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Impossibly large structures... Teams with a mission to move them! This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of building movers from the UK, America and Canada.
2008
In a special edition, we mark the 40th Anniversary of the greatest structural move ever undertaken. We reveal how twenty of Egypt’s finest ancient temples were relocated from the rising waters of the River Nile in the 1960s. We recount how engineers cut up the twin temples of Abu Simbel into over 1,000 blocks to dismantle, move and re-assemble them piece by piece to safety on higher ground. We show how divers dismantled monuments flooded underwater on the Island of Philae and recount how the 900-ton temple of Amada was moved two miles on rail tracks across the desert. To illustrate the techniques used to relocate the temples, a modern day team of movers led by America’s leading structural movers Jerry and Gabe Matyiko attempt to cut, lift and re-assemble a replica sandstone statue of Ramesses.
On Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, we follow Jerry Matyiko and Joe Jakubik attempt to move Sankaty Head Lighthouse away from the crumbling cliff edge. The historic landmark weighs over 500-tons and is over 90ft tall. Can the team keep it upright as it moves along a unique rail track inland? In Malmberg, Sweden we follow 25-year old house mover Andreas Martensson relocate the homes in a mining town. With the mine underneath the town collapsing, Andreas is locked in a race against time to move the buildings to safety before the arctic winter strikes.
Britain’s leading heavy hauler Andrew Goodman embarks on an epic one hundred day journey on road, rail and ocean to move a vintage 15F steam locomotive 7,000 miles from Bloemfontein in South Africa back to Glasgow, Scotland where it was originally built sixty years ago. The team face a tough set of obstacles hauling the 100-ton loco home. From dockside cranes that prove incapable of lifting the engine to severe ocean storms around South Africa’s treacherous coast. Can Andrew’s team haul it to Glasgow in time for homecoming celebrations?
In Manitoba, we follow Canada’s leading heavy hauler Harold Minty relocate a colossal clubhouse 30 miles over a mountain encrusted in snow and ice. The building must be cut into three pieces for the move. Will it survive the rough road journey without warping out of shape? In Staunton, Virginia we follow house trucker Jimmy Matyiko use every mode of transport possible to move the historic Frontier Village across the countryside. A farmhouse, two barns and a well embark on the journey. But will one of the fragile outbuildings survive being hauled by... horses?
In Iowa, mansion mover Jeremy Patterson attempts to shift the huge 1,000-ton Murillo Hall through the middle of a bustling city. Its brick walls are four-layers thick and extremely fragile. Will the building – and the city’s sewers – survive the move without falling apart? In Vancouver Canada, we follow a team of vintage aircraft enthusiasts attempt to cut up and dismantle a precious Lockheed Lodestar plane to move forty miles across the trans Canada highway. Can the team complete the move before rush hour traffic clogs the road?
In Texas, we follow a building collector piece together a historic ‘time that town forgot’. His dream is to move a historic 300-ton stone Ranch to his village, called Star Hill, for his mother to live in. Can a move team beat cactuses and rattle snakes to deliver this ultimate gift-wrapped present? In Seattle, newly-weds Tawny and Ian Wilson buy and attempt to move a historic house into the city. Their two-storey dream home is particularly tall. Can Canadian mover Jeremy Nickel move it across land, sea and an active airport and deliver it to their garden intact?
2005
In Charlottesville, Virginia, Jerry Matyiko and Joe Jakubik attempt to relocate the ornate, three-storey Varsity Hall to a new plot (above left). Built in 1857, the 500 tonne masonry monster throws up a host of engineering headaches…the walls are weak, the windows are rotting, and an entire wing of the Hall is loose. Will it survive a nail-biting journey downhill intact? On Vancouver Island , Canada , Darren and Tanya Daigle along with their four kids and dog visit a housing lot in search of a brand new home. After much deliberation, they buy a stunning nine-bedroom, three storey Victorian mansion (above right). It’s down to heavy hauling brothers Jeremy and Al lan Nickel to deliver the house to their farm. Crammed with precious features, will the Daigle’s dream home survive a 130 mile journey by land and ocean?
