We were coming back from a day trip when we came upon a truck carrying a very heavy load of some type of oilfield equipment. Truck was escorted in from by 3 motorcycles and 2 escort vehicles and 2 escort vehicles in back. I counted over 40 tires on one side of the trailer and truck, so this was a very heavy load. All of this was on a 2 lane road and truck with load was constantly in lane that had traffic meeting him. Truck never got over 35-40 MPH and we were forced to follow at that speed. Some traffic we were meeting would pull over and stop, while others would move over and slow down, but keep going. We were forced to follow the truck for about 28-30 miles and it slowed us down considerably. This all occurred late Sunday afternoon. The motorcycles had red flashing lights which could be mistake for police vehicles, but the escort cars had yellow and white flashing lights. Was wondering what would have happened if we had attempted to pass/ Numerous times there was room to pass, but we all including me followed the lead in the car ahead of us. BY the time we arrived to our destination, I was fit to be tied. The truck and escort never once pulled over and allowed what ended up being 15 to 20 vehicles by. Was wondering what the proper protocol for this would be? Did not want to create a danger, but did not want to get home 30-40 minutes later than expected either. Roads were in West Texas, so there was not an abundance of traffic, but not an abundance of respect or consideration for normal traffic by the escort and truck hauling the load. From first motorcycle to last escort car behind was at least 1/2 miles and sometimes it stretched out for probably a mile. Numerous times there looked to be room to pass, but we all followed along behind like group of sheep heading to water, one behind the other. There were a couple of times the truck and escorts could have pulled over and let normal traffic by instead of stacking up behind them.

Was it coiled tubing? They look like this.


If it was, I understand. They’re dickheads. I mean, they do have a tough job, and it’s not easy moving that equipment from one location to another, but they are most definitely dickheads.

No sir, it looked more like some type of large generator. They even had another truck hooked behind the trailer to give it more axles to distribute the weight. But, you are are correct about what they were.

Had this happen to me with three trucks carrying wind turbine towers. Even though we were on a four lane highway, the escort vehicles had both lanes blocked off and they weren't allowing any vehicles to pass. And yes, there was more than enough room to do it safely. Drove 55 or so for about 20 miles until they finally pulled over just outside a small town.

Yup, large gas powered elec. generators. Seems like they are setting these up for small towns in Texas. Yes, they are huge but nothing compared to the normal power generator turbines.

It may have been a superload. I've had the misfortune of encountering a few on I-10 in Houston. There are news articles about them passing through different areas since they cause so much disruption. It is the only way to move certain things certain places though. Some of the cargoes are impressive to see if you look up pictures.

The motorcycles may have been Police.

They do this in Sunday to have the least impact on traffic.

The tractor connected to the back of the trailer was not for weight distribution. It was a pusher tractor. Once both drivers got going, they are going to keep going. That's probably why they did not pull over. Two tractors working as a team ain't an easy task to drive, I can imagine.

I’m not familiar with that. Drilling rigs use generators, but I’ve never seen a rig move like what you’ve described.

There's not a way to move an oversized or a super heavy oversized load without having a negative impact on other other traffic. It takes such effort to get one up to speed, pulling over to let cars pass isn't an option though. They have to pull a permit from the state to even do it.

Could there be a danger of pulling over to the side where it leans and topples?

It's happened to everyone, I guess. At times in the past, I've just pulled over for ten minutes or so, or stopped at the ...whatever store/etc. ...and got refreshments, etc.

This ol' crowded world just keeps growing people. We need to find out what's causing all that

If I end up behind one I just stop and get some fuel or some other productive thing and let it get down the road way ahead of me.

There's some interesting youtube videos on the process of moving loads like that. It's a youtube rabbit hole I've went down before.

In my former job, we shipped a lot of oversized loads to and from customers (mostly refinery work). There was a pretty tight schedule for getting the project from point A to point B. Oversized loads are limited to certain hours they can be on the road. If they run out of time within eyesight of their destination, tough tomatoes. They have to stop driving. I’ve had loads literally within blocks of the destination have to stop and resume the next day. You can imagine how refinery customers respond when I call them and advise their $2MM motor will not make it on schedule. I try to cut those guys some slack. I don’t think the majority of them take pleasure in making other motorists suffer, they just have to be in a certain place at a certain time. I’m sure some are jerks, but I’d say it’s a small minority.

There’s a big mfg around Gatesville that ships loads like this. Saw one with probably 120-140 total tires on all the truck pieces involved.

I know it was frustrating but they don’t do this very often. When that happens to me I try to realize that somehow, somewhere, equipment like that makes my life better and that extra 30-60 minutes was what I paid for that convenience.

They have the right to use the road as much as you do. Like others said...they probably did this on the Sunday to minimize traffic impact. Relax, don't get your stuff in a bunch, life is too short.

Don't get hung up on rail road tracks.

I encountered something similar. When we finally entered a roadway that had lanes sufficient for passing I was about to give the stink eye to the guy driving one of the trailing vehicles. He had the most bad as- pit bull sitting in the front seat right next to him. I gave him a friendly nod.

Show some grace. How dependent are you on products of the oilfield?

We got behind a load exactly like you’re talking about headed south between Freer and Hebbronville last Wednesday. Thankfully Hebbronville was our destination. He never got over 30, and had multiple truck and motorcycle escorts. Every 15-20 miles they would stop oncoming traffic and let backed up traffic get around. They hauled it through downtown Hebbronville. Looked like a huge box.

^^^

this

Being in the power plant industry I saw my share of heavy loads. Probably the 485,000 lb. Transformer was the heaviest I saw. It came to Dallas on a train. The off loaded it and made it 30 miles before they shut down for the night. It took them between 3 and 4 hours to get to Graham. Since we had a small hill on the road coming into the plant they stopped and hooked a truck to the front truck and there was already a truck hooked to the back of the articulated trailer. There were 148 tires between the trailer and the 2 original trucks.

Someone posted a 1million plus pound generator that was going to Calaveras Lake a few years back. John Deere got a photo op when a tractor helped pull it up a hill.