Moving house can be stressful, but transporting an entire house in one piece sounds almost impossible. This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of structural movers in the third series of Monster Moves, which features some of the most daring relocation projects ever undertaken. In this instalment, the challenge is to transport a vintage steam locomotive 10,000 km across two continents.

This week, a team of British engineers led by expert heavy hauler and steam enthusiast Andrew Goodman heads to Bloemfontein in South Africa on a rescue mission. Their quarry is the 15F 3007 – a classic, 100-tonne steam locomotive made over 60 years ago in Glasgow. In the first half of the 20th century, the North British Locomotive Company built locomotives and shipped them all over the world –including some 2,000 to South Africa.

Today, very few of these vast machines remain, and the Glasgow Transport Museum wants one back. “It’s really important to take one home,” says Scottish engineer Jim Mitchell. However, moving a 15-metre locomotive nearly 10,000 km across land and sea is no easy task.

For the first leg of the journey –a 650 km trip across South African bush to Durban on the east coast –Andrew has a number of choices about how best to procede. He could attempt to move the vehicle using its own steam power, but the boilers are so old they could explode. He could use another engine to shunt the 15F along existing tracks, but it is difficult and expensive to secure a route. Another option would be to dismantle the locomotove and transport it to Scotland piece by piece, but this is incredibly time-consuming. In the end, Andrew decides to transport the locomotove by road using a huge, six-axle lorry.

But before the lorry can even leave the depot, disaster strikes –the local transport police make an unexpected visit and inform Andrew that he cannot proceed because the trailer is not big enough. Without a larger lorry at his disposal, Andrew is forced to reconsider his plans.

Turning his attention back to the railway, Andrew visits the local rail network and manages to borrow a diesel engine and secure a route. But before the 15F can start its journey, it must undergo a complete overhaul. Having not moved for over 20 years, the locomotive needs to be fully greased; its cab needs to be reinforced; a specialist driver must be flown in; and extra carriages need to be attached to provide sufficient braking power. “All for the love of steam!” exclaims Andrew.

It takes hours of work, but the 15F eventually starts moving. However, progress is slow and arduous, since every 25 km, the team stops the locomotive to lubricate its wheels. To make up for lost time, they work through the freezing-cold night and must build makeshift heaters in the cab using oil drums and wood. “We might survive now,” jokes Andrew. “We might be able to keep hypothermia at bay!”
After two days and nights, the 15F reaches Durban, but there are more problems ahead. A broken diesel, clogged tracks and an abandoned truck mean that it takes the team the best part of another day to shift the locomotive 800 metres to the dockside. “It’s absolutely incredible,” says a frustrated Andrew. Once it finally arrives at the water’s edge, it takes 20 people six hours to get the 15F onto the ship that will take it to Hamburg.

At Hamburg, Andrew and the team wait anxiously to see if the locomotive has survived its 40-day voyage through rough seas, before overseeing its transfer to another vessel that will take it to Britain. The final leg of the 15F’s epic expedition sees it crawling up the British motorways on the back of a huge lorry, before it eventually arrives back in Glasgow for the first time in 60 years. “That’s got to be the journey of a lifetime,” says an emotional Andrew.

Tuesday 18th March at 8pm on five