The weird locomotives that could pick things up - Crane Tank Engines

[@TrainFactGuy]

Crane puns always lift my spirits

[@Henrytheblueengine669]

It's Harvey from Thomas the tank engine

[@Foxymorris9236]

​@@Henrytheblueengine669 I was gonna say the same thing, these are some of the really useful engines here

[@Wonder_Wondering]

Honestly if don't take much to get me hooked on a good pun

[@redensign1714]

How do You launder 100 Billion dollars..... Ukraine it.... I'll see myself out

[@sterobson]

Ok, you roped me in with that one. Yet another great video from "Chain Of Thought".

[@marshallhuffer4713]

When I first saw Harvey, I thought it was strange to see an engine with a crane arm. I had no idea that he was based off an actual engine that uses a crane.

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

The first thing I looked for upon seeing him was the prototype.

[@tancoplays3502]

The only engine not based on anything at least as far as season 24 is lady

[@otherside6580]

@@tancoplays3502 percy?

[@crimsonsomething]

​@otherside6580 well uh

[@azuma892]

Well it could be a Diesel 10 situation, no Warships in real life was fitted with a claw. 🤣

[@furioussherman7265]

The extent to which the people who made Thomas the Tank Engine did their homework with regards to finding real-life locomotives to base their characters off of always impresses me.

[@ciarangleeson2880]

Amen to that!

[@Dark-ql7kn]

Yeah, literally during any era of Thomas, they never abandon the rule of basing trains off irl from Audry, pretty cool if you ask me

[@connormclernon26]

@@Dark-ql7kneven the most terrible of Mattel series at least did that much

[@twinboo529]

They had one of these in Ireland, it worked as a shunter in the GNRI loco works in Dundalk as No. 31 and was built in 1928, although it was later scrapped in 1965.

[@ciarangleeson2880]

There was?

[@DentedPentax]

​@@ciarangleeson2880yes, there is a picture of it online

[@joshuaW5621]

Fellow Thomas fans will definitely recognise this engine.

[@roshasensi2220]

@the-airbus-A380 is that a bad thing? i understand if you dont like seeing people reference things but you're gonna see it all the time when you are on the internet

[@autobotoctolingthomasho3362]

Duck and Harvery

[@joshuaW5621]

@the-airbus-A380 you don’t like Thomas I see.

[@zhoevel]

Yep. Harvey.

[@zhoevel]

@the-airbus-A380 Oh

[@spagelsmegal]

Crane tank engines are so cool there’s actually quite a handful still around

[@florjanbrudar692]

Except the GWR pannier cranes.

[@ForemansEnterpriseChannel]

Actually, that 0-4-0 tank crane engine, IS the real life Harvey. I believe one of the engines is preserved today

[@FunAngelo2005]

Dubsy

[@lildudes_cankill8139]

It is and it is still USED

[@FunAngelo2005]

@@lildudes_cankill8139 pog

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

@@lildudes_cankill8139considering the utility of the design, that does not really surprise me.

[@spencers5898]

Those Pannier cranes look so cool. I like how they extended the base of the locomotive to make room for a crane rather than just sticking it on the boiler or cab. Seems like it allowed for better fuel capacity, a larger crane arm, and a less awkward profile (i.e. the arm doesn't stick out past the front buffers) compared to most crane tank engines. Then again, it was probably too large for a lot of indoor industrial work.

[@justinwilliam6534]

This would be the basis for Harvey the crane engine from Thomas.

[@SteamLance]

Only the Dubs design

[@nathanielcruz6675]

It also sucks that he was introduced to the series too late, and suffered the same fate as Salty.

[@CrystalClearWith8BE]

That's what we're all going to say. Also, crane engines can carry heavy loads and load and unload them on flatbeds and freight trucks/cars.

