Lionel 6460-25 Bucyrus Erie Crane - a flat car or caboose to accompany?

The Lionel DL&W work caboose 6119-100 works with the crane car, this is the combination that I use for a work train.

As I remember, during the postwar era Lionel seemed to alway pair the crane with a work caboose such as the DL&W that John Ochab suggested.  That being said, it's your railroad do what you wish.  You could also  use a gondola or flat car which would be prototypical as would the work caboose.  I think work cabooses were generally used as tool cars / crane tenders which may have housed tools, lubricants, chains, etc  for the crane plus a space to cradle the crane's boom.    The work caboose didn't always appear at the end of a work train, as depicted in the Lionel catalogues of the 1950s.    Although I have a 2 work cabooses, I usually pair my crane car ( an MTH Railking model ) with a gondola.  

In addition to Lionel's work caboose you might want to check out work cabooses by K line and MTH too.  I hope you enjoy your, new to you, crane!

The one set I own that came with a crane, The Maple Leaf Limited from 1981 (6-1158) didn’t have a work caboose or gondola. All of the TMCC and Legacy crane cars had matching work cabeese. My first train from around 1963 didn’t have a crane, but did have a work caboose similar to the one referenced by John, above. Mine was a Santa Fe 6130. If you can find one for sale, it might be a nice match for your crane.

the first Southern set bought even though not prototypical paint scheme.

Sold off the crane but kept work caboose for a project after buying this.

The Southern crane at the NCTM in Spencer NC.

But as I posted in another thread the PRR did not use Boom work cabooses.  The PRR just slung the crane booms over a flat car or Gondola.

Ron

While not a great photo, it was the only one handy, Lionel made a work caboose with a search light a few years ago...this was on my old, former layout. We had some incidents of "rough switching."

Tom

Haven’t seen it mentioned in this thread, but K-Line made a boom car with a brace to support the crane car it was coupled to. This was an elegant solution for Lionel O gauge crane cars, to keep the boom from swiveling in curves. The Southern, pictured above, is a spot on paint match for the Lionel Southern crane car. Pretty sure K-Line didn’t make a Lionel Lines boom car, but you could probably get one in a close color match, such as the red CNJ version.

@John Ochab posted:

The Lionel DL&W work caboose 6119-100 works with the crane car, this is the combination that I use for a work train.

My brother got the same crane as a kid 65 years ago, and it was paired (by the store) with the DL&W work caboose. When you see cranes on the prototype, they are often paired with flat cars or gondolas as idler cars, so my 6460 (pictured), which had no matching work caboose, is usually similarly paired (by me).

I also attach my 2016 photo of the C&NW crane at IRM, with its boom car/ flat car just ahead of it.

As others have noted - a work caboose is a good choice