This is a 1949 Industrial Brownhoist Type Z, 250 ton steam wrecking crane or "The Big Hook" as they were known on all railroads in the USA. Here are some inside detail shots I took this week after work. The Wrecker was purchased by the late Edwin R Winter for his collection. It was one of several wreckers that were due for scrapping in Altoona PA and was one of the very last steam wreckers in the Conrail inventory.
The unit was moved in a train to Buffalo NY and then onto the Buffalo Southern Railroad which Ed was part owner. It was powered up with a steam generator for use a couple of times for "Steam Wrecker Days" and has since sat on a siding in Eden NY for many years.It has been donated to the WNY Railroad Historical Society and should be moved soon to the groups new museum grounds in Buffalo.

These are detail shots inside to show the workings of a true steam wrecker. I have many more so if anyone has a contact that enjoys this type of thing for modeling or info feel free to ask.

These things were rated to 250 ton max lift, but the true limits were only set by the operator...Power was unlimited. Nothing stopped them, it either moved, or broke or tipped the wrecker over.

They weighed 200 tons.

Pics

Wrecker and Idler car






This is why they weighed 200 tons....




This is the left center outrigger.... They could be extended or retracted by an air powered gear motor... massive outriggers on these..





This is the left side steam engine "Drive Rod Side" that drove the common drive shaft along with a twin on the right side of the machine... all three drums, Main Hoist, Aux Hoist and Boom Hoist operated off these two steam engines in tandem. Gearing was through air operated locking dogs or jaw clutches and air operated band brakes were used.. Gearing was very heavy and extensive. A third steam engine drove the slewing gears.






Operators station "cab".... Very crowded in these cranes.Operators mostly stood up running these.







Verical Boiler.... Fuel Oil fired, created the steam for main functions..






Main Steam line valve




Throttle Valve operated be a long shaft running from the cab to this valve...Controlled all power for the engines.





Main Drive system... Notice the rod connected to the bell crank at the rear, this drove the main shaft with its twin on the other side, and geared to the drums... the big gear on the right is the main hoist drum bull gear.



Gearing in the celler under the drums...Notice clutches and couplings, brakes etc...





Boom hoist drive worm gear housing.. this is the rear most drum..



View if from between boom heal pins looking back across the top of all three drums...




Boom hoist rear sheaves and rigging




Boom point sheaves and rigging with link bars to boom chords



Main Hoist "The Big Hook" itself.



All done.

No one has an operating derrick that size in operation. Wouldn't it be great to get her operating again ? Great photos !

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very impressive! are those in the pictures steam too? or converted to diesel?

Tim T & Gary,
Thanks to both of you for sharing the excellent pics. Being an oldtimer, I can remember those old cranes. Watching them move those big old steam engines was a work of art. Thanks again to both of you.

Thanks guys for the great pictures!!! As a model railroader I had a rail crane (sadly it was lost 29 years ago) and have been waiting to get myself another for display/use.

Seeing the pictures reminds me of the smells from the old equipment like that!! When I was in the USAF we had a snow plow that used to sit a lot, we actually took it out one spring for a run from the base into Limestone, Maine to clear out any snow snow they could get an incoming shipment for the base.

The old plow was completely air powered which basically was the wings and track plow (under the unit which came down to clear the top of the rails and some in between the rails). The civilian operator and myself sat in a cupola type operators cab and it was pushed by the Locomotive down the tracks. It was at least 50 years old back in 1979-1981 when I was there.

The smell in some of these things is like walking into history with the smell of rotting wood and the rusting steel, the smell of coal smoke and oils/grease.

Thanks again for the memories and "smellmories"!!!

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Dain

I'm a kid at heart, so I will play with any model construction vehicle from 1:87 scale to 1:1 scale!!!!

Age is a state of time NOT a state of mind!!

An outstanding set of pictures!! I want one!! It would help with my gardening!!

I know I was poking around on the internet, or maybe it was from a forum post, but I watched a model railroader guy do a review of an O scale one of these. It had operating out riggers, rotated, boomed up and down, both hook blocks operated. It was a diesel version because it also had audio and a speaker built into it. It had a start up sequence, audio for rotation and the engine kicked into a higher RPM when the hook blocks were being used. It also had a tender car as well, again with audio. I remember thinking this was over the top.

Just a great post. That is some nice old iron!!

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Bob
Bobs Cranes

Come Over To The Lift Side . . . . . . . We Have Cookies!!!!

Super thread, Tim. Cranes, railroads and (at one time) steam power - it just doesn't get much better. Another reason to visit Buffalo once again...

California State RR Museum has an operating 250T Bucyrus, although I dont think it has been used in a few years. Theres a handful of 150T ones around as well, still running on steam, that are used occasionally. Theres quite a few that have been dieselized as well, mostly in mountainous areas.