Union Pacific BIG Hook.

Very Nice Shot!!

It looks like this has a very long boom.  I wonder if it started out as a wrecking crane, and was thereafter modified for use as a MofW crane?

@Number 90 posted:

It looks like this has a very long boom.  I wonder if it started out as a wrecking crane, and was thereafter modified for use as a MofW crane?

 

Tom,

I wonder if maybe the use of a wide-angle lens makes the boom look so long? By the size of the "Big Hook" and all the cables running to its pulley, I'm guessing that is a 250 tone capacity wrecker. Sure would be nice to see a side view of that big guy.

Tom this is the only other shot I took of it. Don

There are a couple of photos here from 35 years ago: http://www.rrpicturearchives.n...cture.aspx?id=325540

Also, a lot of info on this one and others: https://utahrails.net/up/900000-derricks.php

Tom, checked another set of photos from another fishing trip and did shoot some side shots. Don

OK, now we know more about that "Big Hook". According to the site "Utah Rails", it was built in 1969, converted to diesel power in the early 1970s, assigned to Rawlins, WY, and as of November 2019 was assigned to Portola, CA.. It is indeed a 250 ton capacity wrecker.

That Western Pacific style feather above the UP logo is curious. 4-wheel or 6 wheel trucks? I can't tell. 

@breezinup posted:

That Western Pacific style feather above the UP logo is curious.

Why? Portola, CA is on the original Western Pacific, at the "top" of the Feather River Canyon, also where the Western Pacific RR Museum is located.

4-wheel or 6 wheel trucks? I can't tell. 

6 wheel trucks on a large 250 ton wrecker like that.

@breezinup posted:

That Western Pacific style feather above the UP logo is curious. 4-wheel or 6 wheel trucks? I can't tell. 

Note (b) on the Utahrails site states: "UP 903045 (2nd) was assigned to Portola, California, after the merger with Western Pacific in 1983."

That may explain the presence of the WP feather.

Lots of stuff hanging around Portola. Don

@Training Wheels posted:

Note (b) on the Utahrails site states: "UP 903045 (2nd) was assigned to Portola, California, after the merger with Western Pacific in 1983."

That may explain the presence of the WP feather.

So it was originally a Western Pacific derrick? Seems odd that the UP would leave the feather on it, given that they usually seem intent on erasing any vertiges of previous railroads on their equipment. 

In any case, it's nice to see these still on "active duty." Obviously there is still some call for them in certain situations. I wasn't sure how many were still active. I believe the NS has one in Roanoke, and the Canadian Pacific has one (I think). Don't know how many more are still active.

@breezinup posted:

So it was originally a Western Pacific derrick?

No, it was not.

Seems odd that the UP would leave the feather on it, given that they usually seem intent on erasing any vertiges of previous railroads on their equipment. 

Nowadays, yes. But probably not back then, when the wrecker was reassigned from Rawlins, WY to Portola, CA. Apparently management in far away Omaha, let the locals do as they saw fit.

Local customizations?  Keeping WP intellectual property alive?

There is another derrick there in Western Pacific colors but with a Union Pacific loco on the side. Don

@Hot Water posted:

OK, now we know more about that "Big Hook". According to the site "Utah Rails", it was built in 1969, converted to diesel power in the early 1970s, assigned to Rawlins, WY, and as of November 2019 was assigned to Portola, CA.. It is indeed a 250 ton capacity wrecker.

Not to point out what I thought was obvious, but doesn't the "biggest hook" have 250 T stenciled on it (like the 70 T on the smaller hook)?  : - )

@scale rail posted:

We had a nearly identical Jordan Spreader on the Santa Fe where I worked.  I don't know if it was assigned to the Los Angeles Division or to the entire Coast Lines (lines west of Belen, NM) but it showed up at intervals when there was heavy maintenance being done on the track and right of way.  I was called to shove it through all the sidings on Cajon Pass after a snowstorm, the only snowplow duty there for years.  And I can recall shoving it through a couple of mudslides.

We called it "the Batmobile".

@PRRrat posted:

Not to point out what I thought was obvious, but doesn't the "biggest hook" have 250 T stenciled on it (like the 70 T on the smaller hook)?  : - )

In the photos posted later, yes, however that stenciling was not all that visible in the original photos posted. 

I saw the 250 T on the early pictures. All you have to do on most of my photos is hit the picture to enlarge. Don

Yet another interesting piece of equipment at Portola. The Milwaukee Road had these powered by steam but later added pantographs and ran them as electrics. Don

@Hot Water posted:

OK, now we know more about that "Big Hook". According to the site "Utah Rails", it was built in 1969, converted to diesel power in the early 1970s, assigned to Rawlins, WY, and as of November 2019 was assigned to Portola, CA.. It is indeed a 250 ton capacity wrecker.

I find it hard to believe that it was built as a steam powered crane in 1969.  The "Utah Rails" site states that UP started to receive diesel powered cranes in 1956 and that the last steam powered crane (902006) was retired in 1979.

Tom

@scale rail posted:

Yet another interesting piece of equipment at Portola. The Milwaukee Road had these powered by steam but later added pantographs and ran them as electrics. Don

Sure it and the F unit slug is not SP?

Scale rail, thanks for posting those interesting pieces of MOW equipment.  I noticed on the UP/WP big hook that the last section of the boom was turned upward, I wonder what the reason was for having it point upward instead of downward like most booms that I've seen anyway.  I found it very interesting.  Nice set of pics, thanks for sharing, good thread.

@J. Motts posted:

Scale rail, thanks for posting those interesting pieces of MOW equipment.  I noticed on the UP/WP big hook that the last section of the boom was turned upward, I wonder what the reason was for having it point upward instead of downward like most booms that I've seen anyway.  I found it very interesting.  Nice set of pics, thanks for sharing, good thread.

Some 3rail hobbyist took it apart and couldn't remember how to put it back together! 😉

Dominic, my post was poorly written. I didn't mean that particular plow was converted to electric operation. They could be SP units but I would guess they are Western Pacific because they are part of the WP museum. Don

Those are SP rotary and B unit for power. WP got rid of its rotary in 1960s, as I recall.  It was stream, never converted to electric like SP units.   WP is a much lower route and does not have the issues with snow that SP does. Above, the smaller green wrecking derrick is WP 37. It is a 200 ton Derrick built in 1937, and was converted to  diesel in early 1970s.  It was assigned to Orville. WP’s second wrecking Derrick was stationed at Elko and would be brought west when needed in Feather River canyon. Rail mounted derricks are required in Feather River canyon because much of it is not accessible by highway vehicles. That is why UP keeps one of its few remaining derricks at Portola.