Jay generator journey loses steam as ‘super oversize’ load stops in Oxford
A massive piece of equipment turned an ordinary Thursday in Oxford into a brief spectacle when a 340‑ton heat‑recovery steam generator arrived unannounced at the Call of the Wild RV Center on Main Street. The generator, stretching 220 feet long, is being hauled from the former Pixelle Specialty Solutions paper mill in Jay to a site off Broadway in South Portland.
Maine Department of Transportation rules require any load wider than 20 feet to travel only between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Because the convoy entered Oxford during daylight hours, the drivers had to pull off the road and park the trailer on the dealership’s lot. Employees said they received no prior notice that the oversize load would be backed onto their property alongside the sales and service building. A neighboring business on Route 26 similarly declined to host the generator for the day.
Word spread quickly, and curious residents filled the dealership’s parking lot during regular business hours to get a close look at the towering machine. Later that evening, a crowd gathered at Oxford Plains Speedway to watch the convoy, now attached to a tractor pulling from the front and a second unit pushing from the rear, resume its journey onto Route 117.
From there the generator will travel segments of Route 202, Route 22 and Route 1 before reaching its final destination in South Portland. The move began the evening of Sept. 29 from Route 4 in Jay. Initially projected to take two days, the timetable was later stretched to a full week to accommodate night‑only travel restrictions and any unexpected delays.
This shipment marks the first of nine “super‑oversize” loads slated to leave the Jay mill for the Fore River area of Casco Bay, underscoring the logistical challenges of moving industrial‑scale equipment through Maine’s road network.
