47 
Here we see an an escalator being hoisted by to the 101st floor of World Trade Centre 1. (How did you think they got escalators up that high?) At first glance, the dizzying perspective of this photo will make your brain hurt.
Here’s the thing, the photograph, posted by Reddit user Jacknappler, isn’t what it seems. The escalator isn’t being lifted up to the building in the shown — that’s WTC 4. It’s actually on its way to the top of WTC 1, which is where the photographer is standing. Even then, the maddeningly skewed perspective makes this image look more like an Escher drawing than a miracle of engineering. [Reddit via Cheezburger]
Am I the only one who thought they could assemble them inside a building? I mean do you really have to transport the whole thing as a collective unit? They look like the sort of thing where you have working shit at either end and nothing much going on in the middle bar the moving conveyors? Or is this just me?
Agreed. You would think that it would be a matter of putting a motor at either end and filling in the length with step modules.
If they’re pre-fabricated off-site you can construct the building more quickly and you just need to secure them and wire them in.
Surely there are escalator-installation men who can come out and do this while the rest of the floor is being built? I can’t imagine getting two guys to come fit an escalator costing more than the resources it takes to lift the damn thing up 101 stories.
You either send the components and installers up in the lift internally (including the frames, jigs and cranes needed to shift it around) and have them assemble it and try to testing across multiple floors getting continually in the way of everyone else, which will likely take a week or more.
Or you contract the supplier to deliver a completely assembled, pre-tested unit which just needs installing, occupy a crane for an hour or two to get it up and drop it into place. Once it’s there then it can be installed and tested in a few hours.
In the grand scheme of the build, a couple of hours of crane use would be a pittance compared to the other costs incurred by trying to do everything else on site.
Taking laziness to new heights…
is it me or did anyone else think this was a stage prop from avengers