Big Hook in action. With the snow intensity picking up, Nevada Northern's 100-ton steam powered wrecking crane commences lowering one truck of a derailed hopper back onto the iron. The Wreckmaster stands to the side of the crane, where the on-board crew can see his hand signals, while his assistant carefully watches the alignment and signals his boss with minor adjustments. The crane you see here is fully operational and although this particular operation was conducted for the benefit of photographers attending one of the annual Winter Photo Shoot events, the crane is used operationally by the museum. It makes short work of occasional yard derailments and can be used for loading heavy equipment on and off flat-bed trucks. A few years back it was used to place a roof on the museum's new restroom building. The crane requires a crew of 5-6 people and it takes about 3 hours to set it and steam it up, but it sure comes in handy when the museum folks have some heavy lifting to do.
