Now that Walthers has deeply discounted the infamous operating Heljan Container Terminal ( my LHS “Tom’s Trains” gave me a deal on it for $399) I took a plunge and ordered one! Now I’ll just need to find space on my layout to put it to good use.
Does anyone here have this crane? Where did you install it? How do you like it? Any tips you can share?
This topic came up last month and the answers then were that it is only suitable for unloading or loading containrs onto a flat bed trailer, and is certainly not one like you would find at a shipping port.
“Extreme Trains” on the History Channel did a show on a container train. Part of it showed some of the details of the container port.
Contrary to what some of us (me included) had thought, they really don’t run the trains up to the dock and load them right from the boat. Instead, they unload the boat to truck shuttles, and then move the containers to a staging yard. Then, they load the train out of the staging yard. In the show, they used self-propelled carriers (like giant fork-lifts) to load the train. But, you could use the Heljan to do that, either at the train end of the port, or at an inland container distribution point.
Here’s a couple of lower-cost options:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3122
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3109
They’re not motorized, and I’m not even sure if they’re moveable. The obvious difference between these and the Heljan model is that the Heljan can pick up and move containers. For me personally, that feature is not worth an extra $375. I suppose you could tinker around with the Walthers Mi-Jack crane and motorize it so that it lifts and moves containers. (I smell a kitbashing project!)
Call me crazy, but I think I could DCC that sucker using zip zap motors.
They are only about 1 cm long!
And they run at 16K rpm at full tilt. Add a worm gear and you are all set for some smooth slow speed control