2011
A team of maritime engineers battle to move and sink a huge US Navy ship in the Cayman Islands to create an artificial dive reef. The team must battle winter storms and huge swells to tow the USS Kittiwake 1,600 miles from Virginia to the Caribbean. They must strip out all hazardous material from the old vessel, power clean her in a dry dock and cut holes in her hull to enable her to sink in a controlled flooding. Sink Master John MacKenzie must devise a foolproof way to ensure that the Kittiwake remains perfectly level and upright as he attempts to sink her onto a tiny site on the ocean floor surrounded by fragile coral on one side and a 1,000ft abyss on the other.
2010
In St Louis, Missouri we follow John Matyiko of Expert House Movers, relocate an Entire Farm Complex of Historic Structures - including a 500 tonne Stone Farmhouse - for Rose Heet’s family who are being forced off their land to make way for a shopping complex. Can the team move and save the whole farmstead before the developers move in? In New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, we follow father and son move team Phil and Jason Leil slice and dice a huge period home into four pieces to move twenty miles across town for the owner who wants to eliminate her daily commute and live closer to her workplace. Can they dismantle, move and re-assemble the whole structure before bad weather strikes?
At London’s Heathrow Airport, an international team of engineers led by Nick Featherstone have to move a brand new, 1000 tonne glass and steel Air Traffic Control Tower across one of the world’s busiest runways. While in Manitoba, Canada, fearless building mover Harold Minty has to relocate five, 140 foot tall grain towers 20 miles, over a mountain frozen with ice to a new farm (above right). It’s an epic struggle to keep the towers upright as a viscous snow storm strikes.
In Omaha Nebraska , fearless mover Dave Scribnerand his son Bill attempt to make moving history, hauling two of America ’s longest locomotives through downtown city streets. It’s an action packed trek as the 100ft long diesel train - The Centennial (above left) - and the 500 tonne steam train – The Big Boy - are heaved and squeezed out of the rail yard and across town to a new hill top home. Meanwhile, 1000 miles down the tracks in Deming New Mexico another father and son move team tackle a historic railroad station (above right). The building is up for demolition so Rick and Ricky Little need to move it to a safe haven. But the old station is a 120ft long rickety relic. So they make the unusual decision to saw the building in half and move it as two loads. The big question is….will it fit back together again?
A team of aviation engineers attempt to move a historic Spitfire fighter aircraft over 6,000km from Duxford in England to Easton, Maryland USA for a private collector. The vintage aircraft can’t carry enough fuel for the team to fly it to the US. Too large to be trucked or shipped intact, this episode follows the team attempt to dismantle it for its epic trek by trucks and ship. This operation is a huge challenge, as the aircraft must be flight worthy after it has been reassembled. To squeeze the Spitfire inside a shipping container, the team must disconnect the fuselage, wings, nose and tail. They must build a support cradle for each component so they fit, snug, together like a jigsaw puzzle inside the container, and don’t bump or knock around. The journey is fraught with problems. Following a painstaking reconstruction process in Easton, will this classic aircraft survive the journey to fly again?
An intrepid team race to rescue two rare Churchill steam Locomotives, hauling them 850 miles across Turkey before shipping them back to the UK. Saved from the scrapmans blowtorch, these ancient engines were originally sent to Turkey by Winston Churchill. The locomotives are no longer able to run under their own steam, and too heavy to truck across Turkey’s mountainous roads. So the British team of steam enthusiasts have to hitch their way across Turkey on a series of freight trains. Navigating the single-track lines proves challenging and there’s the constant risk that these massive but fragile beasts could disintegrate beneath their feet. Will the team reach the docks in Turkey in time to load the lumbering locomotives onto the cargo ship for their sea journey back to Britain?
Two teams of movers race against the clock to relocate a submarine attack aircraft from Canada to America inside the world’s biggest cargo plane, and a huge snowplough locomotive up a mountain. British Pilot Harry Odone returns to Goose Bay airbase, Canada to rescue a Fairey Gannet Submarine Attack he had to abandon here five years ago when its engines failed. Harry needs to transport the vintage British Royal Navy plane 2,500km on a jumbo journey to New Richmond Airport, Wisconsin where it will be restored to working condition. This edition follows the team race against time to lift and load the aircraft into the world’s largest operating cargo aircraft on earth, the Antonov-124, to fly it to America. In Oregon, we also follow leading heavy hauler Chris Arsenault attempt to transport a 70-year old snowplough locomotive up ‘Train Mountain’ to a hillside throne.Moving the 120-ton historic hulk up the super-steep terrain and along narrow roads is a huge challenge. Will both mammoth machines survive the perilous journeys to their new homes?
