I saw a BNSF train yesterday that was hauling special flats with blades for wind turbines. I believe it was running from Galveston to west Texas, although I don't know for sure.
The blades were huge. They were anchored on two flat cars but extended over part of a third. The cars have been specially rigged to haul the blades.
Somewhere I read that the Danes specialize in large wind turbine blades; the blades that I have seen passing through central Texas may have come from Denmark. In any case, I am hard pressed to believe that they could be transported by any mode other than rail.
There are several wind turbine manufacturing facilities in North America, including a couple in Ontario and Quebec.
The blades can be trucked for long distances, but rail of course is cheaper. Over the past decade we have seen several big moves of wind turbine sections going to projects in northeastern British Columbia. As they would not fit through a couple of curved tunnels on CN's Yellowhead Pass route they had to be unloaded in western Alberta and were then trucked for hundreds of miles to reach their final destinations.
Cars like these will often have solid drawbars connecting them, and if they have regular couplers the Carmen will put locking blocks or pins in place so that it is impossible to uncouple the cars underneath the load.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70Dude,
I have seen smaller blades transported by truck in Texas. But the blades that I saw on the rail cars are two to three times larger than the blades that I have seen on trucks.
As the train rounded a modest curve in Temple, TX, the blades extended out over the inside line of the cars. The cars appeared to have regular couplers, but I could not get close enough to see if locking blocks or pins had been inserted to prevent them from being uncoupled.
I am reasonably sure that these blades were coming from Galveston. That is where blades from overseas would be off loaded from ships and placed on rail car. BNSF has a yard in Galveston; I have seen the blades on the cars in the yard.
Whether the blades were headed to one of the big wind farms near Big Spring, Texas or the Panhandle of Texas, I don't know. In any case, he headed north toward Fort Worth.
About 10 years or so ago - CSX got a unit train of Wind Mill Blades through the Port of Baltimore - Marketing thought it was a great business opportunity!
Marketing may have been right if the Clearance Restrictions on both the Blade Train and the the other trains on the railroad would have permitted virtually anything else on the railroad to move. Most of the mileage on the route, the Blade Train could not meet or pass any other trains. The way the Clearance Restrictions were written - the ONLY mileage that wasn't restricted was on the single track mileage - couldn't meet or pass trains on the passing sidings on the single track territory.
I can't begin to think about how much investment would have been necessary for the route to be able to handle the Blade Trains with the other traffic on the line.
Great Business Opportunity - NOT!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The first time I saw a photo of a train hauling wind turbine blades I was amazed at how big they really are!
Our windmill trains usually come with a long list of restrictions. Where trains can be met, how fast the moving train (usually one of the trains needs to be stopped) can pass. Locations where speed must be reduced when adjacent non-main tracks have cars or equipment on them.
Even trains that don't rate the full list of restrictions are now given positive meets with other trains. One of them being stopped. They started having all of our high-wides making positive meets after one load that was supposed to be within clearances got side-swiped.
Jeff
It's the "last mile" that gives those who haul windmill parts fits.
We see them come up the St Lawrence all the time on ships. If they are bound for this area, they'll unload at Odgensburg or Oswego.
I've seen them on CSX as well - the single track St Lawrence Sub. They were headed north - no idea of the destination.
About that "last mile." Moving blades through some of the small towns can be a real challenge. The blades don't exactly have a small turning radius and small towns don't always offer broad boulevards with generous intersections.
And a little irony - two ships collided in the Welland Canal the other day. One was carrying windmill parts, the other was carrying coal. Talk about a collision of technologies!
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I am a member of the JointLineRailroading forum on groups.io and windmill blade trains are quite common. The is one in Monument, Colorado right now headed north towrad Denver.
JPS1 SD70Dude, I have seen smaller blades transported by truck in Texas. But the blades that I saw on the rail cars are two to three times larger than the blades that I have seen on trucks. As the train rounded a modest curve in Temple, TX, the blades extended out over the inside line of the cars. The cars appeared to have regular couplers, but I could not get close enough to see if locking blocks or pins had been inserted to prevent them from being uncoupled.
The blades I recall seeing (and handling on occasion) were approximately 150 to 180 feet long, as they occupied most of the length of two 89' flatcars. The first shipment I had the "pleasure" of being involved in was during 2011-12, these were unloaded near Rycroft, AB, with their final destination being in the Tumbler Ridge, BC area. A number of switchstands and other "obstacles" had to be removed in the Swan Landing and Grande Prairie yards to allow their passage.
Another set of shipments came a few years later, these were unloaded in the yard at Edson, AB and trucked to Tumbler Ridge, as CN did not want to deal with the hassle of removing and the reinstalling all that infrastructure again. While I do not know the exact location of the wind farm it is nearly 600 km from Edson to Tumbler Ridge, so these blades went for quite a long truck ride after leaving the rails.
Somewhere I read a story about the planning and logistics of a WSOR blade train, but I can't put my hands on it at the moment.
One of the things I recall is the need to precheck clearances along the line, trimming vegetation where necessary. Also, at the rural unload location, the entire train needed to be indexed forward and back to ensure the unloading crane could access the blades in the needed sequence.
Can we assume that blades may be built in the future that will be even bigger and longer if a way to transport them becomes available ? Instead of transporting many miles building bigger might have alternatives. Two ways IMHO might be possible and others posters may have other ideas. One is to build them in parts ?. However the stress of connections might be too much to overcome. That may be significant whenever the wind mill is not turning ? Another might be able to have a mobile construction plant that could move between major wind farms ? . How clean is a builder's facility needed to build these monsters ?
I've seen windmill blades in parts. But they were old ones from units that had been damaged or retired. They were on trucks headed for a landfill. The blades can't be recycled so they are buried. There was some news articles (TV and newspaper) a few months ago about this. Only a few places (around Iowa/Nebraska) will take them.
There's a factory in Newton IA that makes the blades and tower sections. I don't know that a mobile factory would be possible.
tree68 And a little irony - two ships collided in the Welland Canal the other day. One was carrying windmill parts, the other was carrying coal. Talk about a collision of technologies!
I saw a brief video of the collision, looks like the person recording the video guessed that the ships were about to collide. Wouldn't want to be the skipper of either ship.
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