Skip to main content

Coal Car Positioner Rebuild

Barnhart was hired to lift and transport a 75' long coal car positioner weighing 86,000 lbs. from its track to a secondary work site for a rebuild and set it back in place after a one-week turnaround. Originally proposed as a jack & slide job, Barnhart engineered a new solution to lift the car with a Twin Lift rigging system.

One advantage of the Twin Lift is its 90 degrees of rear wheels, which offered flexibility in congested or tight spaces. On this project, there was less than 3' of space to position the Twin Lift.

The car's weight and length placed an even tighter working radius on the Twin Lift's range. The car had to be picked up to a height of five feet and moved six feet forward to reach the flat bed.

The car was set to Barnhart's flat bed for transport to the work site. The process was repeated one week later in reverse to set the car back onto the original track. Barnhart was able to reduce critical path time for the client by 12 hours by optimizing the Twin Lift's unrealized potential and working with the client on car weight reductions.