M Kerkvliet
08-16-2007, 02:18 AM
Last Sunday, a long planned project took a giant step towards completion! The Case flat car was moved to it's new home on the west edge of the grounds. I am not sure how long ago this project was originally planned, or who was originally involved, but I think the late Richard Rorvig may have been one of the key players. The building has been standing for a few years now. The big hold up was how to get it there. There was some talk about laying track all the way out there, and some other talk about just waiting until the ground was frozen in the winter and just pulling it... and then came George!
Gary Muhl worked most of the day Saturday to get the car to a spot where it could be pulled onto a road. He had to lay some temporary track from the turntable to the road west of the round house. By Saturday evening the Case flat was on that piece of track, ready for the move.
George Voigt, owner of Jim's Towing, and his son Vince to come out to the show grounds on Sunday with 3 of their big wreckers to facilitate the move. After some careful planing by Gary, George, and Vince, they were on the move!
The following pictures were taken by Bonnie Muhl.
First, After the first couple of hundred yards, the big Jim's Towing wrecker (Vince at the wheel?) gets ready to negotiate the first turn. This is near the expo crossing.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/caseflat1.jpg
This is George in another wrecker "supervising" the operation. He has is navigator, Jack Griffis with him... Jack is Jim and Lynette's Grandson.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/Caseflat2.jpg
More temporary track was laid... a "ramp" to get the car up to the level of the track in the exhibit building. It looks like a winch cable from one of the wreckers was hooked to the car to pull it gently up the ramp, onto the track in the building... it's new home!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/caseflat3.jpg
Finally, the car is in place! Gary told me that the move barley took an hour, and that the wheels on the car didn't sink into the ground at all! It was very similar to moving a semi trailer, but a lot bigger, and a whole lot heavier!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/Caseflat4.jpg
What a nice exhibit! Lighting will be added to the inside of the building, so it will really look nice at night too!
Special thanks to George and Vince from Jim's Towing for coming to the aid of this project. Jim's Towing is always ready to help us out, and has been involved in many WMSTR projects.
Also, my personal thanks to Bonnie Muhl for getting me the pictures. Great job Bonnie!
Gary Muhl worked most of the day Saturday to get the car to a spot where it could be pulled onto a road. He had to lay some temporary track from the turntable to the road west of the round house. By Saturday evening the Case flat was on that piece of track, ready for the move.
George Voigt, owner of Jim's Towing, and his son Vince to come out to the show grounds on Sunday with 3 of their big wreckers to facilitate the move. After some careful planing by Gary, George, and Vince, they were on the move!
The following pictures were taken by Bonnie Muhl.
First, After the first couple of hundred yards, the big Jim's Towing wrecker (Vince at the wheel?) gets ready to negotiate the first turn. This is near the expo crossing.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/caseflat1.jpg
This is George in another wrecker "supervising" the operation. He has is navigator, Jack Griffis with him... Jack is Jim and Lynette's Grandson.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/Caseflat2.jpg
More temporary track was laid... a "ramp" to get the car up to the level of the track in the exhibit building. It looks like a winch cable from one of the wreckers was hooked to the car to pull it gently up the ramp, onto the track in the building... it's new home!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/caseflat3.jpg
Finally, the car is in place! Gary told me that the move barley took an hour, and that the wheels on the car didn't sink into the ground at all! It was very similar to moving a semi trailer, but a lot bigger, and a whole lot heavier!
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s317/mbkerk/Caseflat4.jpg
What a nice exhibit! Lighting will be added to the inside of the building, so it will really look nice at night too!
Special thanks to George and Vince from Jim's Towing for coming to the aid of this project. Jim's Towing is always ready to help us out, and has been involved in many WMSTR projects.
Also, my personal thanks to Bonnie Muhl for getting me the pictures. Great job Bonnie!