Dirty Job, Barnhart has to do it.

I was flipping the channels the other night and ran across a rerun of my favorite TV episode: Barnhart on Dirty Jobs. If you haven't seen it, stayed glued to the Discovery Channel until it comes back again, because its a classic. On the show Mike Rowe and his crew head out to Blue Canyon Wind Farm to work with Barnhart and the crew from Horizon Wind Energy. Mike does his usual bang up job, but the real star of the show is the Barnhart crew. Chuck Madgett is his usual unflappable self as he works as a perfect straight man to Rowes antics. Incredible views of the Oklahoma landscape and tales of rattlesnakes in the sky make for a great television.

To buy a copy of that season go to: http://store.discovery.com/detail.php?p=95345&v=discovery_shows_dirty-jobs

Doing The Locomotion

Every once in a while you get to do one of those jobs that makes a few heads turn and saves the customer a lot of money in the process. Check that. Bringing value and doing the "impossible" is something Barnhart does every day. However, in this case HOW we did this project for the City of Birmingham wasn't as unusual as WHAT we were moving.

Barnhart was asked to move this vintage Frisco steam locomotive from the old Fairgrounds to its new home at the historic Sloss Furnace. Seeing that engine ride on top of 12-axle PSTe Goldhofer and get unloaded to rail was quite a head turner for those lucky enough to see it, but for us it was just another day in the office (we had already done a similar job in Houston several years before). Still, our solution did save the city a good bit of money and some major traffic headaches.

Tight Challenge

At Barnhart we love a good challenge. Our Mobile branch was recently given an opportunity to prove just how good they were when they were asked to complete a project at a western refinery. On the surface the project seemed simple enough: lift and install 4 heat exchangers weighing around 43k each. However, you can see the difficulty of the lifts by the pictures. The refinery was a "new build", but was running behind a bit with the exchangers arriving four weeks late. So, the team had work smart, but fast. To install the exchangers into the tight confines of the plant the Barnhart Team from Mobile used the cantilever beam with the Tri-Block on a 275 ton crane to slide the pieces into place. In each case we had to use the auxiliary line for the Tri-Block and approximately 34k in counter weight. In the end, the guys from Mobile met the challenge and made it look easy. Way to go guys.

World Record Emergency Replacement

Hake Rigging in Philadelphia is a division of Barnhart NE, and has been doing great work in that area of the country for over 50 years. Recently they broke all historical speed records (or came pretty close) in completing a main power transformer replacement (MPT) at a nuclear power facility.

To get this work done the Hake team had to mobilize quickly. There wasn't going to be be time to lounge around on this one. In fact, we mobilized all heavy-transport, jacking and sliding equipment in approximately 48 hours! (And that includes bringing in components for the Goldholfer trailer from our facility in in Middletown, Connecticut.)

Even with the extremely tough winter weather conditions the Philadelphia team was able to to replace the MPT in just six days! I don't know if it is a world-record, but it ought to be.

Once again, it just goes to show you that cool tools, innovation and experience do make a difference. It's what I always tell folks: if you want a job done safely, you want it done right, and want it done quickly, you had better call Barnhart.

Barnhart Conveys Good Work

Here is an interesting job we recently completed. This was one of those jigsaw type projects that everything had to fit together perfectly or it wasn't going to work. We were asked to help install a truss/conveyor system that will be used to bring material from a harbor into a plant.

The puzzle was put together something like this:

• The conveyors truss was staged atop a 195’x35’ deck barge using (2) 6-line PST-e steer Goldhofer trailers as support. One trailer was placed in front of the truss and another at the rear.

• A secondary barge was placed perpendicular to the mooring dolphins that the truss rests between in its final position.

• The transport barge carrying the truss and Goldhofer trailers was then maneuvered from its staging position near the pier (see pics) to the north end of the harbor. This was a very delicate maneuver considering the north end of the truss had to be positioned directly between the mooring dolphins. Clearance between the dolphins was approximately 5” on one side, 1” on the other…very tight.

• The Goldhofer trailers then moved the truss further northward with the front trailer rolling off from the transport barge the secondary barge. 20’x8’x1” steel plate was used to bridge the gap for all roll-offs.

• Once the front Goldhofer was on the secondary barge, a Manitowoc 2250 (with Max-er) positioned on the bank grabbed the front end of the truss, freeing the frontGoldhofer.

• The truss continued to move northward with the front end supported by the crane and the rear end still on trailer. As the truss started "uphill" the rear Goldhofer hydraulics stroked to tilt the truss at the proper angle. Maximum tilt angle never exceeded 8 degrees.

• The rear Goldhofer then rolled-off from the transport barge to the secondary barge. The transport barge was then removed from the work vicinity.

• Our final step was to lower the rear end of the truss to the final working barge. This was done by tilting the conveyor as to lower the rear end, and by ballasting down the secondary barge. The permanent working barge was equipped with rails that supported the roller assembly of the truss. Once the end of the conveyor was on the rails we walked our trailer out from beneath the conveyor and were finished.

One Team

The Barnhart team serves a lot of different industries. In some markets, such as Wind and Nuclear Power, we do so much work that we have created specialized teams to work in those markets. However, that does not mean that any of our guys are above pitching in to make sure our customer's work gets done.

The Barnhart Wind Division guys just finished assisting our Lubbock Branch in their first CC 2600 lift at a refinery in Sunray TX. However, our Wind Team wasn't the only ones who pitched in to make this happen. Our Memphis Engineering Group jumped in to help "get 'er done" with the last minute lift plans. The two lifts consisted of 110,000 lbs compressor lift and 55,000 lbs module steel structure at a 89' radius with 98'of main boom and 98' of luffer. Both lifts were made in a live unit with close proximity of multiple acid lines.

In some companies "team work" might be just an over used catch phrase, but Barnhart proves every day that we are truly "One Team."