Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Construction Cranes, models and images please

7346 views
52 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, March 26, 2020 2:37 PM

Do any railway cranes like that operate in the United States?

I was involved with one that was built in Wisconsin, but it was placed into service in Tibet. It could lift a locomotive off of one track, swing 180 degress and place the locomotive on another track. The railway cranes I have seen in the USA are different designs.

The one I am familiar with had a shockingy small diesel engine. Looking at the two pictures Brian posted of other rail crane models, those look like they also have very small engine compartments.

Brian, sorry, your Kibri model is barely similar. That is like saying a Ford pickup is similar to an EMD GP-40. They both have internal combustion engines and can pull things, but not really similar.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Thursday, March 26, 2020 3:02 PM

Brian, sorry, your Kibri model is barely similar



Yes you are correct. I guess I was just considering the boom construction style.

BTW, that boomed-out counterweight feature on the Kibri  #16000 is quite interesting. I though I had 2 of these, but I can't find the other one.

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, March 26, 2020 3:10 PM

railandsail
BTW, that boomed out counterweight feature on the Kibri #16000 is quite interesting.

Telescoping counterweights are an incredible technology and greatly increase the lifting capacity of a crane without increasing the size of the transport envelope.

They are also incredibly dangerous if they malfunction. I don't know of any crane tip-over that can be attributed to counterweight malfunction. The safeties and redundant sensors on these systems is bewildering.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Friday, March 27, 2020 1:05 PM

Track fiddler

I have one 

I never met a master styrene modeler that made me feel inferior before

The mans work was phenomenal

His display was at the big train show that only comes through St Paul about every 7 to 10 years

 

N scale all custom built piece-by-piece with styrene

 

I'm not saying I don't think I could do this but I would need a whole lot more time on my hands and a strong desire to want one to make the time

With that said  I just had to appreciate this talented artist's work

 

 

Stick out tongueTF

 

 

Those are wonderful models, but I wonder if they ever built something like these tracked vehicles to support crane loads like these tall structures could handle ??

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, March 27, 2020 1:21 PM

railandsail
I wonder if they ever built something like these tracked vehicles to support crane loads like these tall structures could handle ??

Brian, I am sorry, but I have read this sentence several times and I can not figure out what you are asking.

Could you please re-phrase the question.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    April 2013
  • 917 posts
Posted by Southgate on Saturday, March 28, 2020 12:42 AM

Look at the intracacy achievable with photoetching in this (unfinished) crane from Metal Earth.  It's probably about z scale, the HO A-100 pickup is there for scale comparison. So, if they were to take this pattern, enlarge it to HO, make the handrails and a few other details more proportional...

What an opportunity those with photoetching capabilities are passing up in not exploring the HO market, N scale, and any others with cranes and any number of other items that could best be made in this format, right? They have a Cat excavator That looks close enough to HO for me, although too modern for my layout.

Dan

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, March 28, 2020 8:12 AM

SeeYou190

 

 
railandsail
I wonder if they ever built something like these tracked vehicles to support crane loads like these tall structures could handle ??

 

Brian, I am sorry, but I have read this sentence several times and I can not figure out what you are asking.

Could you please re-phrase the question.

-Kevin

 

Sorry about my wording. What I was referring to is with tall heavy lift cranes like these I would think you would need a broader 'base system' /spread to support the crane rather than just that narrow, somewhat short track base??

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Phoenix, AZ
  • 693 posts
Posted by woodone on Saturday, March 28, 2020 9:11 AM

Langley Models makes some cranes in N scale ( really 148 scale).

I have built two and they look good.

don't think that I ever took a photo.

they cover other scales too.

 

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, March 28, 2020 9:13 AM

A couple of the model cranes I've collected up,..

Kibri #10438

 

Kibri #10738

 

Kibri #10784

 

Kibri #10202

  • Member since
    March 2011
  • 1,950 posts
Posted by NVSRR on Saturday, March 28, 2020 10:47 AM

Yes the outriggers do spread further on the prototype.    Altho rubber tire cranes are heavy,  they are limited to road weight limits. So the out riggers need to be longer to create a bigger footprint to make up for the lighter weight of the base unit.     Tracked cranes are far heavier.   For the same size lifting capacity.  A plus in tight working confines.   The tracked crane base is shipped in many pieces.   The tracks undercarriage assembly also telescopes outward to square up the footprint. Instead of a rectangle.  Something missed on models alot.    These tracked (crawler) cranes dont usually have outriggers because they are used in situations where loads need to be lifted the. Walked to location to be set.    Rubber tire cannt walk a load to position. Only swing it in.  

The only rubber tire cranes designed to walk a load are the RT (rough terrian) series.  But that is a limited function restricted to a light maximum weight and lift height.  And boom extentsion.     short didtance of travel as well.  That option is never really used unless absolutely needed.  Usually there is an excavator onsight that they will do that move with. It just easier.  and less liability if solething goes wrong

i dont approve that move on my sites as there is almost always an excavator  on site that can easily handle that load.  

 

Shane

A pessimist sees a dark tunnel

An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel

A realist sees a frieght train

An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, March 28, 2020 1:16 PM

Interesting link posted on another forum...

https://www.liebherr.com/en/usa/products/mobile-and-crawler-cranes/mobil...

You might like their site here if you have never checked it out Brian.  Other crane companies have the same thing.

Here is a company we use at work frequently.

https://ccgroup-inc.com/

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, March 28, 2020 4:33 PM

NVSRR
That option is never really used unless absolutely needed. Usually there is an excavator onsight that they will do that move with. It just easier. and less liability if solething goes wrong i dont approve that move on my sites as there is almost always an excavator on site that can easily handle that load.

