the 100 ton Wrecking Crane... 1907 steam powered... I didn't know they had to clamp the side opposite of the load, to the rails under the crane. Makes perfect sense.

 

interesting farming equipment, by the Badger Body MFG Co

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/624/

this incredibly big crane was out in traffic today, but not heading in my direction, so I could only get this photo while we were both at a red light... the back end of the crane is supported by a trailer!

Test Pilot Boone Guyton was out flying the Corsair prototype one day... It did not go well, SNAFU, rain blew in fast, while he ran out of fuel, because he was at max power, using more fuel than normal in a new plane, and had to put 'er down some where fast. Thank you John!

As Harrison Ford can attest, a golf course will do in an pinch. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/did-you-hear-todays-celebrity-news.html

As he circled lower and lower, desperately looking for a place to land, he saw nothing but trees below. 

Then the rain let up, and he spotted a church steeple and a few seconds later the outline of a golf course. 

 As he dropped below the height of the steeple, he slid the canopy back and steepened his bank to keep the golf course in sight. It was the Norwich Golf Course, where an 18-year-old caddy had been watching the Corsair since it first appeared overhead, obviously in trouble

"On the green of the straightest and longest fairway, I could make out the flag. It was hanging limp- no wind. Behind it was a stand of heavy woods, but at the far end, the fairway was wide open - a good approach. I would land toward the green.”

 The fairway that Guyton chose was the 14th, and the caddy was already running in that direction because he knew it was the longest and most suitable place to land. 

While Guyton was setting up his approach, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the once flickering fuel light had turned solid, he had little fuel remaining. 

 He lowered the landing gear and flaps and set the prop in low pitch,  “Dropping down just above the course, I hung the Corsair on its prop, slow as I dared; I wanted to get down to the last flyable knot. Then I jerked the throttle full off. The big fighter hit hard a quarter of the way down the fairway. It headed straight for the green, and I got on the brakes fast. Relief at being safe on the good earth was instant, sweet- and totally false.

Slick form the wetness, the fairway that appeared so inviting was a skating rink. Braking had no effect, as the XF’s smooth tires held contact. I was a hundred yards from the green, and I knew I was headed for the bank of trees beyond.” As the XF4U skidded and skipped along the fairway with unchecked abandon, Guyton stomped a boot full of rudder to induce a ground loop, but it had no effect. 

 Seconds before he crashed into the trees, Guyton undid his parachute harness, shut off the ignition, cut the fuel, grabbed the bottom of the stick, and pulled himself down into the cockpit. That final action, Guyton said, probably saved his life, for when the fighter plunged into the trees, which concealed a large ravine of rocks and boulders, he was in for a rough ride. 

“Paradoxically, the trees were both destructive and helpful, but at the exact moment, my only thought was survival. As the sturdy, tough saplings bent and split, they arched the XF into the air as though it were flung from a sling. As it flipped inverted, I felt a hammering at my head, hard thumps against my shoulders, and then- nothing. Its momentum barely broken, the big fighter crashed, inverted, down through the trees, slid backward down the steep slope of the ravine, and smashed into a huge tree stump.” Guyton related.

from somewhere outside his darkened universe, he heard the caddy ask, “Hey, you alright down there? Can you get out?”

Guyton replied, “I think so, I’ll let you know.” Guyton’s injuries were minor, and even though he had released his straps, he was still trapped in the darkness of the inverted wreckage, but after digging a small opening in the damp soil, he crawled out of the cockpit and made his way to the top of the ravine. 

As he spoke to an elderly police officer, who arrived on scene surprisingly fast, Guyton looked down at the “sad remains” of what was then the only Corsair in existence

An engineer said, “Don’t worry, we can always fix the airplane. You got it down, and here you are, that’s what counts.” 

 The night after the accident, the fighter was hauled out of the ravine, and “Pop” Reichert, who headed the shop, told Guyton they’d have the fighter flying again in three months.

In 1976 the test pilots had a reunion 

the photos of that made the news, and 54-year-old World War II Navy veteran turned postal worker read about the reunion in the New Haven Register. 

It took him back to a rainy July afternoon in Norwich, Connecticut, where he saw a Corsair crash into a stand of trees at the Norwich golf course, where he’d been a caddy before the war. 

 That postal worker wrote a letter to Guyton, who was 63 at the time and still working for Vought. They met, and the newspaper got a photo op and cool story about the reunion

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/corsair-slice-on-the-14th-fairway.html

The Coopersville and Marne Railway (Michigan) is being memorialized by putting a 1912 Baldwin steam locomotive downtown after a cosmetic restoration, on the tracks through the middle of town (off I 96, between Grand Rapids and Muskegon) thank you George!

As you can see from the Google Street view, there are quite a few cool train cars, the locomotive before the restoration (below), a coal car, a couple diesels, a switching tower (or signal tower?) a caboose, a train station ticket booth, and a crane!

