This is listed on Government liquidation.

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/v ... Id=2541402

I climbed around and took photos of this crane when I was in McAlester a few years ago. It doesn't have any more capacity than the American crane at Travel Town even with its 6 wheel trucks. It was operable then, but the track inspector wouldn't let them run it anymore because it wasn't flexible enough and regularly derailed. I thought it would be neat to have the boom stand for ours at Travel Town , and there were a few attachments that would be nice to have, but oh well.

Greg

While the government has been having an auction; the Western railway Museum has been trying to give away a Southern Pacific wreching crane and tender for many years.

Come and get it and it is free for any 501 (C) 3 organization that will take it.

Not that I am in the market for a wrecking crane, but could you please give some details about the SP crane?

Ted, I have a great idea. OERM has been trying to get rid of an ATSF wrecking crane for years as well. How 'bout if WRM takes the ATSF crane and OERM takes the SP crane. That way everyone will be happy. Or better yet, haul 'em both to Travel Town, ring the doorbell and run.

Seriously, why are wrecking cranes so despised by museums these days? Is it because of the potential liability of someone getting hurt? Or the money that the museums could make by scrapping them? I think wrecking cranes are magnificent looking brutes and wish museums would reconsider their decision to get rid of them.

Charlie

OERM already has an SP wrecker--I even have photos of it in service 50 years ago at Cuesta Pass (near San Luis Obispo). Wrecker derricks are very heavy and cumbersome; they are not good for the shaky track found in some railway museums. Even if they run, getting one set up for a demonstration is very labor-intensive. There's also the element that when they were used, it meant something bad had happened.
Much easier to deal with are the relatively "light" construction derricks used by street railways. OERM has LARy 9225, which is around 100 years old, but still comes out for special occasions. One time we were running it as part of a Rail Festival, and a small child said "Look! It's Cranky the Crane!" (a very useful derrick in the land of Thomas the Tank Engine)














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Well Bob, I was watching Rod run the thing at Railfest, and with all of the rattling of those loose fitting straight cut gears, it would remind a little kid of Cranky.

I also think museums should rethink their plans to get rid of wrecking derricks. They are magnificent looking pieces of equipment and tell a very important story about railroads and what is done when things go astray. I've rolled a 250 ton IB wrecker down a piece of track that literally didn't exist any more and it made it. If you have to push the derrick to the end of a piece of track, seal it up and leave it for the day when someone else comes along and wants to do something with it.

Wrecking derricks can become wonderful attention getters. Set one up permanently, then get an old railcar body and demonstrate wreck cleanup with it.

I am a bit disturbed that the tired old "increased liability" canard is trotted out to justify scrapping derricks.