Western Railroad Discussion > Trains carring the Fuseladge of a 747 and C-5B Galexy

How many cars did it take to carry the Fuseladge of a 747 and a C-5B Galexy? Does any body have any pictures? Thank you for your information and time. Detector out

I don't believe the fuselages of these aircraft were built at sites different from the final assembly point. As far as possible RR transport is concerned, it is out of the question: both have exterior diameters in the order of 21 feet.

Ray

Im pretty sure that a C5, or a 747 fuselage would be a very awkward load. I cant imagine it being feasable having worked on both airframes. As for C-5's, I am about 90% sure that they were built and flown out of Lockeeds Marietta plant near Robins AFB, GA. I believe in the A models there was a different contractor for the engines, which was somewhere on the westcoast. The B-models how ever recieved a different engine, which all of the A-models recieved upgrades to due to payload limits....wing cracks contributed to that too though. Dont qoute me on any of it, since all I did was change a few GCU's and shoot a few wires now and again on the plane. One final note, the 737 fuselage is QUITE a bit smaller than the prementioned. After being around C5's and 747's for so long, 737's look like toys.
Raylewis
Former C-5 A, B, and C model Electrician(Environental too) at Travis AFB, CA

In the early '70's the front section of the 747 was built in Wichita and shipped via rail. The front section consisted of the nose, the cockpit and the upper deck for the 1st class passengers.

I worked for Northrop-Grumman in Hawthorne Calif. from 1989 to 1999. My last three years were in support of the 747 program. Northrop has been building 747 fuselage sections almost from the plane's beginning. That's more than 30 years, folks.

The fuselage sections are shipped To Boeing in the Seattle area in covered railcars which are stored on former SP tracks that run E/W along Northrop Avenue just south of the Hawthorne Airport.

It's a good thing that the railcars are completely enclosed because the surrounding area is grafitti monster territory. Although it's supposed to be a secure area, the residential neighborhoods provide fairly easy access to the cars, on which the "g-m's" have left their marks. I don't miss that area one bit!!

Len Kratz,
Prescott Valley, AZ

Detector,

The C-5 (A and B models), were built as has been stated in Marietta, Georgia.

Northrop, in Hawthorne, CA built the fuselage of the 747. However, I don't know if it is still built there. It was not shipped whole, but rather as built-up sections which were then assembled in Everett, WA. The 737 fuselage is shipped as a unit.

Special railcars were built to carry these sections. From the outside the cars looked like a huge metal cacoon. They were painted a maroon tpye color.

If I remember correctly the grade up to the Boeing plant in Everett is the steepest in commerical usage in the United States.

As former Boeing now Lockheed employee I used to enjoy seeing the railcars being brought up the grade and into the plant.

Pilotbarry

pilotbarry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Northrop, in Hawthorne, CA built the fuselage of
> the 747. However, I don't know if it is still
> built there.

Yes they are.

It was not shipped whole, but rather
> as built-up sections which were then assembled in
> Everett, WA. The 737 fuselage is shipped as a
> unit.

> If I remember correctly the grade up to the Boeing
> plant in Everett is the steepest in commerical
> usage in the United States.

yes again, 5.6%

One can see the skyboxes from the 105 freeway (EB).


TCS - if it ain't boeing, i ain't going.

As stated, the 747 fuselage sections (28 of them) are built in Hawthorne. The plant is still active, but undergoing major reduction in square footage. For more information, visit the Vought(.com) commercial products website.

I worked on the L-1011 in Palmdale in the early 70s. Fuselage 1/4 panels were fabricated in Burbank and rail shipped to Palmdale but as far as I can remember no complete fuselage sections. The fuselage was about 20 ft. in diameter. The wings were fabricated in Nashville TN and shipped to Palmdale by air and by rail. I was the QC representative for the unloading of the 1st pair of wings which arived at Palmdale by air in a super guppy. It was pretty exciting back then as the first 5 airframes were all "hand lay-out" on the fasteners before the tooling was developed for the production work.

I photo'ed LGAX 130 in late 1984 at the Milwaukee Road's Bensenville Yard. The information I have indicates this car was used to carry parts for the C5A/B Galaxy from a plant in Tennesee to Georgia for final assembly. Why it was in Bensenville, IL is somewhat of a mystery unless the car was enroute from the builder via the Milwaukee's Louisville, KY gateway.

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