2.16. Freight Crane
This portside crane sorta kinda co-justifies the rolling lift bridge, not that the layout needs to make that much sense. The first thing I did was try to arrange the crane platform and the rails on which it rode (flex track cut into strips) such that it might detract—at least maybe a little—from the massive uncoupler solenoid. Not sure how successful I've been, but it at least it all fits together pretty well:
As far as the kit build was concerned, I found myself facing a flood of 50-year-old memories about just how poorly some of the parts fit, and the need to do a fair bit of trimming and sanding to make things work. Also, this time around I faced the fact that some styrene gets quite brittle over time, and the crane boom parts practically disintegrated as I assembled them. Worse, MEK made the parts even more brittle and unwilling to bond, and I wound up slathering the whole boom in cyanoacrylate to keep it together. A good heavy coat of paint and a very liberal application of rust and weathering were needed to make it halfway presentable. Except for the hook and cables, the crane was done on 20 April 2019; installation took place on 4 March 2021.
Subsequent to all of this, I moved what was once a phone/relay shed, located at one end of the rolling lift bridge (and originally the pumphouse for the now defunct industrial water tower), over next to the crane to serve as little control booth for electrical stuff, which I thought was appropriate especially after I'd hatched a plot to add lighting to the facility...
Pola B249
Faller 2150 — Water Tower
Source of the little control booth.
