# live steam crane's in 1:20:3/ 1/32



## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

I have been trying to find a company that sells a live steam crane,the only one that i found are the
car works ditcher an fine art models erie burkus crane that are elec,if there is a custom builder that builds them
or a company that sells them that woud be a big help,i have only seen a few people who have them,at shows
but not for sell,if anyone has any info,plans,a link to a company that would be a big help.

sincerly

Casey Wilmunder


my spelling is not the greatest


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

Casey,
Are you thinking about the Cowans 30 ton steam crane in England?
You can read about it on GScaleMad forum under live steam down near the bottom of the page at
http://www.gscalemad.co.uk/forum/index.php?s=c4bffcb255b4aab9d0d4492f54e6228a&showforum=26


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

something like that more like a 45 ton crane,is
there a company in england that makes them

sincerly

casey wilmunder


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Casey - there is not a company in England that builds them, but there is a MAN who builds them.  The demand for these models is not high, as you can imagine.

This one is electrically operated, but a steam-powered version is also possible - cost is around $13500 or so.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Dan Pantages (Jan 2, 2008)

Tac, is that pounds or dollars?


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Yo Dan - $13500 approximately, as I wrote in my post.  You, being a rich Canadian-type of guy, are more than welcome to pay £13500, approximately, if you so desire.  

That works out to about $27000 or so, give or take a gnat's f*rt.

Best

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

i would be interseted if it was a american carne, but that is the only one that i have seen in  live steam,
the price is a little high but not bad,right now im thinking about making my own live steam crane,
also i was reading the heisler article and said john hadden builds heislers an ditchers is there a 
way to contact him.

sincerly
Casey ilmunder

my spelling is not the greatest.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Dear Mr Wilmunder - I didn't make myself clear, that's for sure.  The gentleman who built Trevor's crane will build you anything you want, American or whatever, in return only for money.

I wouldn't have thought that the price would really matter that much to a man who has his own collection of full-size narrow gauge locomotives. 

It has also been mentioned that Mr Hadden is no longer in the business of building models.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Bob Starr (Jan 2, 2008)

I haven't seen Jim Hadden in a few years, but he does build beautiful cranes.  Here is a pic of him running one at the 2003 DH


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

Tac im only 13 years old and my dad has the narrow gauge collection of westside lumbr co,ohua railway an land compny,s.f cable car,speaders
i own the porter that runs at ardenwood reginal park in fremont califor.i do like english locos,wagons,mow equp i have a 3/4 scale tich i have been 
working on for about two years,the price i was expecting because of no one building cranes in live steam,the person is thournby models corrct me 
if im wrong i do alot more than my age building an working on fullsize locomotives and working with 7 1/2 gauge ride on live steam,about 4 years
ago was when i got started in live steam with a ruby them from there i started scratch building my locomotives.

sincerly

Casey wilmunder


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Casey, thank you for the explanation.  Keep at it - you have had a start in live-steam like nobody else I know.

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## chooch (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is a link from the Michigan Small Scale Live Steamers web site.  It is a 15 second, 1.2 meg video file of Jims crane.  This video was taken at Diamondhead in 2005.  Enjoy.

Click HERE for the steam shovel link.

Also ran across the Steam Dragon video while I was searching.  It is just amazing and always fun to watch.

Click HERE for the Steam Dragon link.


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

Fred,
The links you included don't seem to open on my computer.
Bruce


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## Pauli (Jan 3, 2008)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that most steamcranes were "one-offs". They seem to have been built to order. Unfortunately, I can't fint one of my favourites,  a Swedisch steamcrane around 1900. Three axle, looks very "homebrewed". There are sources that can be interpreted as if this crane even had self-propulsion along the track.

Anyway,  looking into the subject, I've concluded I really don't need a specific prototype. They all existed... " src="/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/biggrin.gif" />

The picture I'm missing, makes me wonder if the crane actually  had it's own boiler. If there was one, it would haver been a minuscule stanbding ship type boiler. But why would it have it's own boiler?!? Connect it to a steam locomotive!

As for a suitable steamengine in 1:32, I've been looking at Lutz Hielscher, who offers matchbox size engines.

Looking back at my HO era in my early youth (I switched to gauge 1 when 13), operating the classic Maerklin HO crane, was as much fun as operating the rest of the layout!

