Does anyone have, have access to or have photographs of what a builders plate from an American Locomotive Crane look like?

We'd like to reproduce one for our operating crane, but other than still having the rivets sticking out of the steel on the front of the cab which tell us it was probably rectangular, and about 8" high by about 18" wide, we have no idea what it looked like. don't even know if it was a cast plate or an etched plate.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greg

Just for reference, Make sure what you need is a builders plate, not a capacity plate. Most cranes had a pair, one for the builders info, another with the boom reach/capacity's.

The capacity charts we have. At least we have what appear to be original paper load and clearance charts, plus we have reproduced operators manuals from AOL crane.

I would not be surprised to find out it originally have a fancy metal engraved load chart, and if so, would love to know what it looked like too.

Greg

Greg:
If you can provide me with an address where I can send the American Crane builder's plate info I will try to locate a drawing and send it to you.
I am a fan of locomotive cranes, the Forgotten part of railroading.

Kevin

Greg:
When was your American crane built ? Also, a question on Locomotive Cranes:
RR Museums: What Locomotive Crane's do you own ? American ? OHIO ? Wellman ? Browning ? Link Belt, Industrial ? Brownhoist ? Industrial Brownhoist ? Orton ? Burro ? McMyler Interstate ?
(If any McMyler Interstate's exist).
Let's hear what you have, and are they diesel powered, steam powered, electric ?
Thanks !!!
Kevin

The American Crane at Travel Town is s/n 1887.

It appears to have been built in 1942, but the company records says it left factory in May 1943. It was built with a Caterpillar diesel, but re-engined with a Detroit Diesel 6-71, apparently by Douglas Aircraft. It has a mechanical drive with a 3-speed transmission.

Company records says it was sold the War Department in Madison, Indiana. We're not clear on where it actually went, but going through our blueprints yesterday we found Army inspection records from 1959 with the Crane in Charlestown, IN. We not sure the inspection forms are for our crane yet since the equipment number doesn't match any number we've seen associated with it. We also have a picture of a identical model crane in the Douglas plant we got the crane from showing a Navy equipment number. That would seem to be conclusive, but we haven't found any of that color on the body under any layers of paint. We also don't know when or how it got to Torrance.

It is operational, but we just had a Boy Scout do his Eagle Scout project to paint the boom, and we took that occasion to do some re-wiring and to overhaul the hook and swivel.

Greg

At the Bluegrass Railroad Museum, we have an American Hoist and Derrick Company crane.

It was running when it was donated years ago, but not any more. The new boiler inspection requirements are keeping it down on the list of things to repair.

We do have several accessories for it, the boom, the powered trucks, a clamshell bucket, and a dragline scoop, I think.

RMNE has a 1954-built American crane, delivered to Portland Terminal Company (joint B&M/MEC). This is a self-propelled 25-ton capacity air-clutch crane, now powered by a Cat diesel (re-engined about 1965). It was purchased from Guilford in 1996. PT-198 was prepped and painted in 1998 by RMNE volunteers. It does clamshell bucket work and hook work around and along the Naugatuck Railroad. A most useful item for us. The photo shows 198 lifting concrete barrier blocks into a borrowed MNCR side dump car at Thomaston. This work train was taking the blocks out for distribution along the ROW at "strategic" points to block ATV access.

There is no builder's plate on PT-198, unfortunately.

Howard P.
Boom Up, CT

Greg:
I was able to measure an American Crane builder's plate. It is stamped brass and measures 8 3/8 by 10 5/8 inches. This crane had two plates side by side because it had a MAIN hoist and a JIB hoist. In other words it had two different lifting capacities depending on which drum and cable was used. I am guessing that your crane would only have had one plate for the MAIN hoist.
I am working on getting a photo. The capacities of the crane is given and varies with the use of Outriggers and the angle of the boom.


Kevin

We have seen a few great photos of locomotive cranes held in museum collections but I know that there are plenty of others out there ! I understand that there is a BROWNING steam powered crane in Hesston, IN. What other steam powered locomotive cranes exist ? What about OHIO's ? And, is there a McMyler Interstate crane that still exists ????

Kevin

Kevin -

The Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana has an Orton 20-ton self-propelled crane originally built for Purdue University in 1945. Serial number 44596 was originally gas powered. Purdue purchased a second similar crane from Orton a few years later which was powered by a Detroit diesel, and in 1960, # 44596 also received a Detroit 471. The university had two coal fired power plants at its West Lafayette, Indiana campus, and when the first power plant was taken off line, # 44596 became surplus and Purdue eventually donated it to HVRM in 1992. The crane's diesel was eventually rebuilt and Hoosier Valley uses the crane quite often for various projects. This autumn it has been a vital part of the museums rebuilding of two road crossings and currently is helping with the rehabilitation of the passing track on museum property.

It is my understanding that the second (newer) Purdue crane was donated to ITM in Noblesville, but I have no idea as to its current status.

Les

I've exchanged emails with my contact at AOLcrane, and he has supplied me with the attached drawing of a capacity chart. The plate as drawn does not match the rivets sticking out of the front the operators station below the window. And the dimensions you just offered don't either. AOL crane suggested the missing plate might be one that had the patent information etc., which may or may not be considered a builders plate.

Of course, now that I know what the capacity plate looks like, I need to figure out where it would have been mounted. :-)

Greg

Greg:
Good news ! My earlier measurements were correct for a later model American Crane but not yours: Your crane had a cast plate that measured 6 3/8 X 1' 2 3/4". I also have the data that goes on the plate for your crane, which I will be sending.

Kevin

Just to add context to the plate I'm looking for, here is a photograph of the mounting location showing the rivets and a probable outline. This should match the PDF I posted previously.

Greg

I'm wondering if this was some military plate? I've seen data plates on some military equipment that were cast with contract number, military nomenclature (Crane, Railway, 56 1/2" Gauge, etc.).

Richard Wilkens