Saturday, December 15, 2012

Gate lift, part 5

Next-to-last series of photos from the gate lift.

To start, they're going to lay the gate down on some wooden blocks in the parking lot.


Here is where something went wrong, and the gate leaf started to get away from them.



This is called the toaster or the toaster rack. Normally, when gates are removed for quick repairs, they are placed upright in this framework. The gate in the framework resembles bread in a toaster, thus its nickname.


After the failure on the first set of wood blocks, the crane moved up a bit and began to set the leaf down on the blocks that had been prepared for the second leaf.





And this time all went well.




 And now there are only three more photos to go.


Gate lift, part 4

We're almost done with photos from the gate lift at the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam last week. There will be more tonight and the rest tomorrow morning.

This afternoon Adam and I plan to be at the Point Pleasant River Museum for the 45th anniversary observance of the Silver Bridge collapse. We're visiting family after that, and I don't know if we'll have anything to post from the event.

Anyway, on to the gate lift.








These guys were either welding something to the bottom of the gate leaf or cutting something off of it. I don't know which or why.




Again, more later.