Hi All
I have been checking on how many Operating and non-operating steam cranes are left in the US. I have come across a few Non-operating ones. I do know that a lot of the Steam Cranes have been converted to Diesel.
So does anyone have a list of Steam Cranes that actually can be operated.
I am talking about Railroad Cranes.
Andrew Martin

Wasn't the Nevada Northern restoring a steam crane- or could that be a rotary snowplough I was thinking about?

When I was in a historic vehicle museum a couple weeks ago I was looking at an old steam fire engine pumper, you know the ones drawn by a lot of horses. I don't think I have ever heard or seen photos of one in operation in more recent times. Sorry for the deviation.

Joshua

Bytown Railway Society in Ottawa had an ex-CV crane in operation a few years ago, but I believe it is down for boiler problems now. Mid-Continent at North Freedom, Wisconsin had a big hook in operation also, I think ex-C&NW, but I have not heard of it operating for some time. Those were the only two I've heard of in operation in the last few years.

I can think of two that have been operated in recent years:

The Henry Ford (aka Greenfield Village) has one that was used in the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor.

There's a museum in Prince George, BC that has one, but when it was donated to them, the railroad placed a restriction on it and they're not allowed to lift anything with it.

Bob H.

Joshua,
There's a couple place to see operating steam fire engines in our area (SE PA/South Jersey). The Friendship Fire Co, inWoodbury,NJ has an operating Ahern-Fox steam pumper that runs at shows in the area. Also, The East Hampton Fire Co. from Long Island brings a steam pumper to Rough and Tumble in Kunzers,PA every year for the last 4 years or so. See the links for some pictures and info.

Friendship's Ahern-Fox:
http://www.jersey.net/~dwayne/hist5.htm

East Hampton Fire Co. at R&T:
http://www.roughandtumble.org/rt-albums ... .asp#Photo

Back at Railfair in 1999 the museum in Sacramento had a steam crane operating.

If you want to see one in regular service today the Daban shops of the JiTong Railroad in China has one they use to move ash to gondola cars.

Chris.

Charles Jones at Amherst Industries in Charleston WV has 2 steam cranes one is still in use. 45ton has a gong type whistle on it and smaller lunkienhimer chime whistle. Both came from out around St Louis or such. Pretty neat to watch work


Scott

Folks,

I also saw the steam crane at work during Railfair 1999 in Sacramento.

The Western Railway Museum has a southern Pacific crane and tender on their disposal list. Contact the museum in having it for your very own!

It is too bad that wreck clean up is of so little interest to museums. I have never seen even a picture of such an operation in a display. Train wrecks sure, but not the clean up.

Now of course they do it all with tire mounted trucks instead of rail mounted equipment.

Ted Miles

The ex CV crane is scheduled to operate at the Ottawa Central's Open House at Walkley Yard this Saturday (April 30). Several of the Bytown Railway's artifacts will be there and open to the public.

I beleive that there is still a steam crane at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum in Versailles Kentucky. I know that they had one a few years ago and were looking at making it operable. I don't know what happened after I moved.

They have a web site. It can be found at www.steamlocomotive.com in the state of Kentucky.

Hope this helps your list,

James Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

Joshua;

If you don't mind me asking, what museum was that? I was wondering if I had their fire engine in my Surviving World Steam Vehicle database.

To date, I have 465 steam fire engines listed worldwide, of which 37 are believed to be operational. Some were modified so they could be pulled by a gas tractor; others were mounted on a truck chassie at a later date. Seventeen of these are in North America. I doubt these figures are complete, since there is no complete list or resource available.

Getting back on topic, I had once thought about compiling a Surviving World Steam Rolling Stock database, and I have been collecting data and pictures for one. It would include steam cranes and shovels running on rails, along with rotary snow plows, MOW equipment such as snow melters, and logging equipment. I have a little bit of information on steam cranes; but I really have no idea how many working steam cranes are left. I believe India also had some still at work at the close of steam; they were photographed by Colin Garratt in the 1970s-1980s; but I don't know how many if any are left in working order.

In the UK and Australia; steam cranes are called "steam navies", and I believe there are a few left in working order.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

As noted before, the California State Railroad Museum has the SP Roseville crane, and has operated it at Railfair 99 (they even cleaned up a minor derailment when one of the diesels stubbed its toe)

Also There is a SP crane on an isolated hunk of track at the Western Antique Powerland Museum (also Home of the Oregon Electric Railway Museum) in Brooks Oregon. Apparently they fire it up at their annual event. The site is home to a number of groups and clubs preserving a variety of traditional technology. They have a web site at http://www.antiquepowerland.com/index.html

In some ways it is kind of amazing anyone would run one of these monsters. They require all the boiler permits of a loco, but can't pull a train, and so can't generate the tourist train revenue which supports most programs.

Are you talking about wrecking derricks (the "big hook"), or locomotive cranes (self-propelled cranes used by the engineering department to move material and pull a few company material cars)? If the former, I suspect the answer is "very few" as seems to be confirmed by replies so far. If the latter, there are several oil-fired and at least one coal-fired locomotive crane still around. For instance, Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois recently returned to service a 30-ton oil-fired Brownhoist locomotive crane.

Actually, there is at least one steam crane up in Washington state (I think, I don't have my notes with me) that is self-propelled. It is also capable of pulling a short work train.

Now, were are not talking about it pull a string of heavyweight coaches at track speed; but you could perhaps do the equivalent of a snowplow special. In a variation of the photographer's special discussed in another thread, it could pull a small, well-paying group of photographers in a period car or two as a work train. Once it got to a scenic spot, it could then perform for a photo line, moving into location and perhaps moving some "stuff" around.

Like the C&TSRR snowplow, it might not make enough to keep it going, but it is fun to think about. :)

BTW, I realized in my earlier comments I was confusing steam shovels with steam cranes. In the case of Indian Railways; they were not steam shovels, but I believe steam cranes with coaling buckets.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

The only museum I have ever seen (kind of) simulate a wreck clean-up with a big hook was the Coopersville and Marne in Michigan. They had a crane (probably originally steam, now diesel) pick up a flat car off its trucks and set it on the ground, then pick it back up and place it back on the trucks. That's the only time I have ever seen that done, and I found it interesting. I grew up with the American Flyer model of the IB big hook, but never saw one operate in regular service.

Chris.