Sunday Afternoon at Empire Station

Greetings All,

This past Sunday I put together one of those trains you won't see every day. The Crane Train. Over the years we've accumulated several railroad cranes from various manufacturers and in various road names. Admittedly I don't run MOW trains on a regular basis but every now and then they do make a guest appearance. This week I had the urge to run some of my crane trains in a single train. Here is the 1/87th scale back story.

Empire Crane and Shovel is located on the outskirts of Empire City. E.C.& S. repairs, rebuilds and refurbishes all types of cranes and heavy lift equipment. With the 5th season (mud season) fast approaching in certain parts of the country the demand for railroads having all their MOW equipment ready and able is a high priority. With the demand for a quick turn around E.C.&S. has been working a 24 hour schedule to get the cranes back to their respective customers. Having several cranes and tenders ready to go E.C.&S. contacted the N.Y.C.T.L. Movement Bureau and requested a priority move from Empire City to interchange locations with the concerned railroads. The N.Y.C.T.L.'s Terminal Yard ran the train on a Sunday afternoon to minimize delays on the system due to the slow speed of this train.

A review of the cranes on the roster revealed that this entry could also be called "Cranes from Around the World". Let's take a look;

Rock Island Crane and Tender a Tyco product made in Hong Kong

A generic gray MOW crane and tender are from Mehano and made in Yugoslavia

PRR Crane and Tender are from Athearn and were made in the USA.

Erie Lackawanna Crane and Tender are from Bachmann and made in China

This NYC crane is from Life Like. Unknown place of manufacture.
A gift from my buddy Engineer Ed

This PRR crane is from Liliput and made in Austria

A video of the action

Thanks for reading and watching!