I have just received word that BNSF wrecker #D-250 has been sold to Double R, Inc. in Haver, MT. Double R intends to put the crane on display with the GN steam locomotive in town.

Industrial Brownhoist C/ N 12234 250 tons Wrecker 09-54 diesel
Great Northern Ry #X-1743 (rebuilt with new cab)
Burlington Northern #972009>D-250 05-73
Burlington Northern Santa Fe D-250
Double R. Inc. Havre, MT 2021

It never fails to amaze me that railroads want to junk things like this? It doesn't cost much to keep them around "just in case". I'm reminded of an accident several years ago on CSX's 17- mile grade. It was after a snowfall and CSX had sold off their last Russell plow, so a unit coal train depended on the locomotive pilot plow to clear away snow. Ice built up between the car brake shoes and wheels so the engineer lost control. When he got to the bottom of the grade he had his locomotives and 5 or so hoppers and nothing else. The rest of the train was scattered down the grade- I can't remember exactly but I think a nearby resident was hit by one of the cars and killed. All because they wanted to save on the minor maintenance cost of a Russell plow. I'm sure BNSF has a good reason to get rid of this wrecker, but still...? Glad she's being saved. Ned


Here's a pic from google earth. Hope this works. She sits on a disconnected piece of track in the yard.

https://www.google.com/maps/@48.5544978 ... 328!8i1664

I have heard of several wreckers that were retired after the last operator left. It is not so much the cost of keeping the machine as the cost of the crew to run it.

As highlighted by the death of one rail preservationist by the toppling of another rail crane at a wreck years ago, the existence of such a crane is only a start--one needs TRAINED derrick operators to SAFELY operate a piece of equipment NOT in routine railroad use, that indeed the RR hopes never to need to use.

Thus the shift over time to companies like Hulcher, Cranemasters, and RJ Corman--where the equipment and their operators find regular use--for such work.

[quote="nedsn3"]It never fails to amaze me that railroads want to junk things like this? It doesn't cost much to keep them around "just in case". I'm reminded of an accident several years ago on CSX's 17- mile grade. It was after a snowfall and CSX had sold off their last Russell plow, so a unit coal train depended on the locomotive pilot plow to clear away snow. Ice built up between the car brake shoes and wheels so the engineer lost control. When he got to the bottom of the grade he had his locomotives and 5 or so hoppers and nothing else. The rest of the train was scattered down the grade- I can't remember exactly but I think a nearby resident was hit by one of the cars and killed. All because they wanted to save on the minor maintenance cost of a Russell plow. I'm sure BNSF has a good reason to get rid of this wrecker, but still...? Glad she's being saved. Ned

Snow / Ice build up wasn't direct cause.. defective MU cable prevented the Dynamic brakes from operating on the rest of the locomotive consist. There is a DOT report on the accident... as for the fatality, the young man was buried under the hoppers that went thru his house....

The Fire Department I was Deputy Fire Chief of at the time operated at on the scene that day.

Tim W.

Maybe not but it was a proximate cause and that's really the point of what I was writing.

Not sure about this wrecker, but the 25 ton Mechanical Crane (Prov. & Worc TC-401/B&M 3301), we have at the Ct Eastern RR Museum in Willimantic, Ct was donated because the RR didn't have an operator strong enough to work the old clutch controls for a full shift. The last remaining operator had a bad back, and could only last for small projects. The other crane operators were used to the modern joystick controls on their hi-rail crane (also logistics of moving a Rail crane vs. Hi-Rail crane).

With all the RR cranes being scrapped in recent years, whenever I hear about another crane being 'saved,' I can't help but think for how long?

Another preserved wrecker that will probable get the torch.

Beisker, Alberta-Beisker Railway Museum formerly Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum
American C/N L3744 200 ton Wrecker Diesel 10-67
Canadian Pacific RR #414480 Calgary, AL
(Held at Ogden shops for disposal 2006)
ACRM 2007
(While in transit a journal burned and the crane was set out near Irricana, AB where it still sits. The museum is now defunct.)