Moving A Building W/Pictures!

[MossRoad]

I don't know if it was made at AM General or not. I'll try to find out if it is still down there and not raining(finally).

On a side note, I had a part time job driving vehicles from the AM General Chippewa plant to rail spurs all over Northern Indiana back in the mid 80's. I drove 5 tons, 2 and a half tons, hummers from the retrofit line and postal vans. Those 5 tons were a blast. They were all packed up for shipping, so we had to find our allotment, jump in the open cab, rip the plastic cover off the instrument panel and fire those bad boys up. Sometimes rainwater would belch from the short exhaust stack and soak the next guy downwind with wet deisel soot /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. We had to wait for the air pressure to build up, then slap the little lever to engage the front axles because they were always parked way out in the sand near the hummer test track. Then we'd go 6 wheeling because, for some reason, we'd always take the wrong turn and end up on that test track /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. It is pretty impressive to see what a huge truck like that can do off road. They came in many models; troop transport, dump truck, flat bed, wrecker, crane... to name a few. Great trucks. I saw one crush a Cadillac when the guy tried to make a wide right turn and the Cadillac tried to pass on the right(we had no mirrors because they were removed for shipping). The Cadillac went between the right front and rear tires, then the rear tires went up over the left front corner of the Cadillac. Made an awfull crunch! Cadillac man was very mad, but uninjured. Got a ticket for passing on the right. It was down along Olive street near all of the truck terminals.

 

[cj7]

I bet the windshield was plated like that to protect the operator of the winch.

My question is how did they deal with the overhead objects?

powerlines and such....


That looks like a very difficult job to move a building of that size. I agree that safety may have not been a hot issue for them. My crews are required to wear a hardhat when working on a light fixture in an office! Yes the kids and other bystanders are too close.

It is alarming to think what would have happend if the building wouls have collasped or something...

 

[DocHeb]

For a "Big-Time" moving project, check out the timeline photos of <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.nps.gov/caha/views.htm>moving the Cape Hatteras lighthouse</A> on the National Park Service web page. If the lighthouse toppled during the move I don't think hardhats would've helped.

 

[MossRoad]

Fortunately, downtown South Bend, Indiana has no overhead lines anywhere. Everything is underground(hence our famous exploding sidewalks, but that's another story). The night before the move, the crew went around and put steel plates over all manholes in the path. The morning of the move they had a crew that would loosen the overhanging stoplights and swing them out of the way when they got to an intersection. After the house passed, they would just swing them back. Same thing for street lights.

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, that was great engineering. I saw a TV show about it on Discovery or TLC.

 

[JayC]

Those are some incredible pics you have there! I wish I could've watched something like that!

 

[ScottAR]

Anyone ever drive the 10tonners or the newer Oshkosh trucks? I know the 10tonners were slow, powerful behemoths but I've never heard how the Oshkoshs performed.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: Moving A Building W/Pictures! All Done

Well, they finally finished it. The old building got a new lease on life. And it looks pretty good, too.

Attached is one last shot. All landscaped and ready for use.

 

[RobS]

Re: Moving A Building W/Pictures! All Done

Hey, no fair. We've been in our house longer than they have yet their landscaping is much further along /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Good picture Dave, thanks. I'll have to ride by there on my way to work in the morning. My son toured the building this summer as part of his architecture camp. It's great that they can save the old buildings /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[OkeeDon]

Re: Moving A Building W/Pictures! All Done

Is that actually curved glass in the turret windows, or is it an optical illusion?

Our city has been growing by leaps and bounds. Many of what are now 6 lane thoroughfares were once 2 lane residential streets. As more and more of it turns commercial, dozens of houses are moved. We do have overhead wires, so the move is accompanied by Florida Power & Light linemen who shut off the power, disconnect the wires ahead of the building, and connect them again behind it. All of the moves are done at night so traffic won't be disrupted as much. They usually start around midnight and go all night. They have floodlights mounted on the beams, shining back on the building, so they can see if any problems develop. It's quite a procession - police escorts with flashing lights, utility bucket trucks, moving company escorts, big tractor and truck rigs, and the house all lit up like Disney World, moving slowly down the street at 3 AM.

All that growth and movement, however, is why we're building in rural Okeechobee...