[@jaredhebert942]

​@@nathanielcruz6675How so? Salty was used in a lot more episodes than Harvey (at least 2-4 speaking roles a season from S6 through the bitter end, practically a regular); really wish the writer's room had -been allowed to take- more chances and use more characters with such an extensive cast

[@FunAngelo2005]

Yup, Harvey is unique

[@PaperThinArmor]

Finally a episode on Harvey I’d rather have you explain it then me searching up the point of his basis 😂

[@joelightrailway2362]

This is one my personal favourite locomotives because they’re interesting & unique of their one work, carrying parts for loco works & industry. That why I like them because they’re cool and the one at Foxfield reminds me of the design that Captain Baxter looks without the crane.

[@PatGilliland]

Those puns made me winch.

[@1_railfan]

Nice to be reminded that there’s other crane tanks out there other than Dubsy. Speaking of Dubsy, I remember at one point he was converted into oil burning as a fuel source until eventually he reverted back to coal.

[@FlyingDuckMan360]

2:43 - There's the engine that served as the basis for Harvey from Thomas and Friends.

[@cloudedarctrooper]

Aka: literally Harvey's basis. Jokes aside, I always found the idea of "crane trains" cool, because, well, obviously it was cool to my child brain that a train could pick up and move things on its own.

[@EdvardSætersmoen]

It just comes to show that putting two things isn’t always a bad idea

[@EdvardSætersmoen]

*together

[@matthew_natividad]

Hell look at traction engines

[@streetwatcher_]

Harvey with his crane looks strange but to take the strength of the railway 🎶

[@user-xsn5ozskwg]

I really enjoy this channel and all the odd and lesser-known train history you share with us.

[@Eevee007King]

This is one of the coolest locomotive in my opinion

[@bigblue6917]

The first one I came across was the one you show with the crane wrapped around the chimney at 5:12. Having never seen anything like it before I had to do a bit of a double take as I was not sure what was going on and how the crane was being supported but this I quickly worked out. I later saw the other variations and you can see how each one approached the task.

[@Straswa]

Great work ToT, nice to see the design where Harvey came from.

[@officialmcdeath]

Fascinating! Not seeing any outriggers or other stabilisation in these historic pics \m/

[@MrNeroDiablo]

Slinging around quiet a few puns there at the end.

[@rubentreingames6466]

Some dutch ns sik shunting locomotives also had a crane what was later amounted at there service, the crane could be used for example track maintenance. The first ns sik's came from 1934 many have lasted until 2008, after they would be unsafe according to occupational health and safety standards due to the lack of a dead man's system. Luckily many have been preserved for the upcoming generations to see including the crane engines.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

The cranes mounted on them were the hydraulic type of folding crane which you usually see on lorries, they were used in track maintenance duties. The sik was a Bo diesel-electric locotractor with a 3 cylinder 95hp engine. The name sik (goatee) came from a Dutch nickname for a goat, and the little diesel shunters were named like this because their exhaust gas driven whistle (never seen another loco with this kind of whistle) sounded like the bleating of a goat due to the exhaust pulses from the slow revving three cylinder engine blowing the whistle.

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

@@Tom-Lahayean appropriate name for a yard and maintenance locomotive.

[@nelsonmouatvergara]

2:54 this is best Harvey!!!🤩

[@XDHwilks]

I believe we have what used to be a crane tank here in Australia called Polly, although it was converted back to a regular side tank locomotive in the 80's.

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Love the use of Banjo Kazooie backing music on this one - really hooked me in and lifted my spirits...😁

[@TaronTT]

Hello Harvey! Glad you're still doing well mate! 😁😆

[@bikechainmic]

My Great Uncle built Hercules at Swindon as the crane part came under the Plant and machinary dept, not the Loco dept. The three GW crane tanks were used quite frequently on PW projects but in the end cranes with self propelling gears were found to be more cost effective than the crane tanks. pity as I would like to have seen one.

[@SYAFproductions]

I think, crane engine is a fantastic invention... I mean It could pick heavy metal on the line without the use of the breakdown crane

[@joshuacarljones5128]

Liking the Clanker's Cavern theme in the background 😃

[@johnfellows2867]

I worked on the crane tank " Roker " many year ago at the Foxfield Railway.

