Remote controlled "toy" trucks

[Tallpine]

Hey, guys - how'd you like to be the first on your block to steer one of these down the sidewalk, and through the neighbors flowers, and over a couple parked cars 

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/09/07/news/local/24-reactor.txt

The reactor, which spans 140 feet, was slowly moved from the rail line near the Public Auction Yards on a specialized truck. Barnhart Crane and Rigging of Memphis, Tenn., was hired to move the reactor through Billings and lift it into place. There were no local companies that could do such a specialized lift, Siroky said. A Billings company, Strongs Crane Service, which has worked in the refinery since it was built in the late 1940s, is assisting with the project.

[MillCreek]

Interesting that the reactor vessel was shipped by sea from Japan to the Great Lakes and then shipped by rail from Minnesota to Montana.  There must be some reason why it was not shipped by sea from Japan to the West Coast and then transported to Montana, which would obviously be a much shorter trip.  I wonder why it went the route it did.

[Tallpine]

Interesting that the reactor vessel was shipped by sea from Japan to the Great Lakes and then shipped by rail from Minnesota to Montana.  There must be some reason why it was not shipped by sea from Japan to the West Coast and then transported to Montana, which would obviously be a much shorter trip.  I wonder why it went the route it did.

Probably couldn't get it over or through the mountains by rail.

It wouldn't be so hard except that it is too wide, too tall, too long, and too heavy.  Other than that, no problem

[MillCreek]

The mountains may be a point.  But they have barged equally large loads up the Columbia from Portland to the Tri-Cities and then shipped them by truck or rail from there.  Some nuclear components for Hanford and decommissioned submarine hulls/reactors have gone this route.

[Regolith]

The mountains may be a point.  But they have barged equally large loads up the Columbia from Portland to the Tri-Cities and then shipped them by truck or rail from there.  Some nuclear components for Hanford and decommissioned submarine hulls/reactors have gone this route.

Yeah, but there are these little foothills in the intervening space between Montana and western Idaho called the Rocky Mountains.  Might be a bit difficult to get it through them. Hanford doesn't have that problem.

[Tallpine]

The mountains may be a point.  But they have barged equally large loads up the Columbia from Portland to the Tri-Cities and then shipped them by truck or rail from there.  Some nuclear components for Hanford and decommissioned submarine hulls/reactors have gone this route.

Yeah, but there are these little foothills in the intervening space between Montana and western Idaho called the Rocky Mountains.  Might be a bit difficult to get it through them. Hanford doesn't have that problem.

Yeah, Lewis and Clark seemed to have a bit of an issue with those hills, too

[Regolith]

The mountains may be a point.  But they have barged equally large loads up the Columbia from Portland to the Tri-Cities and then shipped them by truck or rail from there.  Some nuclear components for Hanford and decommissioned submarine hulls/reactors have gone this route.

Yeah, but there are these little foothills in the intervening space between Montana and western Idaho called the Rocky Mountains.  Might be a bit difficult to get it through them. Hanford doesn't have that problem.

Yeah, Lewis and Clark seemed to have a bit of an issue with those hills, too

Who'd of thought porting some long canoes up over those things would have been such an issue? 

[Tallpine]

IIRC, they traded their canoes for horses and still had a heck of a time getting through the mountains in Idaho 

Then some years later a guy (can't remember his name now - "oldtimers' disease")  discovered the northern route through Marias Pass.

[Regolith]

IIRC, they traded their canoes for horses and still had a heck of a time getting through the mountains in Idaho 

Then some years later a guy (can't remember his name now - "oldtimers' disease")  discovered the northern route through Marias Pass.

They tried getting the canoes up some mountain streams, but decided it wasn't worth the effort and buried them with whatever they couldn't carry.  After they got over the particular pass they were trying to get the canoes over, they got some horses.  IIRC, they got the horses not too far from the head of the snake river.

Been a while since I read the journals, though, and I was reading an abridged version. 

[Tallpine]

BTW, looking at those remote controlled self-powered trailers, I'm guessing that they are diesel-electric drive ... 

Too bad Lewis & Clark didn't have one of those to portage their canoes with