Here are a few more shots from the lift on Friday. The crew of the 261 would like to thanks Vic's Crane Service for helping with lift with their 150 and 250 tons cranes. These guys are true professionals and this is their second time assisting with the 261's rebuild by lifting the locomotive.
The temperature didn't break out of the lower to mid-teens on Friday but that did not deter the crew from having the locomotive back on her "dancing shoes" and parked back in the shop by shortly after 100pm.
The drivers were properly spaced and then tied together with steel tubing which ran parallel the length of the drivers. Upright supports were welded to the steel tubing and bolted to the roller bearing boxes to hold them upright. The weight distribution on the boxes is such that they want to naturally turn 180 degrees so some means had to be devised to hold them upright as the locomotive was lowered onto them. A pivoting "drawbar" was attached to the framework so that a forklift could push the connected drivers under the locomotive so that no one would have to crawl under the locomotive while it was suspended by the cranes. A change to a longer drawbar part way through the positioning of the drivers was necessary due to space limitation within the shop building.
Once the lead truck was out of the way, the drivers were rolled into place, the lead truck was repositioned and the locomotive lowered onto the drivers. The most time consuming aspect of the installation was properly seating the saddles on the roller bearing boxes. Vic's crane operators' fine touch allowed minute moves while the saddles were worked into place.
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File comment: Drivers in shop awaiting 261 to be lifted. D33969PS Low level view of 261's drivers in shop at MSP Jct, MN 12-9-11.jpg [ 108.27 KiB | Viewed 4846 times ] |
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File comment: Framework holding drivers and boxes in position. D33932PS Framework holding roller bearing boxes upright Milw 261 shop 12-9-11.jpg [ 121.03 KiB | Viewed 4846 times ] |
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File comment: Drawbar detail ahead of No. 1 drivers. D33941PS Drawbar detail on Milw 261 drivers MSP Jct, MN, shop 12-9-11.jpg [ 245.61 KiB | Viewed 4846 times ] |