Locomotive Move Requires Team Work from 2 Local Equipment Towing Companies

Serving Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, Benefiel Truck Repair & Towing is well-known in 3 states for coming up with the best solutions for equipment towing issues. They recently received a call from a customer who needed assistance with their 320,000 lbs locomotive vehicle that needed its traction motor replaced.

Once they arrived at the scene, the Benefiel team ran a full safety assessment of the job. Assessing the situation, the Benefiel crew realised that additional assistance was needed for this job. Knowing that teamwork was the best way to get the equipment towing job done quickly and efficiently, they reached out to the Santa Fe Tow Service out of Lenexa, KS for help.

Once the dream team got together, they pulled all of their resources and equipment together to expertly perform the lift and motor replacement. Make sure to check out our YouTube video about the lift here.

The two equipment towing companies scheduled a time to complete the job. The day before the equipment towing lift, the trucks and rigging that were to be used were all inspected for duty. The heavy towing included 2-75 ton Miller Rotators (1 from Benefiel and 1 from Santa Fe) and 1 Mobile Diesel Service Support Truck. The crew on the scene included 2 qualified operators, 1 qualified lift supervisor, and 3 qualified riggers.

Congrats to the amazing teams of Benefiel and Sante Fe Towing for getting this equipment towing job done right!

Details of Locomotive Move Requires Team Work from 2 Local Equipment Towing Companies

Benefiel Truck Repair & Towing received a call from a customer who needed equipment towing. They needed help to lift a locomotive vehicle that had a bad traction motor that needed to be replaced.

The equipment towing team arrived at the scene and assessed the situation. Realizing that additional assistance was needed, they reached out to another equipment towing company, the Santa Fe Tow Service out of Lenexa, KS. They were able to provide the additional lifting capacity needed to perform the lift, the rigging required for the heavy equipment hauling job, as well as other equipment that Benefiel did not have.

To begin the equipment towing job, the SD9 locomotive was placed on a private crossing with one truck on either side. Then the trucks were prepared and rigged. Each heavy duty truck was rigged onto two 4 part lines using appropriately sized shackles, links, and snatch blocks joined in the center to provide a single 8 point lay up on each side of the locomotive.

The locomotive was lifted and the wheelset was removed from the locomotive. It was then set on jack stands while the wheel set was lifted and the traction motor was removed. Once the old traction motor was removed from the tracks, the motor was placed on the tracks, the wheelset was lifted, and then placed on the new traction motor.

The equipment towing trucks then re-rigged to the locomotive, lifted it again, removed the jack stand, slid the wheelset into position, and lowered the locomotive back onto the wheelset. For this equipment towing job, the total weight of the locomotive was 320,000 lbs, the weight lifted was 180,000 lbs, and the weight of the wheelset was 56,000 lbs.