Boston Elevated Ry. 3246

Number 3246 was built in 1916 by Industrial Works of Bay City, Michigan, for the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) of Boston, Massachusetts. Industrial Works was established in 1873, and became the world’s leading manufacturer of large lifting cranes. For a long time, it was the only manufacturer of large lifting cranes in the United States. In 1931, it merged with Brown Hoisting Company of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the Industrial Brownhoist Corporation. In 1960, it was sold to the American Hoist Corporation of Minneapolis, and became known as the Industrial Brownhoist Division of the American Hoist Corporation. The plant at Bay City was closed for good in 1983, ending 110 years of manufacturing at that location. Electric cranes, as opposed to the steam cranes prevalent at the time, were ideal because they were immediately ready for work, not having to wait to fire up and make steam. Also, the service of a fireman was not needed. No. 3246 was equipped with a trolley pole for work on surface lines, but no collector shoes on the trucks which would have allowed it to work on the elevated lines. It had a master controller for the four Westinghouse 306V traction motors and one for the hoist motor. Accessories for the crane, outside of the regular hook, included a snow bucket, a wheel bucket, a magnet and a pavement smasher, although none of these accessories came with the vehicle to the museum. The crane’s capacity is up for discussion, but from all data, it was between 5- and 10-tons. No. 3246 was one of three such cranes owned by BERy, and was used for general track and construction work, as well as snow removal. Number 3246 was delivered to BERy’s George Street Yard in Charlestown on August 4th, 1916, and moved to Eliot Square on August 7th, 1916, to be equipped and tested. It was turned over to the maintenance department at the Albany Street Shops on September 28th, 1916. The crane spent its last 24 years at the Charlestown Neck Carhouse, where it was retired in 1954. During its career, it worked on the following notable projects: 1.) The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 when 2.3 million gallons of molasses were released from a burst storage tank, which sent waves of molasses as high as 15 feet rushing through the streets at speeds estimated at 35 mph. Steel panels from the tank were driven against BERy’s Atlantic Avenue structure and caused damage to the El in the area north of Battery Street. 2.) The Beach Street Elevated Wreck of July 22, 1928 occurred when a four-car elevated train crashed on a sharp curve at Beach Street and Harrison Avenue killing two people and injuring several others. The train was going at an estimated speed of 40 mph, some attributed to brake failure. All four cars were derailed. 3.) Kenmore Square Subway Extension. 4.) Huntington Avenue Subway. 5.) Dorchester Trolley Bus Extension. 6.) Orient Heights Rapid Transit Extension. The original paint scheme for the crane was: Roof and Dashers – Green. Car Body – Black. Cab Roof – Gray. End Anti-Climbers – White. In 1940, the green paint scheme was replaced with orange, with black lettering. Number 3246 was retired in 1954, and sold to Seashore Trolley Museum the same year. Museum Ownership: No. 3246 was purchased from the Metropolitan Transit Authority mid-summer of 1954. It was trucked to STM either in 1954 or February, 1955 . The car was taken to the end of the Fellsway Line at Elm Street. It was jacked up using BERy screw jacks and carefully lifted off its truck and lowered onto the Seashore’s Highway Monster. The crane then lifted up its own trucks and placed them on a smaller trailer for the trip to Maine. It quickly became “the car that built Seashore”, and was immediately put to work distributing rail for the museum’s connection between its existing main line and the abandoned Atlantic Shore Line right-of-way. It was also used in the construction of the Riverside and Central Car Barns, setting RS & E (Rochester, Syracuse and Eastern Railroad) catenary towers to support the trolley wire for the new main line extension and occasionally lifting cars for removing/replacing trucks and rerail derailments. In order to set the car barn rafters and trusses in place, an 8 foot boom extension, which could be flipped over, was constructed and added to the end of the boom. The car’s maintenance records reflect its hard use while at STM. Air and electrical issues plagued No. 3246. As late as 2008, maintenance work continued with the replacement of the boom cables, but the crane had one motor out of service and the H-L control group needing to be overhauled. The H-L controller completes the control circuit to the control resistor, reverser, line switch and switch group.