How to Transport a 60-Year-Old Steam Locomotive Across the World | Huge Moves | Spark

a vintage steam locomotive weighing over a hundred tons it became an icon for steam can these british engineers bring it home on an epic journey across two continents what's wrong against a merciless deadline the team must navigate treacherous roads jammed railroads it's blocking the railway and line oceans there's a five meter swells forecast looking around the cave over 70 days and nights ah it's freezing outside but you will die in this place super long locomotive one team on a mission to move it [Applause] a titanic task that will test the nerves of the people that dare to do monster moves [Music] the city of bloomfontaine lies in the heart of south africa once a major railway hub steam engines passed through this region every day hauling goods and people across the country [Music] but today bloomfontaine is where old steam engines go to die at this yard they dismantle one locomotive a week to sell for scrap but there is one unlikely survivor this majestic 60 year old engine the 15f is one of the last surviving locomotives of its kind a classic from the golden age of steam it was built in glasgow by the north british locomotive company the largest locomotive factory in europe in the early 1900s at its peak the factory shipped 400 locomotives a year all over the globe from the americas to the far east more than 2 000 locomotives were exported to south africa alone to safeguard the future of this precious engine a museum in glasgow has sent one of britain's leading heavy haulers andrew goodman on a rescue mission to bloomfontaine whether that'll come home to the uk or not we'll have to wait and see i'm told as a baby in arms my parents took me to the vale of radar railway in wales and um i don't know whether it was the inhalation of the the smells of the oil the steam but it got into one's body and it's been a thing ever since but they're always not only an interest but a passion joining andrew is engineer and fellow steam enthusiast jim mitchell it worked right across the spectrum hauling goods all over south africa so it became an icon for steam in south africa this locomotive ran for 40 years it pulled the prestigious blue train along the 1600 kilometer route from pretoria to the cape it's really important to take one home as much for the people of glasgow themselves because a good part of our heritage has been forgotten but moving this 15 meter locomotive almost 10 000 kilometers back to glasgow will be a big challenge the team's first task is to haul it 650 kilometers across the south african bush to durban if they miss the ship waiting in port it will be a long time before another arrives with a big enough cargo hold then the loco must survive the legendary storms of the south atlantic on a 75-day voyage home [Music] looks nice doesn't it hey yeah quite a beast andrew has seven days to transport the locomotive to durban docks but first he must work out how to get it there there's basically three options that we can pursue for moving the locomotive the first option would be to steam the locomotive to durban under its own power wouldn't it be fantastic steaming across the south african countryside a rough journey of a lifetime that is for sure moving the local by rail is risky its boilers are old and weak they have not been fired up for over 20 years and could explode the team could shunt the locomotive with a diesel engine but these freight lines are busy securing a route is notoriously difficult and expensive the second option would be to actually dismantle the locomotive into basic component parts the boiler the chassis with the wheels all the pipe work the cladding on the boiler all the cab fittings would have to be taken off the cab itself dismantled quite a time consuming operation originally the local was shipped to south africa from glasgow in sections in the 1940s there were no cranes on the continent big enough to lift this 100 ton dead weight so workers assembled the engines in the dockyards in sections carefully disassembling the fragile 60 year old loco could take weeks [Music] and that's too long for andrew he will miss the boat this leaves him with just one option to hold the locomotive intact by road andrew's never moved such a heavy locomotive this far before it's a daunting prospect there's always the unexpected the unknown we're not sure quite what the roads are like it's not motorways that's for sure before the road journey to durban can begin the locomotive must be winched onto a low loader fitted with special rails the big question is the trailer strong enough and are there sufficient wheel axles to support such a heavy load [Music] if the load is balanced unevenly they could face problems on south africa's bumpy roads and their nightmare is crossing a weak bridge ideally andrew needs a trailer with six axles to spread the weight of the locomotive chains will lock the loco in position to prevent it shifting on the road [Music] the first challenge is to build a loading ramp from the train tracks to the trailer this is holding the track in place because the the lip of the wheel is to the inside so if you don't hold it in place it's going to push the tracks out and then it's going to fall down jim's concerned about the height of the load it may be too tall to even leave the yard 140 millimeters too big to go into the gate this is the only access that we can use to where we've had to load the load code today but the actual beam is six inches too low to let us come out with the loco on it's burning the bolts [Music] it's a bad omen they haven't checked the road ahead and hope there are no low bridges on routes before they can even get underway disaster strikes an unexpected visit from the transport police they're concerned that the trailer is not sturdy enough to support such a heavy weight we forwarded to the company of drawing off the locomotive showing all the weights all the dimensions