Where would Biglorryblog be without his beloved army of readers? And that includes Dean Whitmore, who's sent me these fantastic pictures of wonderful Kirow girder carriers. Anyway I'll let Dean tell you all about it as he's sent me an e-mail to go with them;" Hello Brian, As a keen reader of your blog I thought you and your readers may be interested in the three photos attached."
"They show a specialised heavy bridge girder transporter. The '900' on the front refers to its maximum payload of 900 tonnes. In this shot it's half loaded[!] with a 50m girder that weighs in at a mere 450 tonnes...." I like the 'mere' bit, nice touch---anyway Dean goes on to say:
"I took the picture in China where I am working on the construction of the new High Speed Railway network. As you will see in the third photograph the girders are used to build the lines' viaducts. I don't know anything else of the provenance of these Kirow machines---maybe other readers will be able to add more information if you decide to publish the pictures."
Well Dean, as you'd expect from Biglorryblog I've done a lot of extensive research (OK I admit it I just googled 'Kirow') but I've managed to find a bit about them so click through here to find out what I came up with--and a picture of a rather weird 'slag carrier'!
Well for a start Kirow looks to be a crane manufacturer first and foremost, not least mobile slewing cranes for railway operations as well as container terminals etc.
It's based in Leipzig in Germany and it appears to be part of a triumvirateof companies including Kirow, Kocks and KE Kranbau Eberswalde--- apparently these three companies have a range complimentary products which cover a broad range of markets. You can see more of their products by clicking on this link.
Meanwhile, here's a picture from their website of that slag carrier---and boy does it look weird...!And my thanks to Dean for starting the ball rolling on this topic---and if you've any more shots of interest Dean (including Chinese or European trucks working on the project) then we'd love to see them on BLB!
A impressive bit of gear, imagine taking it up to the workshop and asking them to do a wheel alignment.
Now in China, they are able to produce SPMTs and 900 tonnes Girder Carrier by themselves