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Walthers HO scale locomotive crane
I OPERATED A CRANE OF THIS MAKE AND MODEL FOR OVER 15 YEARS IN A NAVAL SHIPYARD. IT WAS USE FOR SCRAP WORK, DRYDOCK SERVICE, AND USE EXTENSIVELY IN THE STEEL PLATE STORAGE YARD. BOTH FLATCARS AND GONDOLAS WERE MOVE THROUGHOUT THE SHIPYARD ON A DAILY BASIS. THE SHIPYARD HAD FOUR MODELS OF THIS DESIGN AND TWO OF A NEWER DESIGN. THE MODEL REPRODUCED BY WALTHERS MATCHES THE PROTOTYPE VERY CLOSELY. THIS WAS MY FAVORITE CRANE TO OPERATE BY FAR.
As usual Mr. Hediger has presented the facts just as they are. It’s always appreciated when product reviews are not written by sales people. The only problem with this review is that now that I know the facts, I want one. Time to start saving the change again, all $80 or so of it. Thanks!!
Thanks for the review. When did these cranes start in service?
Bought one, love watching it move along with a few gons. It is truly COOL! Will put a decoder in soon… maybe that could have been part of the review?
GREAT ADDITION TO THE LAYOUT. ADDED DCC TO IT, FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS NOT WIRE COLOURS (RED & BLACK ARE COMMON ON EACH SIDE). USED TCS M1 DECODER.
I used to take my IA metals classes to tour the American Hoist factory in St.Paul. There they could see all of the metalworking processes: foundry,machining, welding, cutting, etc. The imense size of the machines and units that built these cranes always “wowed” the students. AM was making crawler, backhoe, train-car, and oil rig cranes at the time. Short on space, they moved out of town.
Very well done as usual. I intend to become an owner of one of these fine pieces of equipment. A.T. & S.F. My old employer.
Great model - be careful not to tangle the cables - I somehow got the cables into a massive mess when adding decals - you don’t want to do this to yourself.
I worked with one of these cranes several times when I worked for the rail road. We used it a lot to pick up scrap along the track as well as for pulling drift wood from under bridges on rivers and streams. I spent several days spotting scrap for the operator along the right of way. One great piece of equipment to add to any rail road. I hope to purchace one for my self soon.
Stories about cranes brings back times when I made parts for
them. I worked for a company that used a much bigger crane
in their coal storage area. I remember making a shaft and some pins. Also a gear lost some teeth and was welded and I remachined the teeth so we could get more use out of the gear. Thanks for the memories. Ed