and we indicated what we estimated uh the driveway to the loco to be which is about 95 tonnes it appears that the the trailer they've sent down it wasn't really up to the job the police prohibit andrew from driving the locomotive on this trailer and there is no larger vehicle available within a thousand kilometers the ship set sail in seven days time unless they can find another way of transporting the locomotive to durban the voyage home could be delayed for [Music] months [Music] it's tuesday in bloomfontaine and andrew is desperate to find the quickest way of taking this vintage loco to durban docks the transport police have banned it from the road so he's now pinning his hopes on the railway jump into the spawn at offices this is where all the planning is done for the train movements so we'll go and see what they've got to say andrew wants the rail network spurnet to provide him with a diesel engine to shunt the locomotive 650 kilometers time to see seoul approval for such a risky operation can take months but andrew has just a few hours to convince officials to allow the old loco on their tracks and he only has six days before the ship departs as long as we can make durban for monday that that really is the critical now we need to try and be in development promises but i really going to try my best yeah i'm sure i'm sure the fastest route to durban is along the freight track the only problem is that trains running on this line travel at 90 kilometers per hour if andrew were to run his loco at this speed the bearings would probably seize up leaving the hundred ton leviathan blocking the freight line the only alternative is to run the train on a minor rural route which is rarely used the team can travel more slowly but there are added risks this track is extremely remote if they break down they could be stranded for days even if andrew can secure a route the locomotive may not be in a fit state to ride it this engine has not moved on rails for over 20 years even though it won't be running under its own steam it will need a complete overhaul to survive this journey we can't rely on anything on the locomotive to play its part in a moving train now we're working frantically to make sure that absolutely everything is going to run smoothly the team must grease every moving part it takes over 60 liters of oil to lubricate the locomotive i need a lot of oil for this loco spornette's precondition is that andrew provides a steam driver to maintain the loco on its journey we've got a spornette driver coming down from johannesburg and he's going to go with the locomotive for us to all they need now is a cab strong enough to stop him falling through the floor the wooden floor is disintegrated a little bit i think we'll go and see if we can get some plywood because if we are going to be riding on here late at night we don't want to step down there it could be rather dangerous but andrew's mission to find a hardware store soon degenerates into fuss my colleague seems to be adamant there is one so ah i wonder if that's what he meant oops hang on um i'm actually looking for a builder's merchant or a timber yard do you know if there's one nearby no no okay thank you okay thank you all right no good there we'll have to try elsewhere back at the yard jim is wrestling with another problem the brakes don't work what we have is a very simple brake shoe which hangs loose on a on a pin there there is no braking power no motor power it's completely dead the locomotive's old brakes are worn out so they must be completely disabled they will use the diesel engine's brakes but it doesn't have enough braking power to stop 100 tons of locomotive in the hilly terrain ahead a runaway loco could end in disaster to prevent this empty wagons will be coupled to the rear of the train to add extra braking power each wheel on the wagon is fitted with a break one wagon is capable of supplying 13 tons of braking force the team must hook 10 wagons to the rear of the locomotive to provide enough braking power to bring the train safely to a halt jim's anxious to test the brakes they rely on vacuum pipes linking each wagon when air rushes into these pipes the brakes engage to stop the wheels the brake pipes on each wagon connect along the full length of the train to form one continuous vacuum channel the pipes on the locomotive are also part of the chain completing the vital link between the diesel engine and the wagons behind here the driver controls the vacuum along the channel to engage or release the brakes jim's worried that the pipes on the locomotive are rusted if there's a leak the vacuum could be lost causing the brakes to fail on all 10 wagons yard manager lucas uses an old steam engineer's trick to inspect all the pipes for holes if there's any leaks on the vacuum side the flame will get inside where the wherever the lake is like that there's a lake so there's something wrong with here now i had to fix it or else you don't have any break meanwhile andrew's finally found what he's been looking for what a beautiful smell two and a half inch that'll do a bundle of ass heck of that right there we are battling nicely aboard the skylark while the team repair the old cab floor andrew is summoned back to spornet's offices i've just had an urgent phone call to come quickly [Music] decide to risk taking the old loco on the rural route and even provide a diesel engine to tow it yep that's great thank you very much indeed thank you hello hello pete i can go but just as his team are ready to roll andrew hits another last minute hit well we got the result we wanted so now i've got to go and farm a driver and uh who's missed his flight from johannesburg i mean at the last minute how on earth could anything further go wrong so as long as we get him here i look a bit we're going at 6 45 in the morning there we are all in the love of steam [Music] it's friday morning after 60 years the locomotive is finally set to embark on an epic 10 000 