Show ton haul crawls to A ton generating stator bound for forthe forthe the Deseret Generation and Transmission Transmission sion Cooperative Bonanza power plant moved through Rangely Colo Friday after a slow but successful ride over Douglas Pass the most difficult part of the trip officials watched anxiously Wednesday as the huge load moved at speeds of 2 to 4 mph up a winding canyon to Douglas Pass nearly feet high The load started Its journey from a railroad car in Mack Colo Tuesday moving about 15 miles the first day The stator sat on top of the pass Wednesday night after moving a little bit more tha than thana a third of the way to Rangely Rangely and Mack are about 70 miles apart The stator rode on a specially built trailer built of two huge steel beams I-beams and riding on regular size truck tires grouped in trucks of eight tires each The load Involved four tractors two pull pull- pullIng Ing and two pushing pushing pushing-as as It climbed the pass The tractors varied In horsepower from to Shipping manager Dennis Morrison at atthe atthe the Bonanza plant said he expected the load to arrive there Friday afternoon The plant Is about 40 miles south of Vernal He received reports that the stator moved through Rangely Friday morn morn- morning morning ing They were traveling 10 to 15 miles an hour yesterday Thursday he said Clarin Ashby and Cleave Hales from the company's Sandy utah office wat- wat watched watched ched the move up the canyon recording the event on videotape Going ov over a mountain pass was a first for the mover Almas International of California a firm that makes a special special- specialty specialty ty out of hauling heavy loads Some anxious moments occurred on one of the first of the hairpin turns dur- dur during during ing the climb One of the rear trucks started through a guardrail The crew worked for over an hour and a half to lift that side of the trailer In order to align the truck The load stopped two or three other times for just a few minutes on Its way to the top It took about five hours to travel the final four miles to the summit The stator a grey cylinder 40 to 50 feet long Is the stationary part of the first of two generating units planned for the Bonanza plant The first unit will generate megawatts The rotor which will turn Inside the stator has been delivered to the plant Representatives of Westinghouse the manufacturer and the Iron Workers Union joined the moving team Andy Day of Westinghouse said nitrogen gas has bathed the inside of the stator dur- dur durIng during Ing the trip to keep the Inner workings clean Oscar Lehmann of the Iron Workers Union from Grand Junction Colo said union members were part of the team because of the complicated rigging of the load to the trailer as well as the on- on and offloading off Moving it is the easy part he said Foreman Delbert Reed said the trac- trac tractors tractors tors pulling the load eat up six to eight gallons of gasoline per mile Oddly enough the tractors had to take on more fuel less than a quarter of a mile from the summit Reed said the tractors can maintain a constant speed easily because they have torque drive engines with automatic transmissions A small air compressor hung from the top lop of the rigging to operate all of the air brakes Each of the tires had pounds pressure They dont don't loose too much said Reed with the load distributed over wheels He said the load Including the trailer weighs about tons The move held up traffic in both directions on Colorado Route though in some spots travelers stopped to get pictures paid for widening of roads and of ridges The load Rayed on the pavement for the most part as it moved through turns in the canyon however The stator built buill in Pittsburg arrived in Mack over a month early But permit difficulties with the Bureau of Land Management on widening the roads delayed the move for a month Officials of Northwest Pipeline Inc Salt Lake Ci- Ci City City ty expressed concern about spots where its line crossed Colorado Route ac- ac according according cording to Hales |