[@user-cl8xh6bc9y]

A really fascinating video - I didn't realise that there were that many designs of crane tank engines. I wonder what Duck would have made of Hercules and Cyclops🤔😁 Thank you, and well done 🙂

[@giddy1337]

At 5:22 the image of that crane steam engine is in the Newport railway museum, Newport, Victoria, Australia. (I’m just pointing it out.)

[@Kevin-go2dw]

No2, built by Dubs & Co in 1891.

[@randomnickify]

Thomas as "The Citizen Crane"

[@uncinarynin]

I see some safety concerns when operating these. 1. The arm, when not perfectly in its lowered and centered position, might exceed the loading gauge and crash against fixed infrastructure. 2. A crane needs a counterweight when lifting something heavy, and a solid base so it does not tip over. Especially when lifting up things next to the track there is the risk of moving the centre of travity outside the track gauge, in which case the locomotive will tip over to the side. A lot of cranes have additional supports that can swing out or move out by a telescopic mechanism, which means however that they can't move while lifting something up.

[@johnblackstock4092]

In 1966 as a school boy I had the pleasure of riding in Steam Crain Number 2 at Newport Workshops. This Crain is on display at the Newport Work Sops Museum Champion Rd, Williamstown. If the worlds current Health and Safety Standards were in place then, there is no way it hell; the Engineer would have allowed me to climb aboard. Lucky for me things were different back then.

[@jordaneriksson5417]

0:15 Thats one of the LNWR Cranes and in the background is a LNWR 17in Coal Engine

[@martynbuzzing3327]

It's nice to see a few examples being saved. It's a very interesting video, thanks.

[@J3scribe]

How fascinating. I never knew of these engines. Cool video.

[@stefangherman8408]

2:54 Harvey from TTTE

[@marty6779]

Cyclops looks like the product of an unfortunate combination of a Hornby Pannier, a Meccano kit and an exacto-knife

[@winterwatson6811]

i think it’s fantastic :D

[@marty6779]

@@winterwatson6811 i didn't say that I don't like it XD

[@Gust_The_Man]

2:45 Ah yes, Harvey from Thomas and Friends

[@skystriker4459]

One of these would end up being the basis for Harvey in ttte specifically Dubsy the very one I work with on the railway I volunteer on

[@pennysteam]

There is an operational one based at foxfield which you can see in several of my films

[@matsv201]

When bad puns are a crime against humanity

[@SportyMabamba]

Strap me to a missile and fire me into The Hague, I am ready

[@darylcheshire1618]

The Victorian Railways had a 3t No. 3 Steam Crane AKA “Polly”. It was kept in use up the 1980s. One use was a LPG powered platform cart fell onto the tracks at the busy Flinders St Station and Polly was dispatched to assist. Not 100% sure but I think the VR kept its steam cranes in steam 24-7 for immediate use.

[@DoctorProph3t]

What a fascinating lil story, I live just outside Melbourne, flinders is always an experience to visit. The railway history around Victoria is rich and unique, there’s a place a town over called Hoppers Crossing named after the couple that manned the railway crossing way back in the day. Wife managed the crossing, husband was a coppersmith or an engineer of some sort.

[@darylcheshire1618]

@@DoctorProph3t When I read the article, Hyland’s Bookstore was located in Flinders St near Spencer St corner and had a good view of the viaduct. It sold books and magazines of railway interest. It also placed adverts in the magazine I was reading. When Polly crossed the viaduct the crowded Hyland’s was instantly emptied.

[@DoctorProph3t]

@@darylcheshire1618 I bought a book from that shop! It’s an OG copy of Gathering Clouds, it was checked out of Longmann’s Library in Ohio US in 1896 and somehow found its way to this lil corner of the world.

