Western Railroad Discussion > Coast Line Crane

On my weekly 5 hour commute up to Monterey we came across this interesting crane parked across from Camp Roberts along the former SP Coast Line.  It has been parked here for at least a few weeks.  Anyone know the history behind this machine.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

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Don Strack has a bit about it in the caption to this photo (which shows it with a pile driver attachment):

https://donstrack.smugmug.com/UtahRails/Union-Pacific/UP-Derricks/i-q4W2NQV/A

His website says American & Ohio Locomotive Crane rebuilt it in 2013:

https://utahrails.net/up/900000-derricks-roster.php

It came down from the bay area a while ago on a "work train" .  Other than picking up old ties from the last tied renewal project maybe 6 months ago (which is usually done by a "slot machine")  I cant imagine what its here for.  

Some kind of strange tool car and a 2nd idler car too...

Maybe they are donating it to Camp Roberts.     Seems Just about all the crane work done on the RR these days is by highrail crane trucks

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/25 22:33 by pdt.

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seems Just about all the crane
> work done on the RR these days is by highrail
> crane trucks

UP still needs these locomotive cranes for use as pile drivers. The idler cars ahead of the crane itself are to support the lattice boom, and to hold the pile driver attachment. These are scattered across the system, prepositioned for emergency use to repair a bridge in case of a washout or similiar event. Photos are very rare.

I have this page about cranes and derricks, which includes a link to a separate page about the companies that build them.

https://utahrails.net/up/cranes-derricks.php

Don Strack

donstrack Wrote:

> UP still needs these locomotive cranes for use as
> pile drivers. The idler cars ahead of the crane
> itself are to support the lattice boom, and to
> hold the pile driver attachment. These are
> scattered across the system, prepositioned for
> emergency use to repair a bridge in case of a
> washout or similiar event. Photos are very rare.
>
> I have this page about cranes and derricks, which
> includes a link to a separate page about the
> companies that build them.
>
> https://utahrails.net/up/cranes-derricks.php


Very detailed work.  Looking at your page I see these machines are not as old as I thought.  Perhaps the machine is staged here to support bridge replacement along the Coast Line.

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com