My experience has been the same. Even cranes designed as "lift and carry" units are seldom used for that. There is usually a better option available.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, March 28, 2020 6:04 PM

railandsail

I saw this crane being used on the layout of the York Pa model railroad club,...

 

 

How might you put that piece into place, if it arrived basically assembled?

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Saturday, March 28, 2020 6:09 PM

I get it that the crawler types can be much heavier than those with tires, ...BUT what good is all that weight going to do when you have very long lever arms (very tall booms) creating big overturning moments when only 'reaching out' just a little bit.

I don't think many folks understand how critical that can be,...including me at times.

  • Member since
    April 2013
  • 917 posts
Posted by Southgate on Saturday, March 28, 2020 7:59 PM

railandsail



I don't think many folks understand how critical that can be,...including me at times.

 

Yeah, that would include quite a number of crane operators too. Just watch "crane fails" on you tube. Some accidents can be attributed to mechanical or structural failures and such, but some are pure miscalculation and stupidity. 

Dan

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, March 28, 2020 8:11 PM

railandsail
How might you put that piece into place, if it arrived basically assembled?

That scene is absolutely not in any respect realistic for how that component would be installed with a crane.

railandsail
..BUT what good is all that weight going to do when you have very long lever arms (very tall booms) creating big overturning moments when only 'reaching out' just a little bit.

As I said in a previous post, modern cranes are extremely complicated and loaded with sensors and redundant safety systems.

There is a reason why crane operators are so well paid.

If you have ever been on a job site with a mediochre crane operator, you will instantly appreciate working with a good one.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,675 posts
Posted by maxman on Saturday, March 28, 2020 11:00 PM

SeeYou190
  the Classic Construction Models Manitowoc model 4600

Back in 1970 one of my first jobs was to walk with the Peach Bottom nuclear plant reactor vessel from the barge at Havre De Grace, Md., to the jobsite.  The vessel was carried suported on each end by a modified base of a 4600W.  The load broke down on the I-95 medial strip.

So an urgent call was made to the jobite to have "pads for a 4600W" delivered ASAP.  After a wait, a trailer load of pads roared up.  Pads, you see, are those heavy timber beams linked together to make a mat to support a heavy cranes weight.

Unfortunately the "pads" needed are also the rectangular rubber (metal?) sections that make up a crane's track.  What we had there was a failure to communicate.

As an aside, the reactor vessel was basicaly a round cylinder that had a bunch of stubs to which piping got attached.  The insurance company rep visited the load every day.  So one of the iron workers got a ladder and penciled in a jagged line between two of the stubs.  From the ground it looked like a crack.  When the rep got there we were all standing around looking up at the "crack".  Insurance company reps do not have a sense of humor.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,226 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, March 28, 2020 11:53 PM

My first week on the job at GE. I was a Millwright-C (apprentice) Our task was to remove the catwalks on top of the tank to be replaced.

 CWW_jan29_0018 by Edmund, on Flickr

 

SeeYou190
If you have ever been on a job site with a mediochre crane operator, you will instantly appreciate working with a good one.

 CWW_jan29_0019 by Edmund, on Flickr

This guy set that tank in place like setting a milk bottle back in the holder.

Often times we had to work out of sight of the operator, say well into the roof area.

 GEfaceAK_0010 by Edmund, on Flickr

 

With simply relaying hand signals we could place a piece of equipment, sometimes lowering it through a hole cut into the roof, with velvet-glove precision.

 GEfaceAH_0041 by Edmund, on Flickr

 GEfaceAG_0014 by Edmund, on Flickr

Sometimes I miss those days.

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, March 29, 2020 1:29 AM

gmpullman
With simply relaying hand signals we could place a piece of equipment, sometimes lowering it through a hole cut into the roof, with velvet-glove precision.

I once had to remove a cooling tower from the roof of an urgent care center.

The crane operator that showed up did not know the standard hand signals, and very quickly we had a bad situation on our hands.

After that, I always specified the crane companies we would work with.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Sunday, March 29, 2020 9:21 AM

Interesting 'personal' observations,...thanks

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Sunday, March 29, 2020 9:31 AM

maxman
Back in 1970 one of my first jobs was to walk with the Peach Bottom nuclear plant reactor vessel from the barge at Havre De Grace, Md., to the jobsite. The vessel was carried suported on each end by a modified base of a 4600W. The load broke down on the I-95 medial strip.

I graduated from Aberdeen high school, and knew Havre de Grace pretty well.
My question is was it the dam on the Conowingo river that kept them from barging that reactor piece up the river to the job site?

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,675 posts
Posted by maxman on Sunday, March 29, 2020 12:24 PM

railandsail
My question is was it the dam on the Conowingo river that kept them from barging that reactor piece up the river to the job site?

I don't know how deep the river would be if the dam weren't there.  Total weight of the load was around 1000 tons if I remember correctly.  The would also have needed a place to ground the barge to be able to lift/roll the load off the end.

  • Member since
    February 2009
  • 1,983 posts
Posted by railandsail on Monday, March 30, 2020 8:19 AM

Cranes and Steel Mills

Hey Brian and All,

Just 2 days ago I stumbled upon an amazing video (in my mind) of a layout that has some serious detailed history of PA steel mills.  The owner has incorporated very historic/realistic operations of steel mills in western PA but also included the heavy construction side of these massive complexes

For Brian...this video has modeled heavy construction cranes...and the steel mill aspect that you brought up in older topics.

It was made by Mr. Stephen Bennet and he filmed Mr. Scott Woods layout.

Hope this give you several ideas Brian. (pay attention in the background....there are cranes everywhere.)

 https://youtu.be/YgltMfmFZp4

***************************************

There are a number of cranes thruout this video,...per these examples

https://youtu.be/YgltMfmFZp4?t=2270

https://youtu.be/YgltMfmFZp4?t=3482

 

 

 

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!