The Friends of Coopersville and Marne Railway operate a vintage diesel train between the City of Coopersville and the Village of Marne, following 7 miles of track originally built in 1858

https://mitrain.net/about-us/

https://www.woodtv.com/news/ottawa-county/historic-locomotive-restored-on-display-in-coopersville/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083313068279&sk=photos_by

what a finely engineered mobile, collapsible, crane!

https://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/threads/ww2-original-color-photos.25534/post-416607

fascinating design of the cranes on the piers, for unloading bananas and transferring them to boxcars.... anyone that has been in a Navy shipyard is used to bare skeleton cranes, so to me, these are some deluxe cranes

https://www.shorpy.com/node/27228?size=_original#caption

1927 Ford Crane

https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr7bDBEf3a0C&pg=RA5-PA46&lpg=RA5-PA46&dq=Cloverland+Motor+Sales+Sidnaw&source=bl&ots=JpzBg7EDO6&sig=ACfU3U2Gu8Jq56iCY52dbChkuEe440ScDg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO8uOvjNyCAxXmZzABHd6xBKs4FBDoAXoECAQQAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

In the 1950s some fallen stones at Stonehenge, including an entire trilithon that had fallen in 1797, were put back in place by crane operator David Healy using a Curran crane, built for lifting aircraft up to 60 tons

‘At RAF Boscombe Down we were preparing numerous aircraft for the Cold War … I was asked to help the crane operators at Stonehenge … I knew about cranes from the aircraft … We got into the main circle … one of the main sarsen stones had fallen down … we got it up into position and the other workers packed stones round the bottom … we got one of the lintel stones up and put up a blue stone on the way out.’

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=669124051919289&set=a.558388856326143

In 1950, after 18 years without refreshments since the demolition of the Stonehenge café, the National Trust allowed a mobile tea-bar in the car park. By 1954 there were new underground lavatories, and in 1960 the car park was extended. Three years later an automated ticket machine was installed to alleviate queues.

More problematic was the interior of the stone circle, which the feet of countless tourists turned into a quagmire each winter. The interior was surfaced with gravel in 1963, protecting the fragile archaeology.

This major engineering project and associated excavations began in 1958 and continued into 1959. Atkinson, Piggott and Stone together oversaw the archaeological work. The trilithon was re-erected from the position where it had lain for 161 years. An upright and a lintel forming part of the outer circle were also put back into position. One of the large sarsens of the inner horseshoe was set in concrete and a large hollow at its base infilled. The sarsen bases were set in concrete to prevent future movement. Finally, six fallen bluestones were lifted and straightened.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/inspire-me/blog/blog-posts/excavation-restoration-stonehenge-1950s-60s/

https://www.silentearth.org/restorations-at-stonehenge-2/

https://www.sparrowcrane.co.uk/case-studies/sparrow-crane-hire-involved-in-restoration-of-stonehenge

from the famous Leslie Jones collection of wrecks and accidents - perfect for Monday morning. I've never seen a railroad crane toppled over until now

1930, Boston

What's the single rail in between the tracks? 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5609900095/in/album-72157626351588223/

from the famous Leslie Jones collection of wrecks and accidents - perfect for Monday morning

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5610479860/in/album-72157626351588223/

that had to ruin someone's day... 

Franklin shop hoist, is cool, with wheels.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10225642009950522&set=pcb.1268300033750916

this train derailment must have been a magnificent visual spectacle in person, even in photos it's huge, and the photographer covered it from every angle

https://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railway-overseas/The-Americas/USA-Santa-Fe/

it turns out, someone made a webpage of the surviving steam powered railroad cranes

The above started as a crane in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, as the bottom photo shows, it's been painted, and is back in regular use

 

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/cranes/steamcranes02.htm

There are two classes of railroaders, those who have derailed and those who will. On Friday, the crew of Locomotive 81 joined the class of those who derailed through no fault of their own.

The Nevada Northern Railway has completed a multi-year restoration of 2-8-0 81, in 2021, a Consolidation built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1917. The locomotive had not run in 63 years.

The locomotive pulled into the wye, reversed direction to complete the movement around the wye, then disaster struck. The wheel flange on the tender truck broke off. With the flange gone, there was nothing to keep the wheel on the rail and THUNK, the wheel set was on the ground and the tender derailed. Fortunately, the crew had heard the thunk and were stopping, when the tender dropped off the rail.

the 1907 steam-powered wrecking crane and the tool car.

https://railfan.com/nevada-northern-railway-completes-restoration-of-2-8-0/

http://www.rgusrail.com/nvnnrm.html

that is a lot of weight for the VW engine to push uphill

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160650723278676&set=pcb.10160650726223676

1927 160 ton Bucyrus crane on the Eire railroad to remove wreckage

 

a Panther tank put out of action in France, was repaired and turned into a crane!

 

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2021/11/reuse-recycle.html

impressive

but without a single modern luxury. The guys working with either of these had to be hoping for good weather, good temps, and an early lunch. 

 http://www.backroads.ie/forum/car-related/r-roads/81-random-picture-thread?p=801763#post801763

This must have done a lot of work back in the day, simple design instead of some expensive yacht moving machine with slings and 4 wheels

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-shots-from-days-gone-by-part-2.1154030/page-447#post-13504393