Here are two neat videos of restored steam cranes in the UK. I think they are mechanically similar to American (US) cranes. One shows a crane being rigged for a heavy lift, the second one simply running by. Useful information! Ned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx3J6UM7z-M&t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoSlq66RGew

Viva Frei eh? A man of taste I see.

Whoops. Sorry the wrong address was posted. I had meant to post another staem crane video that shows a larger crane being set up for a heavy lift. Apologies.

Here is the LMS 40-ton steam crane lifting a tender. Perhaps this is the video that was intended...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3QPE_LwXAU

There is another one here from the Mid-Hants Railway about their Ransomes & Rapier steam crane which was built in my hometown.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRqrSYEUdaU

Boom to high for the tender lift . Boom close to going over backwards with no load . Risk management dictates never lift a load higher than necessary .

I thought the same thing on the boom angle and I’m NOT a crane operator. I’ve seen enough capacity charts to know that looked to me a bit too close to vertical.

But close centers give you maximum lift capacity. It's not a very large capacity crane. Note the boom angle indicator visible at about 3:03, it's at its max, but not off the scale. I don't see a problem.

Dennis ,
We have no boom stops on these type of cranes in the states to prevent the boom from going over backwards . To me, slack in the boom cables is a warning sign in itself . He was in a very delicate position without a load . A boom angle indicator does not give you permission on how hi to raise your boom , the load chart does ,making the boom indicator a useful tool for reference but not for governing. That being said, the Brits have a slightly different system then the US as far as this breakdown crane is concerned. The States use a gravity boom angle indicator . This crane also has a gravity boom indicator on the Boom but also a mechanical controlled indicator on the A-frame showing the boom angle in relationship to the crane's car body. And as Dennis said, it is within the maximum limit on the indicator. The States don't have a setup like this on their wrecking cranes. We either have a gravity type of angle indicator on the Boom or we measure the radius from the center pin to the center of the pick . I've also noticed there is a stop block right at the base of the Boom to keep it from going over backwards which is ,unfortunately ,a very poor fulcrum location for its task . As far as I know we don't have any boom stops on our wreckers in the states ,just on locomotive type cranes .

If you like cranes see here: https://internationalsteam.co.uk/cranes/cranesworld.htm