Making an operational crane, I am convinced, is probably one of the most fun projects available!


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## chooch (Jan 2, 2008)

Bruce,
  These files are not like YouTube.  They are not streaming videos.  The file should download to your computer first, then start playing.  Anyone else having a problem?

  You can always right click and select 'copy link location', then paste that into your browser.  I know that the links are good.


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## grumpfuttock (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By chooch on 03/23/2008 3:52 PM
Bruce,
  These files are not like YouTube.  They are not streaming videos.  The file should download to your computer first, then start playing.  Anyone else having a problem?

  You can always right click and select 'copy link location', then paste that into your browser.  I know that the links are good.



I also had a problem with the videos when I tried with Internet Explorer 7, I just got a blank page, however I copied the URL from the address line and opened the FireFox browser and pasted the URL, and Bingo! there was the video.  I always get this problem with Quicktime movies in IE, even though I have Quicktime installed on the PC. Now I know what to do next time a Quicktime video refuses to play


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I just clicked on the link and it opened a new IE-7 window which then opened a Windows Media Player window and ran the video.


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

About 3 minutes into my 5 minute Diamondhead 2008 Video there is a clip of Jim Hadden running his ditcher.


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

tac thank you for understanding about my age and what i do would the person 
that you said built the models of the cranes would be thournby.


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Fred
Videos worked on my system and computer setup, thanks.  The steam shovel along with Jim's rotary are two of my favorite steam machines.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Casey - the crane, which is all electric BTW, was built for Trevor Goodman by a friend of his who also builds for the Gauge 3 Society.  Trevor was the secretary of the G3 Society, which is why he has a good deal of his track in dual gauge /45mm.

Trevor is located in Thurnby, not far from the city of Leicester here in the UK, hence his e-mail tag.

I hope to be seeing him in the near future, dependent on an invitation, of course [] and I'll find out a bit more about the crane.

Best

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

Fred,
Thanks for your advice.  Every time you make an upgrade things get changed in the most unsuspecting of places. Play fine now that I reset what program was to play mpg files.  Thanks.


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## chooch (Jan 2, 2008)

Bruce,
  Glad you got everything straightened out.  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif  See you this summer sometime at at steamup here is Michigan?


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

Tac thank you for the info on the crane,you said that the person would
build any model of english or american,would he build a model of 
a heisler no1225 prather logging company/american box an lumber,
and then later to my grandfather,or if a company or persoon makes
casted or some kind of metal wheels for the heisler w/o the counter 
weights.

sincerly 
Casey Wilmunder


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## davidarf (Jan 2, 2008)

As there seems to be considerable interest in the cranes, I thought that you might like to see the short film I made of Trevor's Cowans Crane.  He asked me to film it on one of his visits to the Southampton area.  All I can add is that it is one of the most impressive pieces of model engineering that I have seen for some time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SngZu65etE
Regards

David


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## David BaileyK27 (Jan 2, 2008)

David, nice shots of the crane working.
In the 80's I produced a kit in 7mm scale ( O gauge) for a Cowans and Sheldon 36ton breakdown crane, we also sold a motorising kit and several working examples were built, our own pilot model was built with 4 electric motors, operating Lifting, derreking, slewing and Crankshaft Rotation, the control system used was the old Horny Zero 1 so we could operate the crane without touching any controls onboard, nowadays this could be achieved with DCC.
I still have the artwork for the etched parts and could produce them in other scales if enough interest, I intended to make a 1/32 scale kit but at the time there was very little interest.
The problems in building a Live Steam example are not easy to overcome as a crane of this type has reversing motion for the valve gear and each operation is controlled by sliding gears and brake drums from levers and foot controls in the cab.
I also produced a 1-20.3 D&RG Derrick OP kit five years ago, this was a non working model, although my one is fitted with a non working Donkey engine, but a working example could be built, the only problem is that the OP was operated by air from the pushing loco and so did not have a boiler for steam operation, the engine ran in one direction only and the Boom and Lifting gear was only powered in the up direction, lowering both was by gravity and drum brakes.
On Jim Haddens Ditcher it operates in a similar fashion with the engine running in one direction and the movements are by friction clutches for powering the ditcher parts and for reversing.
David Bailey ww.djbengineering.co.uk


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