Eastern Railroad Discussion > Costs of moving a railcar....

Does anyone have either first hand knowledge or know the specifics of the costs associated with moving a passenger rail car via truck? If so, any referral to a competent rigging/moving outfit with such experience would be appreciated. I know there are specifics that would impact price, but there must be an "order of magnitude/mile" figure somewhere out there.
Thanks,
Rich S.

Try this company (their listed toll-free phone # is 1-800-624-0543). CRANEMASTERS is the company.

http://www.cranemasters.com/index2.htm

Hope this info is helpful in your inquiries! I'm about to (ONCE AGAIN) attempt to move a Lehigh Valley grain car from Wilson, NC to the Lansdale, PA museum, and will be inquiring with them about it soon. (That freight car is in original paint & marks, TLDX 2012).

Good luck with your passenger car. If they don't suit your needs, do what I did: go to Google.com and type in "Cranemasters." It should have a slew of entries!

>Hope this info is helpful in your inquiries! I'm about to (ONCE AGAIN) attempt
>to move a Lehigh Valley grain car from Wilson, NC to the Lansdale, PA museum,
>and will be inquiring with them about it soon. (That freight car is in original
>paint & marks, TLDX 2012).

Sounds like a nice car. Please tell me more about this museum in Lansdale, PA. I live about ten miles from Lansdale and haven't heard about a railroad related museum.

JimE
http://jrevans.fbody.com/trains.html

I've moved a number of cars in this manner. A large part of the cost involves getting the car from the RR track, onto the dolly wheels for the highway move, and back on the track again. Generally this has to be done using cranes, and cranes ain't cheap. As far as transportation costs, once the car is loaded, whether you're going 5 miles or 100 miles, the cost won't tend to go up much. However, if you're going a fairly long distance, the costs could go up quite a bit due to overtime, lodging for the crew, etc. If the trucking crew can make it "portal to portal" in an 8 or 10 hour day, you should be in fairly good shape. Also, requirements vary from state to state as far as needing pilot cars. I believe in NY state 2 pilot cars are required for this type of move, so the costs go up accordingly. No pilots are required for these moves in CA.

My moves have mostly been done in CA, and for a move anywhere from a few miles to, say, 200 miles, I budget around $7,500.00 to $10,000.00 dollars for the whole operation (crane plus trucking). Once in awhile I can come in under those figures. Crane costs can also vary quite a bit from one region of the country to another. I recommend using one crane if at all possible, but sometimes you are stuck with having to use 2, and the cost goes up accordingly. Also, keep in mind that the carbody almost always goes separate from the trucks (due to weight restrictions, usually), so there will be a separate flatbed truck required for carrying the trucks. The cost for that is included in my above figures.

Most metropolitain areas have several heavy haul oufits that have moved RR cars at one time or another. Just check the yellow pages and start calling around.

for the info. I'll keep the board posted as things develope.
Rich S.

Try this LINK to the Anthricite Railroads Historical Society in the Lansdale, PA area: http://arhs.railfan.net/ I hope this helps!

I can quote this for you if its in the Northeast
or MidAtlantic area.

What state are you moving it in ?????????
That's the huge issue by truck.
We move about 6 per year on a pup and
dolly. Have 2 coming up soon.

I'm in Carlisle PA

let me know what state and we can go
from there

nslurganline

I'm in NorthEast Ohio.
Rich S.
I can be emiled at <rich@autoexinc.com>

The Lehigh Valley grain car I've been trying to move (for a couple of years now, with NO financial success) is at the Cargill plant in Wilson, NC. It's on Norfolk Southern, and is 1 mile east of the diamond with CSX's A-Line and interchange track. It's on its own trucks, although over $4,400.00 were spent on repairing it by the Lansdale Historical Society before NS (and the FRA) decided it was too "questionable" to move on its own in a train.

I've made other contacts at a couple of other museums who were seriously interested, but I don't have the $$$ for trackspace to put it on, let alone a crane service and then off-loading it wherever it ends up going. I hope they don't scrap it--Cargill was scrapping a major part of their facility where it's been sitting, and it was part of that plan. But I asked them to keep it (IT'S IN THEIR WAY!), so I could get it to a museum.

I understand difficulty like this is part and parcel in moving any historical equipment (see the artaicle on how Chris Fussell put together a funding source to save Amtrak 231 -- in the February 2004 issue of TRAINS Magazine, pp. 22-23).

I had hoped to save coach C&O 2618 "City of Alderson" coach from scrapping after RBBB Circus retired it a few years ago (it was the car I lived aboard when I worked for the Blue Unit). And I got the C&O Historical Group seriously interested--until CSX told them that high insurance rate for excursions would apply to that as well. That group's cars are now rusting away badly in Clifton Forge, VA. What an incredible shame!

I've contacted Cranemasters about moving the LV grain car; no response as of yet. (Any financing avaliable? -- R.C.)