&_rdr

Fulvio · February 05, 2017, 04:39:40 PM

Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='104921' dateline='1486268383'Just had a quick look and they have a 280T crane

Sure. Funny thing about shipping though.. you need facilities at BOTH ends of the journey.

JeffH · February 05, 2017, 04:52:42 PM

I wonder what the total weight of that road train was? All the trucks had a hefty load on, except the last one.
That might explain the large cloud of smoke from the vicinity of the last truck when they pulled up to let us past. I suspect it missed the cue to drop back to idle until it was repeated. We were too far back in the queue to see exactly where the smoke came from but spinning wheels could well explain it.

And definitely a transformer now I look at it. Too big for the local mines.
I should have picked that being an ex-engineer for an electricity distributor. :@ My excuse is that it is much larger than any I ever had to grapple with.

Hey Fulvio,
Do your informants have any photos (or maybe a link) for the Portland expedition. I would like to see that.

I seem to recall reading about something similar, years ago, for the aluminium plant in the vicinity of Gladstone.

Sincerely and hopefully,
Jeff

ausjack · February 05, 2017, 08:20:30 PM

Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='104927' dateline='1486274980'
Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='104921' dateline='1486268383'Just had a quick look and they have a 280T crane

Sure. Funny thing about shipping though.. you need facilities at BOTH ends of the journey.

I would have thought they'd get it in there as they have container ships go in there and maybe even coal ships. Apparently they can and have had a 8500TEU Vessels so it should handle it. The places that you lot in the big city think are small are growing rather quickly :angel:

Here ya go, suss out the little port of Brissie https://www.portbris.com.au/home

Some of the old one horse towns are now two..and some even have a cart :swoon: and some even have a town bike :shock: :mocking: So it's all going ahead all around oz

trout · February 05, 2017, 11:29:16 PM

QuoteSome of the old one horse towns are now two..and some even have a cart

HeHe
Many people that live in our cities have absolutely NO idea what the rest of Australia really looks like Mate.
Seeing something on TV and actually being there are two completely different things :angel:

Fulvio · February 05, 2017, 11:41:34 PM

Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='104933' dateline='1486288230'I would have thought they'd get it in there as they have container ships go in there

Yeah, but containers weigh bugger all. 40 Tonnes, tops. Keep in mind they pick them up one at a time.

ausjack · February 06, 2017, 07:15:02 AM

I suppose things like this weigh bugger all as well, yes maybe not as much as your transformer but they should be able to handle that sort of weight.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-11/gold-coast-light-rail-carriage-unloaded/4950136

Gee and the trams are coming from germany so surely we should be able to transport things in oz, well one would think.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-10/light-rails-plans-on-track-as-trams-arrive/4948260

Quote from: 'trout' pid='104946' dateline='1486299556'
QuoteSome of the old one horse towns are now two..and some even have a cart

HeHe
Many people that live in our cities have absolutely NO idea what the rest of Australia really looks like Mate.
Seeing something on TV and actually being there are two completely different things :angel:

Yes it's a bit of a problem mate, if it doesn't happen in a major city it doesn't matter :dodgy:

Quote from: 'Fulvio' pid='104947' dateline='1486300294'
Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='104933' dateline='1486288230'I would have thought they'd get it in there as they have container ships go in there

Yeah, but containers weigh bugger all. 40 Tonnes, tops. Keep in mind they pick them up one at a time.

For someone that is constantly looking at the net I would have thought you'd find it easy to find info on the port at brissie because me not being as capable as you didn't find it so hard and I bet there's a lot more on the net :dodgy:

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/old-trains-make-tracks-and-head-to-south-africa/1993558/

Fulvio · February 06, 2017, 03:00:52 PM

Quote from: 'ausjack' pid='104951' dateline='1486327502'port at brissie

There's more to it than whether or not Brissy can unload a ship. It has to be loaded first, and we don't know where the load originated. And once unloaded, it has to be transported. Presumably up the M1. What would that do to traffic, just for starters?

The people that do these moves are experts in logistics. They analyse every possible option, and look at things like road width, weight limits, clearances, curve radius, grades, traffic, etc etc etc to find the best option.

For that 120-tonne crane to get to the port, they had to sit outside Brisbane for over half a day before the cops let them move through the city, and they had a very tight time window to get it done. That adds to costs, and if there's an option that avoids it, you can bet it will be considered.

ausjack · February 06, 2017, 03:45:17 PM

Yes weight is what's stuffin up our roads but it doesn't seem to worry them so they should be charge heaps to use them. There are parts of the highway up here that they thought would last a long time but recently they had to rip it all up and do it again at great cost but that's mainly due to b doubles but it's the extra weight that causes the problem.

JeffH · February 07, 2017, 05:40:07 AM

That road train is apparently carrying a transformer from the closed Wallerawang (near Lithgow) power station. Sighted yesterday at Denman allegedly heading for Liddell power station (near Muswellbrook).
Would have been a tight squeeze on the steel truss bridge over the Hunter River just outside Denman.

Someone posted a video clip on FaceBook and I would put it here but I have never been able to get BB code to embed a video to work on this forum.

ausjack · February 07, 2017, 06:35:14 AM

Gee that poor little bridge. Lucky it didn't collapse under all that weight.

LooseChange · February 07, 2017, 11:17:00 AM

Heres a couple in-situ.. probably a bit smaller.

20161010_152821

20161010_152816

For what its worth stated lifting capacity can be a bit misleading.
This is a 80t lift but you cant get this done with a 80t crane. i think its 350t or 400t.

ausjack · February 07, 2017, 01:00:04 PM

That last pic is pretty cool LC, makes the workers look small.