Weight Change Requires New Rail Car

Albacor Shipping has completed the transport of a transformer from the Port of Newark in New Jersey to Cranberry, Penn.

The transformer measured 42 feet long, 12 feet wide and nearly 16 feet high. The California-based company spent more than one year investigating the railroad clearance from Newark to the nearest rail siding in Mars, Penn., according to a statement from the Worldwide Project Consortium on behalf of Albacor.

Three weeks before the transformer was due to arrive at the port, Albacor was notified that the transformer’s weight had increased from 292.5 tons to 327.5 tons, which necessitated a higher capacity rail car. Albacor used a 20-axle car instead of the 12-axle previously specified.

The transformer arrived in Newark on Hanjin Monaco from Korea. It was offloaded by a floating barge crane and then lifted onto the rail car where it made its way to Cranberry.

Photo shows the 327.5-ton transformer securely loaded onto a 20-axle rail car. Courtesy of Worldwide Project Consortium.