What a grand spectacle,caught this morning going up the A34 out of Newcastle.
Any idea what they were moving?
Was it solid to be requiring all that effort? Interesting sight though.
Awesome !!! Loving ALE’s big UniPower stuff !!!
I would reckon thats a power station genny coil/motor under that tarp, around 300 ton ■■?
I noticed earlier in the week they were loading this at GEC in Stafford.
Yep I saw it twice.
First when I was having my test on Friday 
And then this morning, had to move my car for it as it was coming down our road. 
Were the two trucks at the back there to help push it along or were they just following?
Never seen anything on the road with more then one prime mover before
Down our road one was pulling and 2 were pushing.
I think on the back is for braking as much as pushing. Those Faun’s are big but that Unipower on the front is immense, passed it once on the M25 running solo. Mega.
Hiya…these armatures are made in Italy they come into runcorn (i think) or they did, then travel to stafford,
there they are put on test…after testing they go back to the docks and sail back to italy…
Please don’t complain its perhaps the last little bit of engineering we still have in the UK.
you have all seen the bridges across the roundabouts on the A34 nr newcastle the electic
company at stafford paid for the crossovers due to the weight on the bridges and parking
the journey is usuall along the A34 past Talk then to holmes chapel on the A50 they then turn
left at allostock(another night out) and travel to northwich. sometimes it goes to chester… other times i’ve
seen it on the A49 on the juction with the M56 Warrington.it may have gone through great budworth
then i’am lost as i’ve never seen it past that point where the A49 and the M56 meet
it may go back to where suttons yard was, then along through Dutton to preston brook then back on the old road
to runcorn docks… i do know its to heavy to go along the motorway because of the weight on the bridges .
I once had a cuppa with the drivers at the green van cafe nr the M56 juction where it parks up over night
John
I find it interesting that with all the developments in vehicle technology, the 20+ year old Scammell/UniPower is still the weapon of choice for these guys.
P547 HNT, based in ALE’s Stafford depot, came to ALE from Alstrom Power, when they took over their power plant works. They fettled the transfer box ratio’s to slow it down, in line with the Fauns it works with.
“The 4-axle MH-8875 model was equipped with the ■■■■■■■ QSK-19-750 with 750 hp at 2100 rpm. Both trucks received automatic 5-speed ZF gearbox with a two-speed transfer gearbox of the same producer. As a special equipment the trucks received hydraulic winches with a force of 25 tons. The cabins provide a space for the driver, his assistant and four members of the crew. 4-axle model has different tires Michelin XZL 24R21 and a top speed of 90 km / h.”
3300John:
you have all seen the bridges across the roundabouts on the A34 nr newcastle
Ah that’s solved a little mystery, I remember seeing the bridge over the A50 at Talke at wondering what that was all about. Cheers.
They do a similar thing here in Darlington on the roundabouts, for Cleveland Bridge.
The roundabouts have block paved roads running through the middles of them, so they can drive straight over the roundabouts.
As their name suggests, Cleveland Bridge/AMEC/Kaverner make bridge sections in their factory, some of the sections that get led out of there are stupidly long
Anybody interested in the heavy haulage should give these two fantastic threads a read 
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57242#p680301
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=65338#p807038
enjoy !
Remember taking one of them Faun’s down to Marseile on my low loader it was going to tunisia on a power station job.
Snudger:
Was it solid to be requiring all that effort? Interesting sight though.
There was a pic and a few lines in the local paper on Saturday.
The all up weight was 472 tonnes and was bound for Hong Kong.I suppose the transport must have weighed in at about 150 tonnes.
This was the biggest load to come this way for 10 years according to the police.
Unfortunately I did not hear about it earlier to catch it coming through Newcastle,my wife rang me to say it was travelling round the bypass in front of the old Sainsbury’s.
Then I thought that it would not be possible to get round the two roundabouts at the bottom of town so it must have gone on the opposite side of the Bear pit roundabout and along Barracks Road to Nelson Place,then along the ring road to the A34.
But I would really have liked to have seen it doing the 90 degree turn at the roundabout on the A34!
When I saw it at the Milehouse,the spare Faun was running in front.
When I went to work last night,one of our chaps had seen it tackle the roundabout by our place,(FedEx),and for some reason we believe they did not use the road through the centre of the roundabout but jacked the trailer up and went around it and lifted a load of turf up!
Never ever seen anything like that before. 
Cheers for the pic’s though, interesting. 
the old lad that used to drive that was from middlesbrough and a good mate of my dad,s
i think he,s retired now but i used to feel like king of the road the odd time i saw him going the other way and he gave me a flash and wave