A team of movers must transport a fleet of bespoke racing yachts worth £8million 6,500km from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to France. The huge yachts race across the rough Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean, in one of the most extreme sailing challenges in the world, the Route Du Rhum. Having crossed the finish line in one piece, some skippers decide it’s too risky to sail their yachts back. So they recruit a team of marine engineers to transport the fleet back to France. It’s a huge challenge. The move crew decides to charter a colossal 30,000 tonne cargo ship for the job. But loading the delicate 50ft trimarans and monohull yachts onto the ships deck is fraught with danger. It’s an incredibly tight squeeze to fit all the yachts on board without damaging them. Storms delay the ships journey and tempers flair when the loading runs behind schedule. Will the team get everything on board before the ship raises anchor?
A team of engineers race against the clock to move a colossal telescope, weighing over 100 tons, up 5000-metres to a mountain plateau in Chile. The telescope is part of an ambitious multi-million pound construction project in the heart of the mountainous Atacama Desert where 600 engineers and scientists are working round the clock to build the world’s biggest telescope. With parts arriving from all over the world at the 3,000 metre base camp, they must assemble the telescopes to millimetre accuracy to be able to hunt down planets that might harbor life. With no vehicle big and sophisticated enough to transport the awkward and delicate freight up 5,000 metres to the mountain plateau, the team has to design a huge, 28-wheeled transporter like no other. The journey up to the plateau through the driest desert on earth is fraught with dangers. Will the movers and machines cope with the extreme heat and lack of oxygen on their long climb up the mountain?
In Iowa, we follow the remarkable cross-country trek of Trinity Lutheran Church. Over years, the church’s congregation had shrunk from 250 to just 13. The parishioners decided to disband the church but save the building. Topped with a 100ft steeple, we follow Ron Holland haul the pristine structure twelve miles across rolling hills to the town of Manning. In Sarasota, Florida we follow structural mover Brett Johnson and his sons dis-assemble the iconic Crocker Church and Rectory to move though the crammed downtown streets in the dead of night for preservation. Can the team dismantle the church’s fragile steeple for the move without it falling apart?
In England we follow heavy hauler Alf Arnold who faces the unenviable task of moving £20million worth of pristine rolling stock 200 miles across the UK for London’s Underground. Once they reach the city, he has to thread each of the 18 carriages down a narrow hole in the road in the correct order onto the track. Will they get the line up and running in time? In Manitoba, Canada, we chart the emotional journey of husband and wife wreck chasers Pat Madden and Annette Spaulding as they attempt to lift a long lost aircraft off the bottom of a Lake. Can the team haul the aircraft out of the water before winter strikes?
On Vancouver Island, Canada a team of marine engineers led by visionary developer Mark Lindholm attempt to build and move a series of giant Floating Mansions to form a unique waterborne community. But can they haul the 85-ton luxury aquatic homes through 200 miles of treacherous seas from the construction site to their moorings without them sailing off course? In Denver, Colorado we reveal how a team of leading skyscraper engineers are turning vertical construction methods horizontal to build, move and assemble an entire town of homes in record time. Will David and Roger Cohen’s radical ideas of building the world’s first full size house factory to create a town in record time transform how communities are created in the future?
2009
A daring team of marine engineers attempt to move a colossal British built Submarine 700 miles across water and land in Canada. The epic journey almost ends in disaster as the 1,400ton vessel topples over on a beach headland as it is hauled out of the sea onto dry land. The incident packed journey follows the team battling to haul the Cold War 'O'-Boat Onondaga across the stormy North Atlantic, through narrow locks and up a perilously steep railway to reach its final destination. Will they make it before winter blizzards strike?
In Quebec, Canada, a crew attempt to relocate over 170 homes that are sitting on top of 8 billion dollars worth of gold. They must work fast to relocate the town of Malartic so that miners can reach the precious reserves while the price of gold remains high. In Raleigh North Carolina, a second team attempt to move a suburb of colossal historic mansions across the bustling city to rescue them from demolition. The century old mansions each weigh over 200 tons and are extremely fragile. Can they be moved intact?