kilometer journey back home to scotland driver pete has only just arrived from johannesburg i've got to be honest with you a few minutes ago it's quite emotional actually just stood over there watching everybody just going around and checking it's quite an emotional moment really i don't look emotional but i am [Music] there we are nice steady run now [Music] [Applause] [Music] when they loaded these locomotives onto the ship who could ever have guessed that one would come back it would have been beyond anybody's imagination that such a thing could have happened [Music] is the first few kilometers will be critical pete the driver fears that the wheels may overheat and become damaged first 25 cases there's a very dangerous thing to do it takes them over an hour to travel the first 25 kilometers but even at this slow pace the wheel bearings are heating up rapidly they're getting a little warm i'll get peter to check the side roads over here because they're much hotter than this side than they are on the other side one's just a bit too hot i think old grease may be clogging up some of the bearings over the years the locomotive has been in storage dust and dirt is fused with the grease forming a brittle mass with no lubrication the friction could generate enough heat to melt the inside of the bearings if that happens the wheel could seize causing severe damage to the locomotive constant lubrication is the only way of preventing a breakdown which could jeopardize the entire move they force new sticks of grease into every bearing as they melt they flush out any old solidified lubricant what we don't want is this loco any of this motion any of the rods and the axles getting hot with a chance of running a bearing basically because that'll just stop it all then they must make a pit stop every 25 kilometers along the 650 kilometer route to re-grease the bearings at this pace they will be lucky to make it you never know what's going to happen you know we maintain this speed nothing gets too hot nothing causes a problem although it's winter daytime temperatures on the savannah can reach 30 degrees centigrade this takes its toll on the locomotive suddenly jim hears something worrying i'm hearing a click a rhythmic click on the left hand side i haven't heard before jim stops the train so they can find out what's wrong i'm concerned there's an old fracture on this brake assembly just in there what worries me is if it catches and tears it part of the brake shoe is broken and is rubbing against the coupling rod if nothing is done it could cease they're too far away from the nearest town and with no tools or power jim is stuck they've been stranded here for over an hour jim devises a makeshift repair so they can keep going chances are that'll fall out [Music] everybody waves to a train anywhere in the world anybody always [Music] to make up for lost time the rail network insists that the train carries on through the night it's cold it's freezing outside they're traveling through mountains where temperatures can plummet below zero so having sweated all day they now face shivering all night well it's going to get very cold tonight and if we are going through the night we're going to need a bit of heat so we have a heater which we'll put in the tender here [Music] to make us some warmth tonight otherwise you will die in this place we might survive now there we are we might we might be able to keep piping firm europe bay i like in afaro good carry on let's write the match i hope it's good south african coal fabulous luxury i never thought i was going camping in south africa when i came on this job it's about 52 hours non-stop so goodness knows what state we're going to be in tomorrow night or sunday morning but there we are all in the name of steam [Music] this was two inches of frost and ice on here and the views this morning when the sun came up it was absolutely breathtaking it really was [Music] is after two days and two nights the team finally reaches durban now basically we had the night off and the ice cold beers wait that's all my bed beckons sexy for now they can retire to bed but they have little inkling of the nightmare that awaits tomorrow along the final 800 meters of track to the dockside [Music] it's monday morning in durban the 15 air locomotive has made it just in time to catch the ship that leaves today there's just one snag andrew's plan to shunt the locomotive the 800 meters to the keysight is falling apart before it's even begun we have a small technical problem the diesel locomotive is broken they're waiting for a fitter to come we asked him how long and he just sort of shrugged his shoulders and said sometime today and there's more bad news the ship is being diverted all i'm concerned about at the present is we get this thing on the boat what where it goes to afterwards as long as we get into the northern hemisphere we'll sort it from there but really we don't want to go to antwerp and we don't want to get a hamburg we're going to hamburg the only way to get the loco to glasgow is to unload it 500 kilometers away in emmingham where they have a big enough crane this was originally the ship's destination but now it's been diverted to hamburg in germany so the team will now have to unload the locomotive in germany and then charter a second ship to take it to britain but first they must get the loco to the ship a task that will test their patients to the limit after a two-hour wait the shunter finally arrives but the old dockside rails are worn and rarely used [Music] did you see the concrete at the gate no the blood concrete on the track with the gate you shouldn't be able to cut through it jim is concerned that the rails are so deeply buried the loco may career off the track it could derail because the rails are so clogged with darts at the front then with just a few hundred meters to go they're thwarted once more an abandoned truck is blocking the line it was arranged for today that we got as they