I have part of the manual for a Industrial Brownhoist crane. I would like to know if there is more to the manual or if this is all. The crane is rated at 25 tons and was delivered to near Parsons KS in 1949. We are now using it to rebuild a bridge for The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad at Abilene KS. The crane is owned by the railroad.

larry123

Perhaps if you could provide the model number, year, or other information regarding the crane, and what parts you have of the manual, someone on the forum could help you. I've always found these fellow preservationist to be very willing to help out!

Alan

Thank you for answering. I did not want to give much information if nobody could help.
It is a model #5 serial # #11916. I have about 5 pages typed for instruction. They look like they were carbon paper copied of general information for all cranes. I also have about 20 pages of the drawing for parts. Also a complete manual for the cat D13000 motor both parts and operator manual for the cat. I would like more information on the operation and maintenance of the crane itself. I have been running this crane but I would like more information so that I can do more work on and with this old piece since this is older than me but not by much. This machine was delivered new to the Kansas Gas & and Electric near Parson KS in 1949. We have a letter saying where it was to be delivered to. It was delivered by the Frisco railroad.
THANK YOU for any other help.

Contact:
American and Ohio Locomotive Crane in Bucyrus, Ohio 419-562-6010. Ask for someone in the parts dept. They own almost all of what's left of the locomotive crane companies in the USA; except for Orton.
Great friendly people to deal with.

Kevin K.

Somewhere, I've seen pictures of the rail equipment from KG&E..... but can't quite remember where I saw them....wish I could find them so I could put them up so you could see you machine back in the day....I think it was a picture of them loading the rolling stock onto drop deck truck trailers.

I think at one time they had a locomotive. Their original 1923 plant was a coal burner, and the 1954 plant they're tearing down burned gas. I think their loco was to bring out ash and clinkers from the furnace....

Salvage crews are out there right now demolishing that entire power plant.... all that's going to be left is the switchyard for transferring electric power around their grid...

Thank you for reading. Thank you kevin for the phone numbers I will call them. And bad order if you have any pictures I would live to see them. Thanks everybody on this site for their help.

Larry I hope you understand the various rules regarding the use of a crane in this day and age. All cranes on construction sites must have a current annual inspection by a certified inspector, they must have an operators manual in the cab and a factory load chart available to the operator. These are OSHA rules that apply to all cranes regardless of ownership or type of project they are being used on. Are you a CCO or union certified crane operator, if you are not you are setting up your organization for a liability issue if you have an accident and injuries occur.

That is a friction clutch crane and unless the clutches have been serviced by a crane mechanic that knows how to adjust them you will have issues with booming up and down, swinging a load and hoisting. It also has free fall because of its age which can cause all kinds of trouble. It does not have an anti-two block system which prevents you from pulling the block or ball into the head and bringing the boom over backwards.

The other issue with your project is do you all have a structrual engineer working with you on the repairs you are making to this bridge? That is an old steel truss bridge with old abutments and piers that are set in a river that can get real nasty when its got a lot of water flowing. If you all dont have a stamped set of plans and a third party inspector to verify your repairs to the bridge you are again opening up your organization to all kinds of liabilty issues. I realize that your group has limited funds to work with and using old equipment and volunteer labor helps but bridges are not something you want to mess with unless you do this for a living and have a good game plan with a certified engineers stamp on it.

Hey Larry, I operated a #5 at IRM some years ago. She was an ex-C&WI crane with a 2 speed on the floor. The main gear train was in poor shape but that D13000 purred like a CAT. As with most older locomotive cranes they are heavily built. So long as you have the proper wire rope and it's in very good condition along with the boom and machinery and you obey the capacity chart "in the crane" your main concern will be with rigging and slings. Of course a half way decent operator helps . Here is some OSHA accident data. 14% to 16% is crane component failures ; 34% is improper rigging and/or slings ; 42% is crane operator error. I"ve been a locomotive crane operator with C&NW/UP for 38 years. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Mark marksecco@mindspring.com

I have sent you an email Mark. Thank you for your response.
And thank you to everybody here. I have gotten a lot of good information.
I just wish I would have found this site before!!