Question on New Haven wreck cranes?

The big New Haven Railroad cranes were built by Industrial Brownhoist. They were actually locomotive cranes (ie self-propelled). They were all black; cabs, and the “car” the cabs were mounted on. The 3 cranes were D-100: located at  New Haven, D-101: located at Providence, D-102: located at Oak Point.

Any movement of the 230-ton crane under its own power would generally be for the immediate area only.  When towed to and from wherever, its maximum speed was 25 m.p.h.

Keep in mind that these big cranes had numerous restrictions on where they could not operate.

Extracted from Time Table No. 6, effective 2.01 A.M., Sunday, October 26, 1958:

Maximum Speed for Particular Equipment
All derricks – 25 M.P.H.
Additional restrictions for Derricks D100, D101 and D102 are as follows:

• When in transit, smokestack and auxiliary cab light must be removed.
• One car to be placed between derrick and engine handling train.
• Oak Point – Must not be operated beyond shore line at float bridges.
• South Mt. Vernon – Must not be operated through third rail shoe rake-off blocks 940 feet west of S.S. 20.  If required to go beyond this point, rake-off blocks must be removed temporarily.
• New Rochelle Yard – Must not operate on yard lead track across Cedar Street Bridge No. 5.05, 1970 feet east of New Rochelle station.
• Port Chester – Must not exceed 10 M.P.H. at Bridge 13.75, King Street, first underpass east of passenger station.
• Stamford – Must not exceed 10 M.P.H. at Bridge 20.86, Greenwich Avenue, first underpass entering Stamford from the west.
• Bridgeport – Must not exceed 10 M.P.H. between Burr Road, S.S. 55, and East Bridgeport, S.S. 63.  Must not operate on Old Botsford Main north of Congress St., Bridge No. 0.26 first underpass north of passenger station.
• Branchville and Ridgefield – Must not be operated.
• Must not be operated between (Dike St.) Olneyville and Pascoag; East Providence and Bristol; River Point and Arkwright (Woonsocket – Winter St. yard and Slatersville and Hamlet Branch); Groton Old Main; Norwich C.V. connection.  Must not exceed 10 M.P.H. between Norwood Central and Valley Falls, and over Shaws Cove drawbridge.
• Must not be operated between:
•     Boston and Back Bay
•     Boston Terminal and South Bay Jct.
•     South Bay Jct. and Braintree
•     Neponset and Milton
•     Braintree and West Quincy
•     Matfield and West Bridgewater
•     Westdale and East Bridgewater
•     Forest Hills and West Roxbury
•     Readville and Dedham
•     Weir Jct. and Dean Street
•     New Bedford and Watuppa
•     Franklin Jct. and Milford
•     Medway and Woodside
•     Lancaster Branch
•     Framingham – Prison Branch
• Must not exceed 10 M.P.H. between Canton Jct. and Canton, Buzzards Bay and Woods Hole, Braintree Highlands and Randolph.

Cranes D-100 to D 102 weighed more than an I-5 4-6-4 Hudson —  In working order with coal and water they weighed 379,000 lbs. vs 365,300 lbs for an I-5 in working order without a tender.  The weight on each I-5 driver was 64,300 lbs.only slightly more than the 63,400 lbs on each axle of the front crane truck.  Is there any wonder there were restrictions.

Readers might be interested to know that the New Haven used the terms Derrick and Crane interchangeably.  For example, in the Mechanical Department diagrams D-100 to D-102 are called 230 Ton Capacity Steam Locomotive Cranes while the 150 Ton Capacity D-3 to D-6 diesel powered units are called Wrecking Derricks even though all have similar booms and operated similarly (D-3 was not self-propelled).  There was also the H series (H-47 to H-57) which stoood for Hoist (built by American Hoist and Derrick Co.) which were labeled Loco Cranes.  Webster’s dictionary isn’t much help in identifying the difference between Derrick and Crane but Webster says Derrick originated with the name of an 18th century English hangman — derrick is an obsolete term for hangman or gallows.

“And a Crane is a wading bird with long legs.”

 – So does that mean a “Loco Crane” is one that has mental health issues?

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