Conrail Wrecker Info

[GP30M4216]

I suspect a few other folks are members on the RYPN.org Railway Preservation board.

A question was recently posed about the Conrail wreck train preserved at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona. I myself always wondered why Altoona got the wreck train from Elkhart, when the National NYCRR Museum IN Elkhart got the wreck train from Selkirk. Here is some commentary from a forumer on that thread:

E.B.Levin:

The end of the line for the 250 ton Wreck Derricks on Conrail came in the winter of 1994.

We had a new VP-Mechanical appointed who came to tour Elkhart in bitter weather...The Derrick was behind the shop idling away and the questions were posed to why was it was running, how much fuel does it use, when did you use it last, etc. I gave the correct answers and was told to shut it down....I told them we wouldn't be able to get it going if we needed it...and I was told "Don't worry..you won't be needing it". That day the three 250T machines left on Conrail at Elkhart, Selkirk, and Conway were ordered deactivated. We packed up the whole works and shipped them to Sam Rea Reclamation Plant in the spring of 94.

The last pick the derrick made working for Conrail was a bridge span replacement on the Kalamazoo Branch.

I wound up getting promoted to staff in Philly and arranged with Don Tutko to get the three of them sent to museums. We never bothered telling Holidaysburg where to send them thinking they could figure out to send Elkhart's back to Elkhart but somehow the Selkirk outfit got shipped to Elkhart.

All three wreck trains featured Industrial Brownhoist 250-ton derricks built in Bay City, MI. Not sure if all three were of NYC heritage or if one came from the PRR.

I wonder what bridge on the Kalamazoo Branch was worked on with the Elkhart derrick - "the last pick"?

Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.ph ... b19fef8986

[ns8401]

I suspect a few other folks are members on the RYPN.org Railway Preservation board.

A question was recently posed about the Conrail wreck train preserved at the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona. I myself always wondered why Altoona got the wreck train from Elkhart, when the National NYCRR Museum IN Elkhart got the wreck train from Selkirk. Here is some commentary from a forumer on that thread:

E.B.Levin:

The end of the line for the 250 ton Wreck Derricks on Conrail came in the winter of 1994.

We had a new VP-Mechanical appointed who came to tour Elkhart in bitter weather...The Derrick was behind the shop idling away and the questions were posed to why was it was running, how much fuel does it use, when did you use it last, etc. I gave the correct answers and was told to shut it down....I told them we wouldn't be able to get it going if we needed it...and I was told "Don't worry..you won't be needing it". That day the three 250T machines left on Conrail at Elkhart, Selkirk, and Conway were ordered deactivated. We packed up the whole works and shipped them to Sam Rea Reclamation Plant in the spring of 94.

The last pick the derrick made working for Conrail was a bridge span replacement on the Kalamazoo Branch.

I wound up getting promoted to staff in Philly and arranged with Don Tutko to get the three of them sent to museums. We never bothered telling Holidaysburg where to send them thinking they could figure out to send Elkhart's back to Elkhart but somehow the Selkirk outfit got shipped to Elkhart.

All three wreck trains featured Industrial Brownhoist 250-ton derricks built in Bay City, MI. Not sure if all three were of NYC heritage or if one came from the PRR.

I wonder what bridge on the Kalamazoo Branch was worked on with the Elkhart derrick - "the last pick"?

Here's the link to the thread:
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.ph ... b19fef8986

Not sure if you were asking but "the last pick" refers to the last thing it picked up.

[GP30M4216]

I know the meaning of "the last pick", my question was which bridge were they working on which they used the Derrick for?

[Super Chief]

Last pick was south of Three Rivers at the golf course. Bridge was replaced across the Prairie River. I have to locate my pictures but that was the place.

[Firemedic Mike]

Superchief,
I would love to see any pictures you have of the lift. Also any pics of the wrecker and its support train