Hi, all…
That’s “wreck trains”, not “train wrecks”!
I just ordered Tichy’s 120T Brownhoist wrecker crane and boom car combo. After doing a little preliminary research on wreck trains, a question comes to mind: The crane was steam-powered, so where was the fuel and water for the crane’s boiler carried? The few photos I’ve seen so far don’t seem to show any kind of tender or even a water tank in the consist near the crane. Are there any experts out there that can point me to some additional research material?
Thanks in advance for any and all replies.
Bruce J.
The crane was not fired up until at the scene. The boiler is small and does not take a huge amount of fuel or water. Small amounts of coal and barrels of water were hauled in on a flat if they could get close. At least one wreck had a local coal dealer truck the coal in.
Try the boom tender. [:-^] it has box’s on both side’s for stroage would be a good place for some coal.
IIRC the practice at the Pocatello ID UP terminal was to keep the crane boiler hot using a shop steam line when not in use. Then when it was called out for use (and by the way they were used for a lot more than just wreck recovery) all the fireman needed to do was to keep the pressure up. Since the boom rotates, service from a conventional tender would not work - so like mentioned previously, a small amount of fuel and water were maintained on board. In fact, the water tank is part of the counterweight for the boom. In steam days, these supplies would be replentished from the tender of the steam locomotive that hauled the crane to the site and was moving the crane along the track - but I don’t know about what happened after diesels finally replaced steam on the work train. The work train engines were some of the last steamers to be replaced.
Often a clamshell was among the accessories in the boom car. This could easily be rigged to unload coal from another tender, a gondola, or even a truck. This temporary coal pile would be spotted on the end of the boom car, and then the crane would be turned at right angles to the track and the coal would be hand shoveled through the side door when the internal supplies needed to be refilled.
dd
While a steam driven wrecking crane was capable of propelling itself, they were often delivered to the wreck or construction site by a steam locomotive. In this configuration, the locomotive’s tender was used to provide fuel and water to the crane. In other instances a tender was coupled to the rear of the crane. The tender was often uncoupled from the crane to permit its outriggers to be set and then block the crane for stability. The removal of the tender also enabled the crane to work free of obstructions. On occassion a locomotive would leave the work site to take on water and fuel. It would then return and the crane would be refueled and water added to its tanks.
The PRR used ex-locomotive tenders for some of their steam cranes. I have one for my MOW train in yellow paint which I built from a photo I saw on the web.
Doc