[@DoctorProph3t]

@@darylcheshire1618 or… that may’ve been another bookshop further up flinders street. I have that city memorised. But I do know the one you’re talking about, can still see the OG building facade from the train coming into flinders from Old Spencer St station (now Southern Cross Station) Pretty sure it’s a cafe now, and the upstairs are apartments.

[@darylcheshire1618]

@@DoctorProph3t I forget exactly where it was but it had a good view of the viaduct, I might go there later in the week and check it out. BTW I did a little research and Polly was a 5t steam crane and it was retired in 1978. The magazine I read was probably a Divisional Diary, a work collegue loaded me the 1970s editions and I read them all.

[@onetrackmind3558]

Man you gotta love crane engines.

[@gregkiteos1936]

Nice set of puns at the end 😄

[@the_real_drwhoroblox1935]

What is weird was that at some point I actually imagined a Diesel version of these odd locomotives. If built, it could've been essentially a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton rail crane but with traction motors and an engine from an English built semi truck

[@Dave_Sisson]

Victorian Railways steam crane plinthed in Melbourne at 5:18

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

So at least one is preserved in Oz! Too bad it’s not running.

[@BHuang92]

How about covering South West African Zwillinge 0-6-0T?

[@MrJoeyWheeler]

Wow... I NEED a OO gauge model of Cyclops and Hercules, that is a really cool looking engine.

[@Ronald.Golleher]

Is it just me, or does it sound like the first couple seconds are cut?

[@lewisdoherty7621]

Eventually it was determined we are going to put gantry cranes over the tracks and stop trying to fit in all of these little crane locomotives to move stuff. So what about the engines? We told the kids that they were sent off for retirement on the island of Sodor. But, I told the mechanical crew to recover any of the parts off them we may be able to use elsewhere and send the rest to the cutting torches.

[@Pyrotrainthing]

I love Dubs crane tank 4101 but there’s so many and those Panniers. Shame the modified crane locos didn’t survive, imagine one of those GWR Panniers with cranes in preservation.

[@Joey15811]

Seen one of these at the midland railway centre in butterly

[@SpaceSoups]

A really useful engine.

[@SomeOrdinaryJanitor]

6 tons and an 18 foot Radius is actually pretty good for a shunting locomotive for utility purposes. sort of like Ye Olde Forklift.

[@TrustyRusty05]

All I think of is Harvey while watching this episode

[@brenlc1412]

Wow! What an informative video about a real world batch of locomotives. I sure hope 80% of the comments aren’t about a certain fictional character.

[@ciarangleeson2880]

Too late!

[@sonicfan117dash2]

Someone’s a fan of Banjo-Kazooie.

[@fishpop]

Could've used Harvey's theme but some N64 platformer music works too.

[@daniela-tj1cu]

Bro, this is Harvey from Thomas and friends

[@SSSVergil]

There’s a crane tank at the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway in Scotland

[@itowmyhome797]

Thank you

[@Mike-tg7dj]

I know a lot of actual steam cranes have extra support on the sides mainly to keep it from toppling Overton it's side. I noticed that these were absent on these shunting engines.

[@jetseekers]

Were you a ghost writer for the Technical difficulties ever?

[@bombituico]

You weren’t kidding about having more puns

[@thomasshaftoe461]

Smart idea it was.

[@dragonblaster-vu8wz]

I wonder if crane tanks were used to clear trees from lines after a bad storm

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

This sounds plausible.

[@Greenwood_1949]

Most likely no, they would probably run out of coal before getting there.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@AdelaideK22]

It is like we are watching actual thomas and friends.

[@ciarangleeson2880]

I know, right? Teaching about real life engines definitely seems like something that the show could have tried out!

[@LoneWolf-qq9oy]

I remember this train from an episode of Thomas the tank engine when I was a kid

[@ciarangleeson2880]

Exactly, Harvey The Crane Engine, and he was in much more than one episode!

[@coloradostrong]

2 of them were used on the 12th floor of the Empire State building. They hoisted steel back and forth, and all the way up to the 31st floor. When finished, they were pushed off the edge.

