Eric Norman, account manager with the Auto Truck Group, stands beside a massive railway service truck on display at the company’s 2019 Work Truck booth
Measuring about 50 feet from bumper to bumper, a railway service truck on display at the Auto Truck Group stand, created an eye-catching sight at the 2019 Work Truck Show.
Headquartered in Bartlett, Illinois, the Auto Truck Group built the rig specifically for a major railway, account manager Eric Norman said as he pointed out the many features of the truck.
“They have an actual set of specifications written around this truck,” Norman said, asking that the name of the railway not be revealed.
Among the accessories on the truck are a Palfinger PK12000 knuckleboom crane used primarily for lifting wheel sets of locomotives and railroad cars into and out of the truck bed.
“They aren’t any in the truck right now but normally there will be three to four wheel sets in the back of the vehicle,” Norman said.
Maximizing frame space
The knuckleboom was chosen instead of a stick-boom crane because it is lighter with a small footprint. “It just allows us to maximize the frame space we have for all the other componentry that you can see that’s on the body,” Norman said.
Those other components include several hose reels — for cutting torches, welding leads, and air for air-powered tools — as well as a Miller Blue Star welder.
“And then obviously it’s running DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) like everything on diesel,” Norman said.
The truck also has a fire-suppression system that includes a water tank. “This is a big safety factor with the railroads in the last few years,” Norman said. “They use this primarily if they’re going to do any kind of torch work, or cutting work. Basically anything that can create a spark, they need to wet the work-zone area first.”
Much of the equipment is driven by a power-takeoff. That includes the hydraulics to operate the crane and the outriggers but also for the high-rail gear.
“Most of the action is done at the rear of the vehicle,” Norman said. “They work off the rear of this vehicle a lot.”
And, like any good service truck, the rig has plenty of compartments for storing equipment. There’s even a compartment in the front bumper for outrigger pads.
“It’s all about storage,” Norman said. “If there’s a derailment or serious issue, a crew like this could be on the work site for 10 days straight.”
Other special compartments store the various sizes of hydraulic jacks needed to raise equipment the crews are working on.
“So depending on what size car they’re working on, if they need that extra space, that extra lift, they’ve got a taller set of jacks or a shorter set of jacks if that’s what the situation requires,” Norman said.
Showcasing talent
The rig on display at the Work Truck Show is on a Freightliner chassis. However, other versions are mounted on Kenworths. In any case, they’re all big class 8 chassis.
“What we do is we scale this when it’s done,” Norman said. “So we can tell them what their capacities are and then what their empty weight is when they get it, and what their payload is on the front and rear axle.”
Auto Truck has replaced about 10 to 12 of these big rigs in the last year, he said.
“They replace these on a pretty regular basis,” Norman said. “Their fleet is probably 850 vehicles. That’s everything from a marketing pickup all the way to a truck like this.”
Auto Truck made the big rig a focal point of its Work Truck Show booth not only to show off the truck itself but to showcase the talent of its designers and technicians. All the work on the rig — including painting and fabricating — happened at the company’s facility in Bartlett, about 35 miles due west of Chicago.
“We have engineers on staff that designed this body,” Norman said. “We have talented technicians that assemble this and test it. Then we have guys like me that go out when they deliver it and make sure that everything’s running OK. And if they have any questions, I’m the guy they come to. So we’re really proud of the work our group does and the work we continue to achieve.”
— Keith Norbury