A team race against time and tide to transport a fleet of mega-yachts worth over $160million from Genoa, Italy to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The 20 bespoke yachts are too precious to sail across the Atlantic. So a Dutch team create a customized 'submersible' yacht transporter-ship to ferry the luxurious pleasure boats around the world. The mission's success lies in the hands of loading master Tieke Springer. She must load, balance and secure the yachts on the transporter ships flat deck precisely so they can survive the rough sea crossing. Half way through the 8,000km voyage, the ship runs into a hurricane. Will the precious cargo survive this deadly encounter?
In Sioux Falls, South Dakota heavy hauler Craig Coxe attempts to dismantle the historic 'Big Blue' Mansion to move panel by panel and brick by brick over 500 miles through Tornado Alley to reach Missouri. Can the giant jigsaw be re-assembled when it arrives? While on Bainbridge Island, Washington, house trucker Jeremy Nickels attempts to float a colossal two-storey mansion through the middle of a busy shipping lane to reach a more picturesque waterside setting. Will the mansion reach its destination undamaged by waves? .
In Salem, Massachusetts, America's leading mansion mover, Jerry Matyiko, attempts to shatter records with the biggest building move of the year. He faces the task of lifting and moving a 1,000-ton church to a new site where it will be redeveloped into a Courthouse Law Library. The structure is weak and contains a vast auditorium that could cave in during the move if unsupported. Jerry's team must build a grid of steel inside and outside the structure to hold it together during the downhill move. Can the team complete the move before winter storms strike?
Heavy Hauler Jeremy Patterson faces the titanic task of hauling one of America’s largest and most famous steamships, the SS President, almost 100 miles across sea and land in St Louis. His original plan - to haul the 100metre long ship on a bed of over 80 wheels by road - is thwarted when it proves impossible to pull the ship out of the Mississippi. This leaves him with the enormous challenge of slicing and dicing the ship into pieces using blow-torches and cranes. Strong gusts and winter blizzards make the task increasingly hazardous. Once all the pieces make it to the town of St Elmo, Jeremy must re-assemble the giant jigsaw puzzle in the middle of the town and transform it into a hotel. Will all the pieces fit back together?
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2013
A team of British engineers attempt to haul two historic A4 Pacific steam locomotives - each worth more than £2 million - more than five thousand miles across the Atlantic to the National Railway Museum in York. The A4 Pacific locomotive smashed the rail world speed record in 1938, thundering to over 126 miles an hour. To celebrate this record’s 75th anniversary the museum is shipping all the surviving A4 Pacifics to the UK for display. For specialist train trucker Andrew Goodman and his crew, this transatlantic train trek is their toughest challenge yet. The locomotives are no longer able to run under their own steam and need loading onto freight trains where there’s the constant risk these massive but fragile machines could disintegrate. Will the team haul the engines to the docks in time to load them onto their ship back to Britain?
A team of British engineers attempts to move a historic Canberra jet bomber over 400km from Coventry to Newquay, Cornwall, for a private collector. The vintage aircraft is in no condition to fly and consequently must travel by truck. Too large to be moved in one piece, the Canberra must be dismantled and reassembled at its destination.
An expert team of heavy haulers attempts to transport a massive First World War artillery gun 400 miles from the Royal Artillery in Wiltshire to a museum in Utrecht, Holland. This rare 200-ton gun was designed to be moved around the Western Front on railway tracks. But, for this move, the team has no option but to travel by road and sea.
We follow the engineers preparing the world's most advanced search-and-rescue helicopter for a trip on the world's largest airplane from New York State to its new base in Scotland. Search-and-rescue helicopter pilot Ben Clark patrols the North Sea from a base on the Shetland Islands and has one of the most demanding jobs in the country.
Wim Jelsma and Carin Koning want to build and move their dream home - one of seven floating mansions that will become a new waterborne community in the Netherlands.
A team of engineers attempts to build and haul a massive, brand new Search & Rescue Hovercraft 9,000 miles from Southampton to Sea Island, Vancouver in Canada. The Sea Island Coast Guard deals with hundreds of emergencies every year because of their dangerous tidal waters. Now they need a new type of all-terrain vehicle to cope with this threat and continue to help save lives. Engineers in Southampton, England have the answer. Griffon Hoverwork are at the forefront of hovercraft design and have struck a million dollar deal with the coast guard to supply them with one of their biggest ever - the AP1-88. Now all they need to do is get it there - which proves to be an epic endeavour.
