From Facebook "An unfortunate accident as they were trying to relocate CIL/MON SW1 #50" from the Indiana Transportation Museum. Apparently she struck an overpass on 29

This stuff pisses me off to no end. How does that even happen? Were they trying to move it at night without permits?

This is the "before" picture. I'm guessing that the cab off their other SW-1 was scrapped?
probably would be handy right about now...

I'm with you on that as the permit grants the route partly base on the load height. Either a midnight run or someone can't read a tape measure and didn't double check after loading.

I know the situation at the ITM has seemed to be dire and for some questionable, but this is just ridiculous. I’m no trucker, but I would think it takes a special kind of stupid to not know your load and route’s clearances.

Well the fact that the photo was taken in the dark tells me that this was a non permit move, unless Indiana gives oversized load permits that allow night time running.

In SOME jurisdictions (mainly busy cities), you might only be allowed to make such a move at night. But when I've seen these night-time moves they've had police escorts, numerous escort/pilot vehicles, and anal-retentive triple-checking.

Clearly that was not a miscalculation by mere inches, but by several feet. My family used to run a transportation company that specialized in heavy haul, and what you see here is
a lack of route knowledge by the driver, a failure of the lead and trailing escort vehicles (if they even had them), either a deviation from the route that had the prescribed permits (or this was a clandestine night move that never bothered to even get permits). Either way, someone is in a lot of hot water right now.

This is outrageous! Very sad that we have lost a fully operational SW-1, but not only that, but a incredibly rare Monon diesel. Hopefully it can be repaired, although it looks pretty bleak.

I hope there were no drivers in close proximity to the SW-1 when it hit the overpass, the last thing that would be needed is a person being harmed by someones ignorance.

Well, on the positive side of things the museum can now experiment with using a slug in their operations.

Thomas

My question is, who’s fault is this and who contributed to it happening? ITM for rushing a move? The trucking company for not checking clearances? Etc.

A big-time screw-up indeed!

But on the bright side, the owners of the locomotive ought to be able to secure a cab from a scrapper. It will be a pain, but at least it can be done. And the trucker should be paying for it!

No "professional" rushes a move like this. There's been quite enough time for any competent mover to do it right, both logistically and legally. Hell, a competent trucker could even pull this off with only a week's notice, given the proper info and experience with permit processing (the state/etc. would be the bureaucratic hold-up, not the mover).

Besides which, this was one of the privately-owned pieces for which the city granted stays for moving. If this happened to something moved that final night before the gates were locked, then you might have a point.

One of four things happened: The trucker was given completely wrong information as to the height of the load (and a competent trucker never trusts what was said to him and measures himself); the load was somehow taken on an unapproved route; there was somehow erroneous info as to the clearances (I've seen it, but usually there's a margin of at least 6-9" between what the signs say and what they really measure, just in case); or the trucking company was extraordinarily negligent or stupid.

EVERYTHING I've moved was done with advanced route planning. i.e went out with a story pole and measured EVERY overpass. There was one bridge that was unavoidable bringing in a caboose. prior measurements showed a foot of clearance. Didn't matter I rode the top of the caboose as we crept up on it. When I radioed the truck driver we were clear i was going down the ladder onto the rear deck.
To do that much damage they were just moving along and ASSUMED they had room.
As mentioned before I'm thinking no permits. I wonder who's insurance is paying for it?? Not just the locomotive but bridge inspection and repairs? I ask that thinking the answer is no one's is going to cover it.