[@benhawkins4245]

What an uplifting video

[@Muppetjedi]

There's one at the Foxfield railway in staffordshire

[@mistermadmachine6311]

😱the dubs engine wasn’t the only one

[@timlee4204]

I saw one in a Sydney Australia railway yard in 1967.

[@LMK-Gaming]

Oh it's Harvey!

[@marcusyoutubegamineer]

I saw one at the NSW railway museum a few months ago.

[@johnrhodez6829]

Of course the traction engine manufacturers did the same thing. Usually used for lifting boilers and such. It would only be a matter of time before someone put there head round the food "Any chance you can bring the crane engine down the road and give us a lift?" And now we have those large mobiles cranes driving around lifting things.

[@kennethjoseph9309]

Thus Harvey was born 😊😊😊

[@joginns778]

Of these crane locos worked at glenfield and Kennedy in Kilmarnock,

[@mikeschillinger4427]

I was craning my neck around those puns.😂

[@HOWARD_WOLOWITZ_PRODUCTIONS]

Man who would have thought Kevin killed Harvey

[@ciarangleeson2880]

What?

[@williampulfer-melville8536]

I believe they also shipped one of these particular crane engines to Australia as one of them is currently on display at the South Australian Railway Museum in Sydney

[@Kevin-go2dw]

Yes crane engines were used in Australia. At 5:20 is No2 built by Dubs & Co in 1891 located at the Newport Railway Museum, North Willamstown, Victoria. The "South Australian Railway Museum" or National Railway Museum is located in Port Adelaide, South Australia some 1300+ km away from Sydney, New South Wales.

[@quillmaurer6563]

I see a lot of comments about a Thomas character inspired by these. Thinking of it a couple weeks later, I ponder if there was ever a diesel (be it a British Rail Class 42 or otherwise) equipped with a hydraulically-actuated articulated claw attached to the roof? Was Diesel 10 just the most menacing idea Britt Allcroft could come up with or was there some basis in reality?

[@mattevans4377]

Would also work as a 'CraneOfThought' video.

[@therailwaymen2203]

Yep

[@PaulSmith-pl7fo]

Nice video and I liked the puns. Sorry, but now Mr Picky needs to raise his head: ships have funnels, steam locomotives have chimneys!

[@therailwaymen2203]

Actually both names work for both locomotive, and ship

[@PaulSmith-pl7fo]

@@therailwaymen2203 I think that many would disagree!

[@therailwaymen2203]

@@PaulSmith-pl7fo I think many more would agree Also now I think about it, boats would have funnels, and steam engines would have both

[@kullre_gun]

I was messing around looking for 3 cylinder steam locomotives, so I could understand how they work. And I stumbled across a turbine driven steam locomotive, that might be interesting.

[@christopherschuch5328]

The moment I saw the the thumbnail., I knew who the engine in the thumbnail was.

[@ciarangleeson2880]

Who didn’t?

[@Alzaar_The_Gunzel]

I’ve actually seen this crane at 5:22 in person!

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

Very nice!

[@simongee8928]

Fitting a crane to an engine makes sense, thus the crane is self propelled rather than having to haul a separate trailer.

[@connercarey5942]

Nice

[@alaskacosplay]

I'm surprised they didn't make a crane tender engine. One where the fuel supply would be behind the locomotive and is efficient on breakdown trains

[@wildwind413]

Were there any diesel powered crane engines?

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

At least in the Netherlands, there were some. I’ve also seen pictures and videos dedicated maintenance DMUs that have cranes and can pull a short train. I’ve also seen an electric street railway version with a height-limited flat boom for track work.

[@wesless1111]

I know that a few of the NS 200 shunters were fitted with cranes, but they were diesels

[@jean-pierredeclemy7032]

Did operating need special training or did they just pick things up as they went along?

[@wooderdsaunders7429]

Wouldn't it have been very unstable to lift heavy loads from the side without out rigging? I can imajine tipping and wheels coming off the track on one side or thr other.