Anyone know about "Superloads" in transportation?

[DaveC426913]

TL;DR Summary

Just got a message about a Superload passing through my town in a few days. Feel like sightseeing.

A message popped up on Facebook announcing a "Superload" passing through my town on Friday.

The message is from my local city Hamilton, and has zero usefeul information except the time and the route.

The entirey of the message says :SUPERLOAD MOVEMENT(OVERNIGHT) Fri. Jan. 26 7PM-Sat. Jan. 27 7AM" followed by a list of streets, which are marked on this map:

I did a little digging:

• A “superload” is a vehicle and/or load that exceeds any of these limits: 120,000 kg gross vehicle weight. 5 metres in width. 45.75 metres in length.
• The destination seems to be the HQ of Bartek Ingredients, "a leading producer of malic acid, food-grade fumaric acid, and maleic anhydride".
• Unable to determine what the source is - (it's all horse farms in Puslinch). (OMG, I hope it's not glue!)
• The total trip is 81.6km.
• If it took the whole 12 hours, that would be an average speed of 1.88m/s (4.25mph).

Before I knew what the parameters of a superload I guessed it might be a wind turbine (what other cargo needs to be moved at 4mph??), but now I suspect it'll will be a giant tank - or maybe just a giant gantry to hold giant tanks.
Anyway, if I feel like it, I might go out and see it go by. I will literally be able to see it from my house.

What I am curious about is the timing. My calcs assume they start exactly on-time and finish exactly on time. If that were true, I could go out to the street at about 6:30AM and see it. (I am less than 3 miles from the destination.)

But I suspect they have a wide operating margin. They might allot 12hours but only take 6 hours. The extra padding is in case anything goes awry. I could go out at 4AM and still have missed it.

Specifically, my reason for posting is to see if I can narrow down my window of observation.

• Is it plausible that their schedule is heavily padded? Or will they try to be as accurate as possible, to facilitate traffic flow around the route
• Also, where are they likely to go off-schedule? At the start? At the tricky bits? The route looks like it is intended to skirt the Dundas valley, so as to avoid steep grades. Here is the route, annotated with approximate waypoints and an overlay of the Dundas Valley (which I just happen to have on-hand after about 200 hours of painstaking mapping for a another project) :
• 

 

[Baluncore]

Maybe it arrives by rail at the Puslinch siding on a Schnabel wagon.
Knowing the destination suggests it is a high pressure chemical reactor vessel.

If there is a new wind farm in the district, then it could also be a massive power transformer, they are moved in the same way.

They will transfer it from the rail to the road vehicle, using heavy-lift cranes on the day before the night move, so it will arrive at the siding about one day before that. Get out there early to take a photo of the Schnabel wagon, post it in this thread. If there is an enthusiast following the load, it may appear on YouTube in a few days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnabel_car

A Schnabel car is an interesting example of a whippletree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whippletree_(mechanism)

There are many good videos on YouTube of the Schnabel wagon.

 

[DaveC426913]

Maybe it arrives by rail at the Puslinch siding on a Schnabel wagon.

Ah! There is a rail line running through Puslinch.

(Of course, Hamilton, being a steel industry town, is absolutely laced with rail lines, but maybe they are concerned about grades, since it's in the valley).

 

[DaveC426913]

You know, I'm realizing the best way to clap eyes on it - to see if it's worth getting up at 6AM to see - is to drive to Puslinch on Friday. I have the day off and it's only a half hour. I can take my camera and make a day of it.

Oh my God. Is this the first sign? Is this how Trainspotters are born? Is this my "gateway" rolling stock?

 

[gmax137]

Years ago I lived in a small town on the route for one of the big power transformers. The route is mapped out considering road capacity and grades, sharpness of the turns, bridge capacity, etc. In some places telephone or power lines had to be raised. The whole thing was a big deal and covered on the local news.

On the big day the TV news interviewed the gawkers. My favorite quote was, "this is the biggest thing to happen here since the Farmington Canal was opened." That was around 1830, lol.

 

[Baluncore]

(Of course, Hamilton, being a steel industry town, is absolutely laced with rail lines, but maybe they are concerned about grades, since it's in the valley).

It is more likely that infrastructure close to the track would be the problem. A Schnabel car is very long, even before the sandwich gets the load filling, so it cuts the corners, which requires more side clearance, and stops trains running in the opposite direction on curves of dual track.
YouTube search "Meet The Schnabels; The WORLD'S LARGEST Railcars!"

 

[DaveC426913]

It is more likely that infrastructure close to the track would be the problem. A Schnabel car is very long, even before the sandwich gets the load filling, so it cuts the corners, which requires more side clearance, and stops trains running in the opposite direction on curves of dual track.
YouTube search "Meet The Schnabels; The WORLD'S LARGEST Railcars!"

Fair enough.

Although we are still, at this point, wildly guessing what it might be, and therefore whether a Schnabel car will be employed - or even, (while we're at it) - if railways are involved at all (as opposed to, say it just became existified there in Puslinch).

For all we know, it is the world's tallest horse, bred in secret, in Puslinch equestrian stables, bound for the giant glue vats of Bartek.

 

[Nik_2213]

We used to get 'big' loads come through, usually dawn Sunday, en-route to docks. You know the sort, two mega-trucks pulling, a vast 'Whatsit' suspended by massive girders from many-wheeled bogies, often independently steered, a 'tail end' truck pushing / braking and a convoy of spares etc...

A 'lead-team' would knock on house doors, request verge-parked cars be moved. Failing that, they'd bounce cars to face skew, roll them back.

They met their match with neighbour's Volvo 440 'Estate', which was too 'damped' to bounce, too heavy to lift, and had 'transmission' lock on drive-train.

My brother and I went out with our trolley jack, helped the 'roadies' progressively re-position the obstacle several metres inwards...

 

[DaveC426913]

Wellllll, technically a successful trip but in reality a bit of a letdown.
At the siding where I figured I'd find it there was only crickets.

But about 5 miles down the road at a roadside inspection station I found this:

So they've come and gone. I was too late in the game for all the good stuff.

 

[Baluncore]

Oh my God. Is this the first sign? Is this how Trainspotters are born? Is this my "gateway" rolling stock?

So they've come and gone. I was too late in the game for all the good stuff.

Well spotted, not that you could have easily missed it on that road.
There is still time to become addicted to extreme rail loads.

Schnabel cars are considered to be National Defence assets, as they are essential to the transport of replacement transformers, that keep the war industry in production.

At least one of the Schnabel cars was built in Hamilton, Ontario.
http://southern.railfan.net/schnabel/cars/hydro/hepx200.html

There is another that has a home base there. Where does it park?
http://southern.railfan.net/schnabel/cars/wecx102/wecx102.html

 

[DaveC426913]

At least one of the Schnabel cars was built in Hamilton, Ontario.
http://southern.railfan.net/schnabel/cars/hydro/hepx200.html

There is another that has a home base there. Where does it park?
http://southern.railfan.net/schnabel/cars/wecx102/wecx102.html

Most of Hammertown is a vast industrial wasteland - acres and acres of steel mills. You could have a whole fleet of Schnabel cars in there not visible from any public road.

 

[DaveC426913]

Wait. Is this a Schnabel Car?

 

[Baluncore]

Wait. Is this a Schnabel Car?

You are hooked.

That looks like track maintenance equipment.
WECX 102 was painted blue-green, and has a low bed.

I would find the place where Siemens-Westinghouse assembles/services generators.
They will have a private spur track there, where they can keep and maintain their Schnabel.