070404 Once a mainstay of railroad work equipment, large railroad cranes, commonly caller wreckers for their role in cleaning up railroad accidents, mostly reside in railroad museums or have been scrapped. This former Norfolk Southern crane now resides in the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke, Va.
Railroad accidents today are mostly cleaned up with either multiple crawler tractors supplied by a contractor or, in the case of minor derailments, with hydraulic lifting equipment. Where railroads still own their own cranes, they are typically of the hi-rail variety, meaning that they are rubber tired cranes that are also equipped with retractable flanged wheels that allow them to operate on railroad tracks.
The large railroad wrecking cranes, while quite powerful, were also extremely heavy. They had to be counterbalanced to be able to lift heavy loads without tipping over. Their weight made them too heavy to operate on branches without heavy-duty infrastructure. And, because of their weight, getting them to the scene of an accident often required lengthy circuitous routing. Today, it's simpler to bring in salvage equipment by highway, either on its own wheels or on flatbed trailers, in the case of crawler tractors.
Use your browser's "Back" button to return to the page from which you accessed this image.
[Business] [Transportation
data & commentary] [Stock
photo newsletters]
[Ernest H. Robl Home Page] [Pictures
by category]
All content of this site is protected by copyright. None of the content of this site may be used for any purpose without specific written permission and the payment of applicable fees.