the loco move

The Great Locomotive Move

This is probably the most challenging part of the overall project.

The estimated cost to have the locomotive & tender moved using cranes & trucks was $78,000.

We decided to do it ourselves. We're estimating the total cost at less than $10,000.

The resultant distance is a little over 150 ft. But to get there will take moves totaling 700 ft.

The locomotive location since 1954.

The final location at completion of project.

The 905 locomotive and tender have been nestled inside a six foot chain link fence with three strands of barbed wire since 1954. It is just south of the Tilt-a-Whirl that is inside the Kiwanis Kiddieland Park, and just west of the tunnel where the Kiwanis park train is stored.

Both the locomotive and tender are sitting on track and ties.

Water has risen waist deep in some years at this location.

The first move was to lay track beginning at the rear of the tender onto the street that runs through the park, down to the intersection with Oak Street which is the southern boundary of the park.

The second planned move was to move the locomotive north to a location just north and a little west of the concrete platform poured for the new 905 depot.

The third move was to back the locomotive and tender south alongside the platform.

The locomotive would be facing north. The front of the locomotive would start about half way down the length of the depot.

This positioning is dictated by a sewer line running at an angle down 15th street. We can place cement over the sewer line, but not the locomotive or the building.

The Real World: The Actual Moves

     Well, you can plan all you want. Generally, you're going to make concessions to obstacles you didn't anticipate or pay enough attention to. I know that when looking at the "Move # 1" sketch, it doesn't look like it, but when the first curve was started right behind the tender, the curve was way too sharp for the locomotive to negotiate.
     The only solution that stood a chance was to start the curve right behind the locomotive. This meant the tender would have to be moved out of the way. (It also means the tender will come out after the locomotive does, and will require a lot of track work to get it behind the locomotive again.)
     Here is how it's gone so far:

We tore down the fence, attached rail to the rail under the tender and ran it 70 ft. straight south.

Using the oilfield winch truck we tied onto the tender while it was still chained to the locomotive (the tender was uncoupled 8 months prior except for the chains).
We pulled both the tender and locomotive 3 ft. south. This was a test to make sure all the wheels, linkages and cylinders of the locomotive would move and rotate. They did and they did not make a single sound.
Then we unchained the tender and pulled it south to the end of it's track, approx 70 ft.

   The tender track was disconnected to the track under the locomotive at the first available joint.
   We dug out the ends of the ties coming from the loco. Using an 8K forklift/lifter we pulled the loco track into a curve, connected to it with other rail and ran our track across the dirt, a small drainage creek, onto the through-park road, and back to Oak Street.
   The last three track sections were accomplished with the use of trustee labor from the Stephens County Jail. They did a good job.

   December 18, 2010, the first move of the 905 since it was put in place in 1954. We did a little advertising. LaWayne Jones Drilling, provided the oil field winch truck, cable, and crew to do the towing.
   It was very slow. The first curve leaving the enclosure was still too tight, but we made it. Sometimes one driver or another was within 1/4 inch of falling off the track.
   After three hours we were in the final curve within 36 ft. of Oak Street, when we dropped a driver off the track.
   We cut the track between the Kiddieland RR track and the asphalt of 15th St. and slid it over in an attempt to relieve some of the stress of the tight curve.
   We didn't get the driver back on the track and called it a day, 30 ft. from the End of Track. Too many cooks, so to speak.
   It was still a monumental day for us. It was a good accomplishment for a bunch of old volunteers.

December 28, 2010, we came back with 3 volunteers, 3 trustees and a 10K forklift. The main track was disconnected, the curve straightened, and the tender track reconnected.
The forklift provided the pushing power to move the tender back north into the 1954 enclosure to the spot the locomotive had stood.

The tender track was disconnected. The track that the tender was now sitting on was pulled into a curve and hooked back up to the main track that the locomotive had used to go south on Dec. 18.
   Then we pulled and pushed with the forklift to move the tender south as far as we could. We stopped short of the cut we made in the track back on Dec. 18.

   We then put our attention to getting the locomotive back on track. We pulled it north using the forklift. By placing a 4x4 under the driver and using track plates we built a ramp to lift the driver as it rolled onto more in gauge track with a smaller radius of curvature.
   The other two drivers and the rear truck on the engineer's side came off one by one and had to be put back on one by one.
   The locomotive is now sitting a little further south, just on the north edge of the cut we had made earlier.

Maybe on Jan. 4 & 5th, with good weather, equipment availability and people we can get the tender behind the locomotive and both moved a little further north.

Once they are together, the original "Move # 1" will have been accomplished. After that we will be starting on "Move # 2".