A strange thing came into Palmerton on Thursday - a 70-foot-long, self-propelled conventional trailer carrying a nearly 220-ton electric transformer.

Workers guided the transformer through Mauch Chunk Road to Franklin Avenue, and onto Third Street and then Delaware Avenue.When it reached Fifth and Delaware, the workers moved the traffic lights out of the way. Borough and state police helped to guide it through town and on to the Little Gap stretch.Paul Wirth, a spokesman for PPL Electric Utilities Corp., said the transformer was being transported to a PPL substation in Palmerton to replace an older one there."This is part of our effort to improve the reliability of electric service in the Palmerton area," he said. "We do this sort of thing about 10 to 12 times per year around our 29-county service territory. These transformer upgrades, along with installing smart grid and trimming more trees, have significantly reduced the number of power outages our customers experience."PPL contracted out the move to George Young Co., a construction company with offices in Philadelphia and New Jersey. They used a trailer designed by Mammoet."We just supplied the trailer and operator," said Jeff Wilhem, the director of operations for the office in Canada.Wilhem said the trailer is 10 feet wide and consisted of three trailers connected to each other. Two of the trailers had six sets of multiple tires, also known as six lines, and one trailer with two lines, creating a 14-axle trailer.According to the Mammoet website, a self-propelled trailer has a motorized module on the front.It is used to transport loads that are either too big and too heavy for a truck or low loader, and can carry up to 39 tons per axle line. The trailers can be moved on a normal flatbed truck.