Got an IHC Barnhart Log Loader Crane on ebay for $10. The base had no wheels and only had grooves to slide on rails attached to a flat car. Since I wanted a smaller more compact unit that had its own wheels and couplers, I ground off the slots in the base and attached it onto a small kitbashed 6 wheel flat car made from an old metal passenger car truck and a piece of scrap from a cut up flat car, and a couple of Kadee #148 couplers with draft boxes...
Very cool. I had a model of a Barnhart many years ago, it was brass and actually rotated and the boom worked. I think it was made by MEW (Model Engineering Works), I wish I still had it. Another variation might be to put some tracks (from a tank) underneath it for "off road" use. Woodie
Hi Woodie, Yes, I'm familiar with Model Engineering Works. That small diecasting business used to be located about 40 miles from where I live. I have two of their all diecast metal cabooses. One I assembled from an old kit made in 1953... The other was a factory assembled RTR... One of their all metal unassembled crane kits showed up on ebay not long ago, but it looked like one of the pieces was missing. If I see another one, I'll PM you, and won't bid because I'm satisfied with the plastic and metal one. Greg
Thanks for the thought Greg...these days, that crane would need to be about 1:35 scale to fit in my operation. I had one of those Grasse River caboose models, my old friend still has one plus a few of the old MEW HO log cars. In a box, I still have bits & pieces for an MEW 44 ton HO loco. It was powered with a Lindsey motor and had spring belts to drive the trucks. You know, Keystone made the GR caboose kit also, some may still be around. Thanks for the memories. Woodie
Oh... that's right. Sorry, I should have remembered from your pics. Ironically, today I saw on ebay what looks to be an old die cast Brownhoist crane with a rare clamshell bucket and an $11 bid on it, but it's 1/87... so that guy standing in the cab would be a midget in your world...
The cab was still sitting too high so I removed the base and drilled the flat car and the cab for a self threading screw and plastic bushing so that the cab will still rotate smoothly like the original... It has a cleaner look now.
Greg, Great job on the crane. That caboose had a prototype, a logging railroad IIRC called Grass Valley. I have one also, and someday hope to measure out an S scale version. I picked up some Arch bar trucks to put under it. While not exactly like the ones in your picture, they are the closest I'll get. That caboose looks good behind your mini box cab.
Hi Greg, Thanks. The 1953 kit had the original directions and a picture of the actual prototype. If you'd like to see it, I'll try to scan it in. Yeah, those little caboose trucks are an oddity in that their wheelbase is far shorter than any other truck I've seen. You're going to make a little S scale caboose? Cool! That will be unique! Do post some pics if you can. I've got some old cheap plastic cabooses coming in the mail that I'm going to experiment on by shortening them. The placement of the windows is the obstacle in where the cuts are made in that they need to look logical when reassembled. Greg
Nice adaptation. There are so many possibilities for kit-bashing and scratch-building on some of these narrow gauge prototypes. That's what they were doing in many cases themselves, kit-bashing and scratch-building in the home shops.
That little Grasse River caboose was a standard gauge hack. Looks like NG, but the real thing ran on an Eastern US logger. See what you can dig up on that railroad. As I remember, the directions for the kit were rather sparse, the body was a single piece casting. Those neat looking trucks were...how shall I say it..very lousy rolling and tracking unless lots of time was spent on them. MEW made the one shown and Keystone made a kit of this a few years back. For such an obscure car, to have at least 2 kits made of it is something. If you want funky NG caboose looks, check out the Mann's Creek NG caboose. It makes the GR caboose look like a Pullman car! Woodie
Here ya go... They're kind of small, but you can magnify them by holding down the Ctrl key while you rotate the mouse scroll wheel. Greg
Tooter, Sweet, thanks for the scan of the instructions. Also a nice MofW car, better looking without the cupola IMHO. Greg