JNR Crane Car SO-80

[Krackel Hopper]

hey hey,

 

Not sure if this post is better here or under the "N Gauge" forum..

 

I did some searching around but came up empty on info about this crane car.

 

 

Someone is selling one on Ebay for fairly cheap so far..

http://cgi.ebay.com/TOMIX-N-YELLOW-CRANE-CAR_W0QQitemZ200409936627QQcmdZViewItemQQptZModel_RR_Trains?hash=item2ea95cf2f3#ht_2112wt_958

 

My real question is.. what exactly are/were these cranes used for?  Where would I see them on a railway?  What type of loco would be hauling them?  What else would be hauled with one of these cranes? (ballast cars?  MoW type box cars?)  I think one of these cranes would look really cool.. I just have no idea how/what for/where they are used on a railway..

 

Thanks

Jon

[David]

They are usually for specialized MoW.

 

One use is for carrying away torn up rail lines (this can sometimes be with the sleepers included, making it look like it's carrying some 1:1 scale sectional track), another is for transporting the new rails to a site that can be accessed by rail (such as a single line being made into a double if they are willing to shutdown the still operational track).

 

But perhaps the best known use of cranes like that are for recovering derailed or otherwise too damaged to continue engines and rolling stock. I think that's a diesel - before diesel there where steam powered versions with either their own steam plant, or a hook up that connected to the locomotive that pulled it.

[marknewton]

It's a breakdown crane, used for lifting derailed rollingstock. MoW/perway cranes tend to be much lighter than this.

 

http://f-kawasaki.sakura.ne.jp/car/so00080_index.htm#top

 

I've worked on a few steam cranes, and seen many others, in all cases they had their own steam generating plant. I've never seen one that took steam from another locomotive, nor would I expect to. There's too many problems inherent in supplying steam to a crane that way to make it feasible.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.