Does anyone have any info on LV crane #96550

[jadebullet2]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any information on LV #96550. All I know about it is that it was scrapped, had the nickname the "Black Widow" because it had a reputation for killing people, and that it killed its last operator when it rolled on top of him.

Any information on this crane would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[96550 LVRR]

that crane also killed some people when the lvrr had it,my uncle john spardute ran that crane from 1956 when they got it new till the time they shipped it out and closed the doors in sayre.from what i remember my uncle telling me,they were lifting a loaded salt car that derailed and they had it hooked up wrong and the hooks tore right thru the metal when it was in the air dropping to the ground and killing i think just 1 person.if that would of happend earlier when it was being lifted my uncle said it would of killed about a dozen people.the widow sued the lvrr and my uncle had to come to bethlehem to give testimony on what happend.if i remember the person killed was Bagallini ( dont quote me on that ) i have an uncle and cousin who worked for the lvrr,ill have to call and find out who it was exactly.also anyone with pictures or slides for sale of that crane would be appreciated,, let me know........jim

[jadebullet2]

I have an image of the crane before it was scrapped that I found online. It was taken in Pittston(SP?). One of the reasons why it was scrapped was because of what happened after the accident. The crane was placed in the Cressona yard after the fatal tip over. It sat there quietly for about a year. Then one day, the railroad got a call saying that their crane was running. When they arrived, the crane was sitting there idling, with no explanation as to why, or how it started.

[johnpbarlow]

I have a couple of slide scans taken in a driving snow storm in the late '60s or early '70s of 96550 assisting an EL hook in picking up the boom of a 2nd EL crane that had tipped over on the curve on EL main track 2 just east of the Owego station. I forget what exactly happened but the two tracks on that curve were quite steeply super-eleveated. So it wasn't just 96650 that was capable of falling over.

[jadebullet2]

What happened to cause the crane to tip over was, they were working on rerailing two hoppers (or gondolas not sure). It was a rainy day and they managed to get the first one on the tracks, but the something went wrong with the second one. They stopped and the operator got out and talked to the ground crew for about half an hour, trying to fix the problem. During this time, the car was filling up with water, increasing its weight. Then the operator went to the crane and started to pull himself onto the crane. Something happened with the outriggers, I think that they failed or something, and the weight of the operator caused the crane to tip onto its side, crushing the operator.

By the way, would you be willing to post the slides of the wreck that you were talking about?

[johnpbarlow]

Here's a link to the pictures of LV 96650 aiding the recovery on an EL crane in a Feb '70 snow storm in Owego, NY. I posted these on Trainorders (which requires registration to see) as this is where I usually post contemporary and nostalgic photos.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1819625

[scottychaos]

When was this crane scrapped?

it still existed in 2000..
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=667617

thats the latest photo I can find..

thanks,
Scot

[jadebullet2]

I have no idea when it was scrapped, but it has been confirmed that it was. I will try to find out the date. Thanks for the picture by the way.

[96550 LVRR]

thanks for all the pics guys,the interesting thing is,it was painted red in 1973 and from the pics of it looking like a rag you can hardly see any of the red paint coming thru.if my uncle were alive today i could post stories of wrecks on the lvrr for months.that was one thing i always enjoyed was hearing stories about the wrecks he was on,my dad took my younger brother and myself to the wreck in slatington in 1969 when a train derailed at the station,but being only 7 years old i was to young to know what was going on.

thanks again

jim