My crane needs help..

[daan]

Hi everyone,
With this post a few pictures of an old Lionel crane. I figure it's quite empty in the back of the crane. Does anyone know what it should look like when complete?

This is the crane with the lid on.

This is how it looks like without the lid, there is an axle with some wire still on, but a big empty space behind that.
I figure 1 axle wouldn't be able to raise and lower the crane and raise and lower the hook too.

On the underside you can see the power pickups for the couplers, but no power pickup from the center-rail.
If anyone knows how it should look like, or has a picture of how it should look like under the lid, I would be very happy[:p]

[lionelsoni]

The crank on the side winds up the string. There should be a similar crank on the back to raise and lower the boom. As I recall, it turns a screw that moves a nut inside that is attached to the wires that loop around the pulleys on the top of the boom. I will get mine out tonight to verify all this and give you any other details. There is no motor--it is all done with the two cranks.

I cut the handle off the side crank on mine to improve the clearances so that I can run it on my layout.

The six-wheel trucks are rarer than the four-wheel ones and, I think, more desirable. You may be able to find a cheap one of the latter to get the parts you are missing.

By the way, these cranes are usually run with the Lackawanna work caboose, which has a place to put the boom. I have added an eyebolt to mine to put the hook into. Otherwise, the boom swings out to the side when you go around a corner.

[FJ and G]

What should it look like?

The toy or the prototype?

I couldn't find anything about it on the Web except a different one:
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/002/182qploj.asp

My magazine, The Military Engineer, has lots of photos from 20s to 50s of RR cranes, as well as advertisements for them, including a number of cool steam cranes that rode the rails.

[lionelsoni]

David, that's the same crane. Daan seems to have the 2460, the early postwar version with the black cab and six-wheel trucks.

[daan]

Thanx, I figured it should be one from around the 1050's because of the power pickups in the couplers. The axle still on is the axle for the hook and as I understand there needs to be another one in the length of the crane with a wandering nut. I understand the principle, it is in fact even possible to rebuild that myself if the original couldn't be found. The work-caboose I've seen last weekend, only there was a small spotlight mounted between the grey boxes on the flat part of the car.

[Big_Boy_4005]

The sliding shoes on the trucks are for the coil couplers, the crane itself is completely manual. The work caboose with the spotlight is a rather rare piece. The ones without are fairly common.

It looks like you are missing the crank wheel with the long shaft that goes through the back end of the body. That's the one used to raise and lower the boom. you also seem to be missing the wire that Bob mentioned. You could probably make that piece. You are also missing hook and string.

"Boom elevating screw assembly" part number 6460-14
"Guy wire" part number 2460-20
"Pully, block and hook assembly" 6560-13

I don't know how many good parts dealers youu have in Europe, but these are common parts, and are easily found here in the US. One note about the hook assembly, the original style hook is turned 90 degrees to to the pully wheel in the block. It runs parallel to the axle that holds the wheel. Some assemblies have the hook in line with the wheel and the block. Those are for different cranes if you want to be accurate.[;)]

[daan]

I spotted 2 workcabooses with spotlight on, excactly the same as the one to fit with the crane, except with a small spotlight on it.. Never knew those things where hard to find, should've bought one.. But one without the spotlight was nowhere to find..
Thanx for the part numbers, I'll ask our only lionel-dealer in Europe, someone in switserland, if those parts can be ordered at his place.. Otherwise I'll search for a replacement on an other crane.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Well Daan, maybe RARE was a bad choice of words by me. I went and looked it up, and the 6420 with the light, was only made for 2 years 1948-50. The 6419 was made 1948-50 and again 52-57.

There are also a bunch of other work cabooses that were made over the years. The one you really want to find is the 6429. It's the most expensive one of all. I happen to have one of those, but it is a fluke. I got it when I was a kid, long before anyone figured out it was rare. I also have a 6419 which WAS in real nice shape, until it got knocked off a shelf over 20 years ago, and broke a corner off the roof.

Oh well, win some, lose some. The secret is to HAVE FUN!!!![swg]

[lionelsoni]

The wire is about .030 inch (.762 mm) diameter. The ends fit into slots near the base of the boom. The wire wraps 90 degrees around each pulley. The pulley assembly can be removed to install the wire. The wire and the pulley are completely non-functional.

The boom-lifting screw has a crank wheel similar to the other crank. The shaft is 5 inches (127 mm) long with 1 inch (25.4 mm) threaded at the end. It is a 10-32 screw, that is .190 inch diameter with 32 threads per inch, which would be 4.826x.79375 as a metric designation, close to 5x.8.

The nut is a cylinder, perhaps aluminum, pivoted with its axis horizontal between two axle pins near the base of the boom, 3/8 inch (9.525 mm) in diameter, with the 10-32 threaded hole through the middle perpendicular to the axis

The string should be white (early) or black (late), not green, as it seems to be in your photograph.