# Wind Turbine Blades Being Transported



## syscom3 (Oct 16, 2008)

The Great Western Rly serves a new Vestas Wind Turbine Blade plant in Windsor, CO. On Oct. 16, the GWR pulled the first solid train of 36 blades out of the plant and delivered it to the UP at Ft. Collins. The GWR shoved the train from Windsor to Ft. Collins using UP 4669 and UP 8602 and a BN caboose to protect the shove. The train is symbolled SFCMY (Ft. Collins, CO to Manly, IA.). These 3 photos show the train shoving into the east side of Ft. Collins on GWR trackage. Many thanks to JLH for the heads up on this move!!

Rich Kundert
Ft. Collins, CO


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## 109ROAMING (Oct 17, 2008)

Are they massive?or what!

I've seen some before which are insanely big


Nice pics


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## Screaming Eagle (Oct 17, 2008)




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## Matt308 (Oct 17, 2008)

When you see them spinning in the distance, they don't look very big. But that is engineering on a massive scale.


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## Matt308 (Oct 17, 2008)

Now imagine that scale prop in a runaway during high winds. That's some serious forces to contain.


_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBYJul2ykZs_


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 17, 2008)

That's about an hour north of me. There's also a storage area for the blades somewhere around Windsor.


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## ccheese (Oct 17, 2008)

Good Pic's, Sys. They want to put a wind farm 50 mi. off the Va. Beach
coast, but the people who cater to the tourists say it will hurt the industry.
Hell, 50 miles off they wouldn't even see it !! 

Charles


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## HoHun (Oct 17, 2008)

Hi Syscom,

Thanks for the pictures! We've got thousands of wind turbines here in Northern Germany, but I've never seen anything like that train! 

Here is a picture of turbine blades being transported down the Elbe river. I'm not sure how common barge transportation is for them, but I know that they are a common sight on the German autobahnen (at night - oversize trailers 

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## B-17engineer (Oct 17, 2008)

Wow nice pictures Sys


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## GrauGeist (Oct 17, 2008)

Good God, HoHun...how big are the wind generators that those blades belong to??


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## Soren (Oct 18, 2008)

You guys should see the blades they transport around in Denmark, now those are just insanely big, but so are the mills. Check these ones out right outside of Copenhagen:


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## syscom3 (Oct 18, 2008)

If they can put them offshore of Denmark, then they can put them off Nantucket!


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## GrauGeist (Oct 18, 2008)

Simply amazing!


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## Soren (Oct 18, 2008)

I actually live right next to a windmill park here in Denmark, the windmills here are really large, much larger than those you find in other countries.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 18, 2008)

We have them all over here in Bavaria as well. Normally they are lit up, but sometimes the lights go off for somereason and during night training missions we would have trouble seeing them. Pretty scary sometimes.


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## HoHun (Oct 18, 2008)

Hi Syscom,

Here is a shot of the feathering mechanism of some of the newer turbine blades. In the past, the turbines feathered the entire blade (like aircraft do), but it seems that the new and larger models are better off just feathering the tips. (Unlike aircraft, they have little to fear from the drag of the remaining unfeathered blade section ... they only have to stop the rotation.)

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)


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## mkloby (Oct 18, 2008)

These are just awesome. Great pics guys. I have always been disappointed with the lack of interest and pursuit in alternative forms of energy. Good thing is either candidate for US president will likely be active in promoting their use.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 18, 2008)

There is a "farm" of these right outside of my town. About 20 of them. I can not see them over the hills except when the blades are turning your can see the blades going by.


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## muller (Oct 18, 2008)

This one isn't far from my place. Rotors are 52m!


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## FLYBOYJ (Oct 18, 2008)

By Mojave Ca.


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## Wayne Little (Oct 18, 2008)

great pics Guys!


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## Torch (Oct 18, 2008)

I've seen 3 big farms, one up in Wyoming, one in se Colorado or maybe northern Oklahoma and just recently on the drive to and from Florida on I-70 around the Hays Kansas area if I remember correctly. Atleast seventy of them...


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## Soren (Oct 18, 2008)

Take a look at this one, the prop of a std. Danish windmill lying on the ground beside a car:


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## Soren (Oct 18, 2008)

This is a pretty good pic as-well:


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## Soren (Oct 18, 2008)

Some more from Denmark:


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 19, 2008)

Soren they are all about that big...


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## Screaming Eagle (Oct 19, 2008)

way cool!


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## Soren (Oct 19, 2008)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> Soren they are all about that big...



Nope, I've been to nearly all of Europe and in Denmark the average windmill is larger. The ones I posted pictures of aren't the largest, just the std. ones.

Some more of the std. sized ones, this is close to where I live:


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 19, 2008)

Soren said:


> Nope, I've been to nearly all of Europe and in Denmark the average windmill is larger. The ones I posted pictures of aren't the largest, just the std. ones.



Yes Soren they must be because of two reasons:

1. You said so.

2. They are from Denmark and you are from Denmark.

But lets see, you might want to rethink that. 

The standard windmill in Germany now is the E-112 (112m diameter) and has replaces the E-40 (40m diameter). Ofcourse the E-40 that were built in the 90s are still in use though.

The largest wind turbines in the world are the German _ Enercon E-126_ wind turbines. They are 198m (650ft) high, have a blade diameter of 126m (413ft).

_Germany is the world’s largest user of wind power with an installed capacity of 22,3 GW in 2007, ahead of USA which had an installed capacity of 16,8 GW. More than 19,460 wind turbines are located in the German federal area and the country has plans to build more wind turbines.

Wind power currently produces about six percent of Germany’s total electrical power and it is said that no other country has more technological know-how in this area. Wind power in Germany provides over 70,000 people with jobs and German wind energy systems are also exported. *The Fuhrländer Wind Turbine Laasow, built in 2006 near the village of Laasow, Brandenburg, is the tallest wind turbine in the world.*_

Before the E-126 the E-112 built by the same company in Germany was the worlds largest.

New Record: World’s Largest Wind Turbine (7+ Megawatts) >> MetaEfficient Reviews »» MetaEfficient Reviews


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## syscom3 (Oct 19, 2008)

126M? 

 

Thats almost getting to the point where the size makes it impractical!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 19, 2008)

syscom3 said:


> 126M?
> 
> 
> 
> Thats almost getting to the point where the size makes it impractical!



If you go to the Sinsheim museum, you can stand next to one of the blades. It is really impressive.


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