A Sea Of Red

Giant boiler makes slow creep to Georgia Pacific's Big Island mill
By Ray Reed
Published: June 06, 2011
Spectators lined the route as a big green boiler carried by an 80-wheel, trailer-like rig crawled through the Boonsboro area Monday night.

The yellow banner that warned of “Oversize Load” was an understatement.

“It’s exciting,” said Jane Reed as she sat waiting with two grandchildren for the boiler and its convoy of police cars with flashing lights to pass by the lawn chairs they had set up near St. Andrews Circle.

The boiler, which had been hauled by rail from Nebraska to Lynchburg, was on the last leg of its trip to the Georgia Pacific containerboard mill in Big Island via U.S. 501.

Reed said she wasn’t sure what the boiler would look like, “but with it being 225,000 pounds, it has got to be something pretty big.”

Four other carloads of people were waiting with her on Boonsboro Road.

A similar crowd had snapped away with digital cameras and cell phones as a tandem-wheeled tractor towed the boiler past the Sheetz store on Lakeside Drive at the start of its expected 10-hour, 14-mile trip to northern Bedford County.

Most of the way, its speed was a brisk walking pace.

The rig slowed down for crews from Verizon and other utility companies to lift their wires so the boiler could pass underneath. The rig-and-boiler unit’s total height was 21 feet, 3 inches.

More than 50 people gathered for a logistics briefing before the rig left the Frito-Lay factory in the Lynchpin Industrial Park, where the boiler had been offloaded from a Norfolk Southern rail spur onto the 20 four-wheel dollies that formed the trailer rig.

A 6-trooper State Police detail oversaw a series of traffic roadblocks along the way.

ALUmnus wrote:The railroad goes right past that plant, I wonder why they couldn't make the delivery by rail?

Specifics:

The boiler: 47 feet long, 17.5 feet high, 225,000 pounds.

Built: in Lincoln, Neb., by Cleaver-Brooks Inc.

Delivery route: by Norfolk-Southern Railway from Lincoln, through Chicago, Atlanta and Knoxville to Lynchburg.

(Although a CSX rail line goes right through Big Island, the boiler could not be carried on CSX because of a non-negotiable low bridge clearance along that route, according to Georgia Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Miles.)

jbock13 wrote:“It’s exciting,” said Jane Reed as she sat waiting with two grandchildren for the boiler and its convoy of police cars with flashing lights to pass by the lawn chairs they had set up near St. Andrews Circle.

I thought people watching things like this only happened in West Virginia... I mean I remember the one time the WV Turnpike was shut down both ways and they had to reroute the traffic to Montgomery and back up U.S 60. You had tractors getting stuck on narrow roads. And pretty much ever house had people sitting outside and watching this.

pbow wrote:

jbock13 wrote:“It’s exciting,” said Jane Reed as she sat waiting with two grandchildren for the boiler and its convoy of police cars with flashing lights to pass by the lawn chairs they had set up near St. Andrews Circle.

I thought people watching things like this only happened in West Virginia... I mean I remember the one time the WV Turnpike was shut down both ways and they had to reroute the traffic to Montgomery and back up U.S 60. You had tractors getting stuck on narrow roads. And pretty much ever house had people sitting outside and watching this.

Off topic...but I'm from Montgomery, I certainly never thought it would be mentioned on this bored.

FlameNForest wrote:

How boring does your life have to be to sit out and watch a truck and boiler go by?

FlameNForest wrote:

How boring does your life have to be to sit out and watch a truck and boiler go by?

NG33 wrote:
This picture signifies how most people in New England view the South.

Press Release..AREVA Successfully Delivers Two Steam Generators to Three Mile Island Generating Station

October 2, 2009

AREVA is pleased to announce the successful delivery of two Enhanced Once-Through Steam Generators to the Three Mile Island Generating Station (TMI) in Dauphin County, Pa. on Sept. 30.

The steam generators arrived safely and on schedule after an eight-week trip that began at AREVA’s Chalon/St-Marcel facility in France, where they were manufactured. These technically advanced steam generators were manufactured according to Exelon’s requirements. The replacement steam generators are an integral part of a $300 million investment Exelon is making in the TMI Unit 1 reactor to extend the plant’s operations for decades to come. The trip culminated with a 75-mile journey over land that began Sept. 8 in Port Deposit, Md. and travelled through four counties and 17 municipalities in Maryland and Pennsylvania before arriving at TMI.

“This was the most challenging largecomponent delivery in AREVA’s history,” said George Beam, Chief Operating Officer of AREVA NP Inc. “Delivering these generators required complex logistics involving government and regulatory agencies in two states and numerous local communities and authorities. We are proud to have played a key role in Exelon Nuclear’s renovation of TMI Unit 1.”
..

flamehunter wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NnuigtGdi0&NR=1

Youtube video of the Areva generators. (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to embed it here -help anyone?)

Cider Jim wrote:I'm just surprised they didn't bring a cooler and stay a while.

But if you missed the boiler, here's another opportunity to break out the lawn chairs and camera phones: the "Miracle on the Hudson" plane is traveling from WV and VA to NC today, and you can chart its progress on your I-phone (I read about this on a WV friend's FB): http://www.jsupor.com/

FlameNForest wrote:Can't really blame them. It's not everyday Thomas the Boiler comes through town.

NG33 wrote:

FlameNForest wrote:

How boring does your life have to be to sit out and watch a truck and boiler go by?

This picture signifies how most people in in the rest of the world view the South.

BJWilliams wrote:

flamehunter wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NnuigtGdi0&NR=1

Youtube video of the Areva generators. (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to embed it here -help anyone?)

there shoud be a youtube button among all those other buttons under the Subject line. click it, paste the link in between the tags and your good to go