knew we were coming back because we're going to lose if we lose this shunter we're in trouble there's a crane down on the end of the berth then there's a boat over there waiting for us with the ship due to sail in just four hours they must move this truck but its battery is dead the set of jump leads are only really fit for starting a car they would just melt it with a current that's needed to start this engine i don't have a lot of confidence because when they went to connect up the leads they were putting them in the wrong place so as far as i'm concerned i'm just hooked to crying the team are about to lose their shunter engine on another job they can hide their frustration no longer they do have the right gear they'll never start like we that end up losing this engine that's what really bothers me look at 16 people here another four or five we could just lift the truck out the road just when they are about to give up a boss from the port authority arrives [Music] so we need somebody to kick ass you're going to sort this out within a few minutes yeah i'll probably operations manager to come here as well and this should have never happened okay i'll leave it with you okay thank you very much thank you he's sorting it out the boss calls in the heavy artillery [Music] that's a serious fort lift that's what i call a fortnight hey get your car out of the road the track's clear so we can advance a little further only a little further well a long life that was for three years they've done that to start with we could have been in possession by now [Music] and the things that have happened it's absolutely incredible yeah that's what incredible the old adage of what kind good one will girl amazing really it's like it's like snakes and why doesn't that yeah yeah you seem to be getting somewhere and then you go then you go up again the locomotive finally makes it to the dark side the team's next challenge is to load it onto the ship [Music] the original plan was to lift it with the ship's crane because the shipping company insisted that their cranes were strong enough to lift the locomotive as it transpires they're not large enough and not be a long shot there's only one crane big enough to handle this load a giant floating crane it's not very often we get to lift locos like this it's a pleasure the crane will lift the locomotive off the keysight and then float it to the other side of the port where the ship the diamond land awaits it's a risky maneuver for a vintage steam engine well obviously we don't want to do any damage to the locomotive so we must make sure that the wires are well clear of the cab obviously at the front we're going to have to be very careful because the smoke deflectors are on the side of the locomotive so again we don't want any crushing we don't want to damage it at this stage to protect the locomotive when it's lifted they must build a rigid lifting cradle the lift will not be easy because the loco has no anchor points to attach the cradle and bolting it onto the locomotive's weak frame could cause irreparable damage the only option is to suspend the cradle from the underside of the locomotive but it's hard to find a secure position for the lifting bar there's only one level place under the rear of the locomotive that is suitable at the front they have to use makeshift slings it's critical to balance these lifting spots or the locomotive could slip out of the cradle when they try to slide the bar under the locomotive they run into more trouble unfortunately the ground is not flat so as we're trying to push the beam in it's too high at this end we just need to be about a two centimeters lower at this end then it would go straight under andrew calls for some hydraulic jacks to help raise the 100-ton machine off the rails but these look much too small i was hoping for a couple of fights on jacks but it's like wishful thinking to me do you think so the whole walker's been up now believe it or not we're jacking the whole locomotive so that small jack which seems a bit strange once the locomotive is raised off the ground they can attach the cradle it's now 12 o'clock the team has just two hours to load before departure the ship was notified to sail at two o'clock the floating crane tensions its cables and the lift begins all right come on left the two front driving wheels are off the rails they're still sitting down at the back end which isn't good the front lifts off but the heavier rear end refuses to bunch the ropes under the front obviously shorter so we're gonna have to have extra wires in so that we get it to level when it's being picked up we don't want it being lifted too much at one end or the other [Music] everything takes so long to down range each adjustment eats up valuable time they try again [Music] there's a fundamental problem with the rig the central loading beam is too long for the job this forces the cables outwards and puts pressure on the rear lifting board pulling it out of position it's so unstable the beam could dislodge with disastrous consequences to solve the problem the team must swap the long beam for two smaller ones the two beams will be aligned precisely to ensure the lift is absolutely level i think we're starting to work out the levels but unfortunately we're running out of time so that's my biggest concern the setback delays the ship's departure it's now 3 30 pm they are falling further behind schedule and the dock workers are due to go home in half an hour they finish at four o'clock we can't it's an email and now the wind's picking up giving andrew something else to worry about the locomotive would act like a giant sail if the wind was it was blowing against it really there and it would obviously start to swing under the crane which obviously with 100 tons of weight we want it nice and steady if they delay the lift any further the ship will leave without them they decide to brave the unpredictable winds come on let's get out there and get one [Music] it's taken 20 people six hours and three lift attempts to achieve a safe touchdown onto the deck of the floating crane now it's just a short trip across the harbour to reach the ship the diamond land [Music] there we are diamond land is waiting [Music] the captain was saying there's a five meter swells forecast for looking around the cave so need to be well tied down andrew's worried a storm could dislodge the loco in the hold some timber buttons along the floor and they've gone around putting some chocks in although they're just using six inch nails which in a heavy sea that won't stop much rough seas are forecast in the southern atlantic if the local breaks loose it could be badly damaged as it crashes around the hole to anchor it safely they must rest the locomotive on a wooden floor they've wedged the wheels tightly against the timbers and chain them down the team works into the night to batten down their precious cargo what we're looking for is secure points to hold it down uh the guys are marking points to lash it down onto these deck plays here [Music] sailing at eight [Music] first light the following morning the ship leaves south africa secured in the hold the old loco must now survive the fourth seven storm ahead [Music] so [Music] hey [Music] four weeks after leaving durban the diamond land arrives in hamburg germany here the locomotive will be offloaded into a smaller vessel that will shuttle it to great britain jim's anxious to find out whether it survived the journey when the ship left durbin the captain was quite concerned about the weather reports going around the cape i'd be quite relieved when we lift out the hold and we see that it's okay [Music] i've got to take this picture it's fabulous these chains it's like a work of art it's like knitting [Music] spawn [Applause] in hamburg everything goes smoothly jim and andrew can breathe a sigh of relief good job well done [Music] after surviving the north sea crossing they assume nothing else can go wrong but this is the train from bloomfontaine after a journey halfway around the globe the locomotive has finally reached britain quite a special day really because it's the first time the locomotive has been on a british soil for 60 years but it's a nice moment long last to be back in the uk with it but despite all the planning they face another hitch there's been a miscalculation the idea was to use the dock crane which can lift 100 tons but the the load with the lifting gear is 102 tons so it's just over its capacity although the locomotive weighs 96 tons it needs an extra six tons of rigging to secure it for the lift and that's two tons over the weight limit for these cranes they could call in a 200 ton crane but the arm of this crane is not long enough to reach the hole from the dock side [Music] the only alternative is to use a massive 1 000 ton crane its arm is easily long enough for the job we had to iron this a rather large lorry-mounted crane which comes in about six pieces on different lorries going on a special trailer that's been designed and fitted out to carry a locomotive [Music] the only problem with it is that it's got a set of railway lines built into it but except for the uk standard gauge which is wider than the south african gauge which is a three foot six the idea of using a road trailer fitted with rails is to lock the locomotive's wheels and prevent sideways movement on the journey because this trailer is designed to carry british locomotives it has standard gauge rails but this locomotive was made for south african railroads which has a narrower gauge to solve the problem they must build a new set of rails on top of the trailer they secure the wheels to the rails with chains to ensure the heavy load does not shift on its road journey to glasgow [Music] the trailer has a rise in the center so we need to place the driving wheels first and allow the back bogey to drop down onto the the set of rails of the bike aligning the wheels with the rails is a delicate maneuver [Music] they don't want to lose control when they're so close to a safe landing but the locomotive suddenly skids on the trailer the team reacts fast to pull it under control the show's not over yet it's another 300 miles to go after so many misadventures the team fear the worst as their loco heads north to glasgow on some of the country's busiest roads ben the driver worries the local may be too tall to clear the bridges the bridge arts on the motorway are 16 foot six 16 foot on the back end and 16 foot three on the front end that's good enough the locomotive only just squeezes through [Music] [Applause] [Music] after 60 years in africa the locomotive will spend its final days proudly on display in its birthplace [Music] glasgow [Music] oh okay okay ben ah hang on benders no no no gonna go back a little tight that's where we want to back on to over there yeah a bit of a surprise in the morning anybody walking across the square you know on the way to work or whatever suddenly see that this has appeared overnight [Music] well it's going to be a journey of a lifetime wasn't it i mean to do what we did it was incredible well done jim [Music] you

Channel: Spark

Views: 418,554

Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, Learning, How To, education, documentary, factual, mind blown, construction, building, full documentary, space documentary, bbc documentary, Science documentary, huge moves, monster moves, moving a building, building move, house move, renovation old house, moving big buildings, technology 2021, construction management, engineering design process, full documentary channel, science experiments, engineering documentary, national geographic

Id: ae8rOmh3RpU

Length: 46min 58sec (2818 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/leviwhite9]

I figured it would just be to leave in sitting in south africa for a bit.

[u/couplingrhino]

Featuring intimate gynaecological detail of the bits what makes her chooch and creak!