Sorry Kevin and John, I didn't mean to paint with such a broad brush. My mistake.
They are the American Crane model 5030DE and Ohio Crane model 300DE of which I have 36 years experience with among others .
Talking about the operating and maintenance differences and how to repair them is educational and more in line with RPN's mission I would think, than my opinion about an Ohio model 300DE being ugly when compared to another crane.

No luck yet with B&SV crane number but still trying.

M Secco:
I was just giving you a good rubbing ! You have operated both and I respect your opinion ! No doubt American built a good crane because they far outsold OHIO. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that OHIO built a much improved crane when they went to a hydraulic hoist in the 1980's. That is when they started to outsell American.
I'm sad to say it; but the day of the locomotive crane is almost over. I photographed the latest OHIO in the Spring, and who knows if there will be anymore ????
Keep those pictures coming !

Kevin K.

For anyone still interested, I believe this is a 30 ton American 830-DE locomotive crane, serial number J-3452; a handwritten note in a folder says "Crane new in April 1957." It carried C&NW equipment number 262041.

It was working the Boone panel plant in the Summer of 1995, and was still under UP ownership in Boone as of 1997.

Though not visible in this recent view taken on the BSVY, it has a moderately raised cab.

Thanks for the update. This is from the AH&D records:

J3452 30 ton 01-58 DE Missouri Kansas Texas RR St. Louis, MO

It looks like the3 C&NW picked it up used at some point.

That could be. The Cheap & Nothing Wasted/Corroded & Never Washed was not averse to buying what they considered a bargain. The fact that there are - as far as I know - no photos popping up of this crane in C&NW service is in itself a wee bit curious.

There are no prominent markings left on the crane that would make an ID truly easy. I believe the crane has had a fair number of modifications over a long period of time (note the lack of outriggers). The info I got on it did not include such data as the crane's light weight when new, etc, so what I gleaned may not have been any more accurate than it was complete. If anyone gets back to me with corrections, or if I run across better documentation, I will update this thread at that time.

If nothing else, there is now a picture to show that the crane in question is still on the BSVY as of 2024.

Does the crane run?

I assume so. The prime mover was running in any event.

I got to the comment about this where this crane was an MK&T machine, and had to go check my records.

I had some Switchmen Union records from the MK&T from the late 1950's. I copied this particular letter from the Union to the Terminal superintendent. AH&D delivered that crane to the Katy in late 1957 ~ the switchmen would have delivered it to the locomotive shop for them to get it ready for service. Part of that was re-lettering it MK&T 1020.

What happened was, after it was released from the shop the hostlers took it out and were moving it around, out of their "territory".
The switchmen contend that THAT was switchmens work and filed a time claim. The 3 first out switchmen were claiming loss of a days pay because of shop men doing their jobs. Other letters after this one had the superintendent denying their claim.... and it went to a "time claim conference" after that, along with a whole stack of other claims. That's how it used to be.. .the unions were strong!!!!

Anyhow, W.N. Deramus was president of the Katy at this time, and he was forcing austerity onto the railroad in his attempt to "save" the Katy from itself.

He ordered the accounting offices moved from Parsons Ks. and transferred them all to Denison Tx... cut off lots of the shop forces, tore down all the old steam servicing facilites, except for the 1914 era locomotive back shop~ quit spending money on maintenance of way... he was trying to starve the railroad into prosperity.

But, he did buy these new crane(s). I surmise that in a move to garner a little bit of support, the railroad had the newspaper come over and take pictures of this new machinery to counter the bad publicity.
Like the letter says, they numbered the crane you're discussing MK&T 1020, but the one in the picture~ at the same moment in time~ is 1030, so maybe they bought 2 of them. I can't tell.

The b&w pics are from late 1957, and the color slide was 1968.

Here is your second MKT American crane:

J3432 40 ton 09-57 DE
Missouri Kansas Texas RR (with PD) #X-1030 St. Louis, MO
Ray McDermott Co. Harvey, LA 1970
Alaska RR #LC-103 1971
Alaska Central RR