Here's a video of BNSF 8081 pulling a vehicle train over the Skykomish River near Gold Bar, WA. The first cars contain Boeing 737 fuselages and Boeing 777 cockpits.
I've photographed a pair of 737 fuselages being moved past King Street Station.
I have pictures of some sitting in the power tracks in Balmer Yard surrounded by BNSF power. A strange sight.
Were you on BNSF ROW when you filmed these? I noticed one engineer used his warning horn which may have been for you since there was no one else to be seen.
Interesting about the shields in front of each fuselage. Wonder if that is to protect from stray rocks or trees ?
blue streak 1Interesting about the shields in front of each fuselage. Wonder if that is to protect from stray rocks or trees ?
More to protect from hanging ice in tunnels. Back in the days of open multilevels for automotive transport, my carrier outfitted a number of old open top hoppers with a framework to be used at the head end of loaded auto rack trains. Ice can do real damage to both automobiles and aircraft fuselages.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Balt - that is very interesting. When we see the fuselages go thru here, I always thought they were decorative tie-downs for the ends of said fuselages.
Now I know.
Moo....
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Yard LimitOf course I wasn't on the right of way.
Yard Limit,
I am 99% confident you were on the right of way in both cases. GN row is generally 100 feet which puts the line 50' from the center of track. For the rack train you were about 25-30 feet and the oil train about 15 feet. I really do not care where you were but dont lie about it.
In both cases you were too close to avoid any flying rail cars due to a derailment that may have occurred where you were.
Mac McCulloch
A former rail who attended many derailments.
I wonder if those same rail cars can carry the newer extended range 737 or if they need adjustment?
BaltACD blue streak 1 Interesting about the shields in front of each fuselage. Wonder if that is to protect from stray rocks or trees ? More to protect from hanging ice in tunnels. Back in the days of open multilevels for automotive transport, my carrier outfitted a number of old open top hoppers with a framework to be used at the head end of loaded auto rack trains. Ice can do real damage to both automobiles and aircraft fuselages.
blue streak 1 Interesting about the shields in front of each fuselage. Wonder if that is to protect from stray rocks or trees ?
Back in the days 1950's(?) when the early railcar transporters had open upper decks, Their cargo of vehicles were prone to having debris; as well as icicles formed in tunnels, disloged and dropped on them from overhead, in the tunnels, and bridges, and overpasses...
Problem was resolved by using roofed over cars, and eventually, completely enclosed and secure transport cars. [ While living and railfanning in Memphis, we had some 'fequent visitors' to Forrest Yard, there. GP-30's that were assigned to CNO&TP (cab letttering). Some of them had 'ice breaking bars' welded over their cab areas. A really unusual accessory in our part of the country.]
Back to the topic of the framing on the 737 transport cars. At times the fuselages are assigned to trains that cross the MRL lines in Montana ( Mulan Tunnel,etc). Damage to those open fuselages gets really expensive, really fast. In July of 2014, a derailment on MRL put six fuselages into the Clark Fork River. See Thread Linked @ http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/230813.aspx?page=1
They were scrapped in the area of the derailment.
{ Reason that scrapping was done: Each fuselage comes with a serial number. Had the damage been repaired, and the fuselage 'finished', and flown as a serviceable aircraft; and then during the 'life' of that particular aircraft, a failure occurred...There would have been tremendous 'legal risk', that could have been tracked back to the manufacturer [Boeing&Spirit Aero Systems].
CMStPnP I wonder if those same rail cars can carry the newer extended range 737 or if they need adjustment?
I don't think there is any significant difference between the fuselages of the recent 737-800 and -900 and the new 737 Max series (737-8 and -9). I think the new versions are slightly lengthened to take an extra row or so of seats. There are changes to the wings, particularly new wing tip winglets and new engines with a larger diameter which require a longer nose undercarriage strut. None of these changes are likely to change the fuselage enough to require changes to the shipping arrangements.
M636C
The 737-MAXs models are only two inches longer than their 737 NG counterparts, which probably results from the redesigned tail section. As such they're both longer than the typical 85 foot flatcar as seen in the video.
NorthWest The 737-MAXs models are only two inches longer than their 737 NG counterparts, which probably results from the redesigned tail section. As such they're both longer than the typical 85 foot flatcar as seen in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdnwxV99JPo
Here is a video showing some of the 737's from Spirit Aero Systems in Wichita for deliver (and finishing) at the Boeing Plant in Renton. A change of even of several feet would most probably not effect the way the fuselages are transported on rail.
Some of the fuselages are loaded onto a flat car that is followed by a short 'idler flat' that has a permanent container built on the end (away from the tail of the aircraft) and then a fuselage loaded onto a flat car and that would be followed by a flat car ( a TOFC car w/o the trailer attachments). The permanent container on the idler flat car will normally contain (a set or two) of the tail surfaces. Boeing also has some cars(totally enclosed) that will carry a cockpit section, which is still built in Wichita. These cars open, like a clamshell, with the cockpit lifed out by a plant crane. 9see at 10 min in video linked)
The NAVY version of the 737 (PoseidonP-8a) also ride out to Washington State with the 737's as well to be finished.
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