Large Scale Central

Court House move

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Wow! Now that is unique. Here I thought Shannon was unique in moving a church, but they didn’t move it by rail.

Oh wow that’s cool

Evidently it wasn’t a very windy day…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Moving buildings was pretty common back in the day. There are stories of horse powered moves with the wives in the kitchen riding along keeping the food and refreshments flowing.

Now that redefines “tall & wide” and “oversize”…

Those men must of had a lot to talk about at the supper table.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Jeepers another “a prototype for/of everything” !

I wonder if the loaded gons and beyond that seem to be loaded flats (notice how far back the caboose is), were part of a ‘regular’ train or add-on to keep the main extra-large load from flipping things over.

doug c

Eric Schade said:

Moving buildings was pretty common back in the day. There are stories of horse powered moves with the wives in the kitchen riding along keeping the food and refreshments flowing.

Yea, OSHA would have kittens if someone tried that today.

When Shannon moved the church from the top of the hill down to its present location, it was done over a period of days. One Sunday service was held in the church partway between locations.

Doug Cannon said:

Jeepers another “a prototype for/of everything” !

I wonder if the loaded gons and beyond that seem to be loaded flats (notice how far back the caboose is), were part of a ‘regular’ train or add-on to keep the main extra-large load from flipping things over.

doug c

It could be that they are ballast cars, to provide extra braking for the cars with the house on them.

Quote: Nebraska Historical Society

"J. R. Phelan, the superintendent of the Wyoming division of the Burlington, proposed to move the building on the railroad. His proposition was submitted to General Manager [George W.] Holdrege and Mr. Phelan was authorized to go ahead. The following letter explains the results:

“ALLIANCE, Neb., July 1, 1899. C. H. Morrill, President, Lincoln Land Co.-Dear Sir: Referring to your message of June 30th asking for information concerning the moving of the court house-The building was safely hauled from Hemingford to Alliance and is now on the way from the track to its permanent location. As you know the building is fifty feet long by forty wide[,] two full stories in height with a heavy truss roof and constructed with a heavy hard pine frame. As there were two cuts to pass through the building was raised on timbers high enough to clear the banks and when ready to start it was fifty feet from the railroad track to the top of the deck on the building. The weight of the building was estimated at 100 tons. . . . Six hours after leaving Hemingford the building was clear of the track in Alliance. . . . Yours truly, J. H. Phelan, Superintendent.”

Harrumph, that’s nuttin’’. In 1865, the territorial capital of Idaho was stolen in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, and moved to Boise, Id. Click.

That load seems to be cross-braced with ropes (cables?) to the car in front, so one would assume that was the case in back. Is it my imagination or is there a wheeled brace running in the ditch next to the track (perhaps on both sides, for-and-aft of the load)? I know that loco is proceeding at the slowest speed it can be set at and still keep up movement. And there would have been many eyes on the load looking out for even the slightest shift!

One nice thing about the Victorian-era houses, is that they were made with “balloon construction”, which meant they had very sturdy surrounding frame that was held together by the sheathing, which didn’t rely on being in place on a foundation; so it could be moved. Not like modern homes that would pretty much fall apart if they were pulled off the foundation/slab. Homes made up until the 50s in the US could be moved pretty easily because they were (for the most part) made with a crawl space or basement, so that braces and wheels could be places fairly easily. Today’s homes are a b**ch to move, if you can do it at all …

Sears once sold pre-fab houses in their catalog that could be built by the homeowner and taken apart and re-assembled, if needed.

So, my thoughts of moving Wall Station on a flat car to the indoor division for the winter aren’t too far fetched after all (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

This reminds me of a certain MIK 2015 challenge build

And Steve,

they didn’t steal the whole building. But it is a very interesting story and the fact that it wasn’t returned is even more interesting.

David Maynard said:

Eric Schade said:

Moving buildings was pretty common back in the day. There are stories of horse powered moves with the wives in the kitchen riding along keeping the food and refreshments flowing.

Yea, OSHA would have kittens if someone tried that today.

When Shannon moved the church from the top of the hill down to its present location, it was done over a period of days. One Sunday service was held in the church partway between locations.

The moving of the Northern Pacific Depot in Wallace Idaho took an act of State Congress, well sort of, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

There’s a story that goes around here about a rich eccentric who lived outside of the town of Oxford. For some unknown reason (falling out with the neighbors) he wanted to move his house closer to town. He built a rail road, jacked the house up, ran the track under it, sat the house back down on it and moved the house. Family actually lived in it the whole time it was being moved. Got it to where he wanted it and it still sits there today. It’s part of a retirement community now. The story goes on to say that when the gas company refused to run the gas line out to his new location, he bought the gas company.

http://www.chestercounty.com/2014/05/14/41377/the-history-of-the-mansion