Large Scale Central

🚀 C’mon Guys! We’re Going to the Moon!

General Discussion
#1

Railways are taking us back to the Moon!

Back in the 1960’s, NASA quietly built and operated its own short-line railroad. It wasn’t something you saw on TV—but it was critical in moving fuel, boosters, and hardware behind the scenes.

Fast forward to today… and it’s happening again. For the Artemis program, massive rocket booster segments are now being hauled across America by rail.

Here are a couple of nice reads if you want to dig in:

  • Union Pacific moving Artemis rocket motors
  • The original NASA railroad system that made Apollo possible

And just to bring this back to proper forum territory… Has anyone modelled this yet? @manimal

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I’m excited.

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#2

To the moon

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#3

I remember reading about the demise of the NASA Railroad years ago. I suppose they left the rails in place and it will be switched by another railroad.

#4

An earlier (and truck-transported) batch, fwiw:

Vid of the current batch:

#5

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Before I ask if I can hang out with him for a day, I am going to ask a few more questions if I ever run into the guy who says, ”Yes. I am an engineer AND I work at NASA.”

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I’d feel pretty silly wearing an Amtrak cap in the Mission Control Room.

#6

Unfortunately, when the railroad closed down at the end of the Space Shuttle program, NASA sold off their three SW-1500’s. Now they move engines and booster sections across the Banana River with a Trackmobile!

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#7

Vic;

Interesting piece of trivia was that Jackie Gleason was afraid to fly on commercial airliners. Instead he traveled in his own private rail car.

Best, David Meashey

#8

We Have Lift-off!

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Inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) at Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane, originally used for lifting rocket boosters, lifts NASA locomotive No. 3 off its trucks to place it onto those from locomotive No. 2.

Heaps of Photos here!

#9

Cool. Thanks for bringing this up, Bill. I couldn’t get the link to work, but NASA has lots of pics.

Unfortunately, their locos don’t show up in recent years. The last loco they have a pic for (that I could find) is from the Iowa Northern, taken in 2016.

#10

Looks like loading gauges. Do they just hit the brakes if sparks fly?

#11

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