There is an ex-New York Central crane preserved at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona but I can't seem to find any info as to its NYC history. Can anyone advise?

Thanks


Les

I have a vague recollection it came out of Frontier Yard in Buffalo...........

It's an Industrial Brownhoist 250 ton wrecker which was originally steam powered but later converted to diesel by the NYC. Numberwise, it was:
NYC X-16
PC 50209
Conrail 50209 later 45215

I can't find a builders date or where it worked out of.

I believe the Buffalo crane is the one in New Castle. It has an image of a buffalo painted on the side of its boom.

The whole wreck train is ex-NYC, completely functional, and donated by Conrail. I am particularly taken by the boom car, an ex-NYC baggage car.

Right off the top of my head, I can think of three wreck outfits that are preserved within 150 miles of each other. As far as I know, none of them are actually interpreted, they just sit there, rusting and occupying track space that might be otherwise used. There is no context. Is this a wise use of scarce museum resources?

Is the Altoona crane possibly the one that had been stationed at Conway in CR days? I believe that was 50210, which was of Erie origin and was at one time painted CR blue. All this is from memory, so don't go to the bank with it.

Charlie -

Thanks for the history of the derrick there in Altoona and Richard, thanks for the great photos. I recently ran across a photo of this New York Central derrick (X16) taken in LaPorte, Indiana in 1960. The X16 was assigned to Elkhart at that time. Interesting that the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart has the X13 (which was assigned to Selkirk) on display there, while the X16 is in Altoona! If I can, I will try to post the photo of the X16 although there are a lot of number/letters, so may screw it up. Here we go:

https://www.facebook.com/30210917324029 ... =1&theater

If the photo goes through, you will note that the boom car coupled to the X16 in 1960 looks to be a different car than the one that is currently with the derrick there in Altoona. That car was obviously a wood bodied car. Not sure about the one in Altoona. Also, the four cranes in this series (X13-X16) were built by Industrial Brownhoist in 1948 and 1949.

Les

I wonder about it being originally steam powered. Were they still making steam powered wreckers in 1949?

The end of the line for the 250 ton Wreck Derricks on Conrail came in the winter of 1994.

We had a new VP-Mechanical appointed who came to tour Elkhart in bitter weather...The Derrick was behind the shop idling away and the questions were posed to why was it was running, how much fuel does it use, when did you use it last, etc. I gave the correct answers and was told to shut it down....I told them we wouldn't be able to get it going if we needed it...and I was told "Don't worry..you won't be needing it". That day the three 250T machines left on Conrail at Elkhart, Selkirk, and Conway were ordered deactivated. We packed up the whole works and shipped them to Sam Rea Reclamation Plant in the spring of 94.

The last pick the derrick made working for Conrail was a bridge span replacement on the Kalamazoo Branch.

I would up getting promoted to staff in Philly and arranged with Don Tutko to get the three of them sent to museums. We never bothered telling Holidaysburg where to send them thinking they could figure out to send Elkhart's back to Elkhart but somehow the Selkirk outfit got shipped to Elkhart.

EBL

Pretty fantastic save. I wish I had as much confidence as the guy who said"Don't worry, we won't be needing them!" Really? On a railroad?

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Cranemasters

R.J. Corman Derailment Services

As much as companies like these charge, keeping them on call is probably cheaper than keeping the crane serviced and that diesel idling away or a steam line charged, and the attendant expertise and experience on the payroll.

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