Your name in lights

Production company, 44 Blue Productions, is a leading US supplier of reality, documentary, “how-to” and action-adventure TV programming. Since it started in 1984, 44 Blue has produced television shows for leading broadcast and cable outlets, including A&E, Animal Planet, CBS, Court TV, Discovery Channel, ESPN, Fox Family, Lifetime, MSNBC, Nickelodeon, TLC, TNN, HGTV and Travel Channel.

Among segments already filmed for the Mega Movers series are:

• Ship Loader. Apex Industrial Movers, Vancouver, British Columbia, moves a 1,000 ton (900 tonne) ship loader on a barge 62 miles by sea to its new home in a quarry.

• Locomotives. In two Texas towns two early 20th century locomotives are moved using very different techniques. One of the movers is Barnhart, Houston, Texas.

• Train Depot. Bigge Crane &Rigging Co., Auburn, Washington, shores up and moves a fragile 95-year-old train depot across a busy Interstate highway.

• Tower Crane. Bragg Crane Service, Los Angeles, California, uses a 450 ton capacity mobile crane to lift and move a 35 storey-high tower crane over busy and didn't hinder our operation at all,” said Jim Throne, superintendent on the Bigge project. “They asked good questions and did good research. They even wanted model numbers of jacks. We expect to hear a lot of facts backing their footage.”

44 Blue is looking for other mega moves to follow. The company will consider jobs taking place anywhere in the world between now and the third quarter this year. “Any move involving something truly massive, especially if it presents challenges to the mover, would be of interest,” explains Laura Halperin, a researcher for 44 Blue.

Among the types of moves the company would most like to cover are: placement of objects into a skyscraper that are too large to fit into an elevator; large signs; historic pieces such as WWII vehicles, trains, planes, or houses for purpose of restoration; monuments or statues; and relocation of structures to protect them from erosion, hurricanes or other forces of nature. The company says that anything involving the title “World's Largest and...” would be a perfect fit for the series.

Projects selected by 44 Blue are filmed at no cost to cooperating SC&RA member companies. The resulting professionally produced segment could yield invaluable positive publicity. In addition, segments filmed this year could be included as entry material for SC&RA's Hauling and Rigging Job of the Year Competitions in 2007. Winning entries will be promoted in this magazine, and American Cranes & Transport magazine, among others. •