When Nickel Bros. House Movers Ltd. was chosen to move a 3,000-square-foot Seattle house built in 1908 to an island in the famed San Juan Islands, the British Columbia company called upon two of its five durable Kenworth trucks to get the job done smoothly.
During the move’s challenging, nearly 12-hour first leg, the Kenworth T800s with 425-horsepower Caterpillar engines carefully pulled and pushed the 80-ton load, which was supported by two four-axle dollies and hydraulic jacks. The winding route from the home site involved gently squeezing the two-story house between supports of the I-5 freeway bridge and traveling several blocks down a steep hill to a barge moored in Seattle™s Lake Union.
After the house was driven onto the barge to travel through Seattle’s Hiram Crittenden Locks and into Puget Sound, the Kenworth T800s and house were transported by barge to Shaw Island in the San Juan Islands. There, the house was taken off the barge for the trip to its new home site.
For 50 years, Nickel Bros. has been hauling houses and other large buildings to destinations in western Canada and recently in Washington state. The company has offices in Vancouver and Victoria and recently opened a branch in the San Juan Islands. Fred Watson, Nickel Bros. operations manager in the Victoria office, said the Kenworth trucks remain durable and dependable despite many miles of previous service in the Canadian oilfields.
“We seek trucks that have been worked hard in the kind of situations that we put our trucks through,” he said. “The Kenworth is one tough vehicle with the pulling power to keep running over many long hours. We abuse our trucks very badly. We ask a lot of our trucks and Kenworth delivers.”
Kenworth Truck Company, a division of PACCAR Inc, is a leading manufacturer of heavy and medium duty trucks. Kenworth is the current recipient of five J.D. Power and Associates awards for Highest in Customer Satisfaction, including three 2006 awards for Over the Road Segment and Pickup and Delivery Segment Class 8 Trucks, and Heavy Duty Dealer Service two years in a row, and two 2005 awards for Conventional Medium Duty Truck Segment and Medium Duty Dealer Service. Kenworth’s Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com. Kenworth. The World’s Best.
