Overturned military transporter 300, 000 lbs

[mushspeed]

 

This is a job we did a few years ago......

We had a call from the Police control asking if we could send an incident manager to liaise with the emergency services  on the recovery of a Tank transporter  that had overturned and blocking the westbound side of the A31  and causing major traffic disruption in the surrounding areas

On arrival we met with the police, fire and rescue, highways officials and  army officers.   

What we had was a 4 axle Oshkosh tractor  hauling a 7 axle low loader trailer  carrying an armoured KRAV  recovery unit ......whilst negotiating the roundabout the suspension on the left hand side of the trailer had collapsed, throwing the whole lot over .....the weight of the KRAV with its combat armour on  was  67 tons  150,000 lbs  and was lying upside down  still attached to the trailer 

The army advised the police that they will organise their own recovery teams to recover the vehicle   .....when the police asked how long will it take  ?   The reply was it will take 2days !! To get the necessary teams and equipment on site .......this was totally unacceptable by the  police officers in command and we were asked how long will we take ? .I replied  we can have all the necessary recovery equipment on site within 2 hours.....at that stage we were advised by the highways dept there was a subway directly below the vehicle and ther could be a point bearing risk  for any heavy equipment directly above , we were also advised by the water authorities  that there was also a 24 inch high pressure water main  close by  feeding two major towns....           no pressure !!

We advised the police that we will need a full road closure for at least 10 hours   because of the risk of shock loading  we decided it was also necessary to get a  80 ton crane in from one of our account  customers ....just to be on the safe side   that will take 4 hours to get there.....the police and army agreed to that and we  got on with the job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first job was to release the KRAV  from the trailer ....the plan was to upright the unit and trailer first and get it all out of the way .......some of the hold down chains had snapped when it rolled but there were 2 chains  holding on and they were under extreme tension ...it was too dangerous to cut them  so we chocked the wheels of the trailer and rigged to winch  the trailer further over 

 

 

 

 

See the chain round the blade ....that had a lot of stored energy  on it ....if we tried to cut it it could have gone anywhere...

 

 

This Graham and me having a discussion with the police, army  high ways, fire and water co,  officials  working out a lifting and winching plan 

 

 

We put the 750 in the field adjoining and rigged to haul over  and then restrain on the upright  we put our Mercedes 6x4 alongside   ( just out of  picture )   giving plenty of deadweight for the final restraints     4 x  2 part lines 

 

 

 

 

A picture of the entrance to the subway which runs directly underneath  the  job 

 

 

 

 

After the chains were released, the next job was to square up the unit and trailer ready for the upright    the back end of the tractor was lifted over  and then rigged for the upright 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hauled the unit and trailer over using 4 x  2part lines  to haul over    and  4  x 2part lines  to restrain  plus we used the crane as a catcher on the front of the unit ....

 

 

 

 

It came down perfectly    a bit of overkill perhaps but we were taking  no chances !!

 

 

 

 

The army had showed up with transporters in readiness to take the  casualty  vehicles away    there  is a 3rd one,  just out of picture

 

 

Once the unit and trailer were out of the way ..... now we can concentrate on the  tracked  vehicle    ....fully upside down  there is a crane on the top of it and that was buried into the roadway 

As we did with the tractor trailer,   we rigged   4 x 2 part lines to haul   and 4  x  2 part lines to restrain    we used the crane as a  catcher for the last couple of feet just in case it kicked 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The job went  perfectly.....no dramas, no injuries, no breakages, the only thing we had, was a bent shackle pin ....we cleared the site at midnight   giving a total time on scene  start to finish  9 1/2 hrs         2 days  Huh !   Good job there is not a war on !

The road was closed for the rest of the night to repair the holes made by the KRAV ....

Police  happy,   Army happy,  Highways dept happy,  Water co happy,       me happy, we got paid by return..no quibbles !!.

 

[rreschran]

Thanks for sharing John. I really like the high-level of professionalism as depicted in the pictures of all parties involved. Best Regards.   R.

[brian991219]

Thank you, love the detail in the pictures. Very well executed example of what being a professional is all about.

[mushspeed]

Thanks for that  guys ...appreciate your kind  comments ...

 

Coordinating 8 winches ....all running at different speeds   was a challenge !    Hence the bent shackle...

 

Regards   John 

[mooresbp]

Hats off to you!!!

[EdsTowing]

A great one to have in your "Catalogue" John....Impressive job.