Sixteen wheel flat car
No problem. The trucks are connected by span bolsters. The center of the span bolsters connect to the car bolster.
The Wabash Railroad had two cars like this built around 1897. This one was 37', 6” long at 60 ton capacity with a build date of 1897. The second was two feet longer but rated at 55 tons. They were used to haul large rolls of cable for building street car lines. White says he doubt cars like this were used in interchange. Quite a few railroads built twelve wheel flat cars for heavy loads at the time. Many were of wood construction though steel versions were beginning to be built.
The crank shaft is for a large stationary steam engine, probably 2000 to 4000 HP power plant. There would have been a high pressure and low pressure cylinder. There were many power plants like this being built around 1900.Some vertical engines were nearly fifty feet high which shows you how inefficient steam engines were compared to todays internal combustion engines.
I have a photo from 1901 showing the car and load outside an Allis & Chalmers factory in White's, The American Railroad Freight Car, page 386.
I have an article describing building this car written by Gordon Odegard in MR magazine, June 1960, page 52.
In 1869, the PRR has a sixteen wheel flat car, but with 26 inch wheels for hauling massive naval guns. It had a lower of center gravity.
Here is a link to an old two cylinder power plant.
www.todengine.org/home
news.webshots.com/phot...9120xGEzdh
Sometimes the engines were used to power huge blowers for iron mills at the time.
They were used to power huge pumps for cities who were developing piped water at the time.
Many powered plants for producing electrical power.
I believe New Orleans use to have one that was huge.
Rich