1. One could visit Lionel’s parts store on the web.
2. Look for parts for both the Crane Car [6-29805] and the Gantry Crane [similar: 6-82033].
3. If the PC Board / Decoder [cs-691CRANC01-p] is available for the car, obtain it.
4. If the LED lights and covers [cs-6109899300-p, cs-6209805017-p, cs-6109899301-p, cs-6109899302-p] for them are available, obtain them.
5. One would need to have a TMCC Cab-1 and a TMCC command base.
6. If the above items could be obtained, then it should be real simple to get the crane operating electrically by replacing the missing parts.
7. One could then connect the contacts under the rotating part of the Crane to wires, run those wires down one the of the legs of the gantry base, and then connect the wires directly to the tracks.
8. Doing the above should allow a TMCC Cab-1 remote to operate the Gantry Crane combo.
9. If the parts are not available at Lionel, perhaps with some tinkering and experimentation, one could either adapt one of Lionel’s wired gantry crane controllers to work with this combo or create their own crane motor driving control system.

10. One might try obtaining the decoder board for the Trackside Crane and seeing if the connections that are available inside this crane car will match-up and work with the purchased decoder.
11. One might purchase the sound module (decoder, speakers, and any required additional components) that comes with the RailSounds Boom Car in addition to the Crane Car’s decoder, hook it up to the track in similar proposed fashion to the crane’s suggested connections, and in this way, one would also hear the sounds produced as if the boom car was present.
12. Of course, if one really pays attention to the pricing of all the suggested parts from Lionel, budget-wise they might come out better buying a brand-new Trackside Crane or Command Control Crane car and Railsounds Boom car directly from Lionel when they are available and save the hassle of trying to get this Gantry Crane combo working.

1. The boom has 1 set of cross braces that are missing.
2. The small auxiliary hook in the front doesn’t always hang properly. The string slips out of the guide at the top of the hook assembly causing the hook to skew or tilt.
3. The large main hook appears to be missing a very small bar on one side of the hook which would normally keep the hook straight and horizontal. Instead, it hangs at a slight offset angle occasionally.
4. When the motor is engaged to lower the large hook, the hook doesn’t always lower. The string bunches up near the spool and looses tension along the string. The hook appears not to have enough weight to force itself to fall straight down keeping tension on the line so a hand may be needed to help it out or more weight should be added to the hook assembly. It could be a factor of the string and friction on the pulleys but I didn’t notice any incorrect routing of the string cables.
5. The shell is missing 1 rear and 2 front LED lights along with matching lens covers. Very tiny wires will be needed to put lights in the front of the crane.
6. The lever that Lionel uses to hold the sprung gear in the ENGAGED position is missing.
7. There is a hole in the back of the crane that is also supposed to be a rear work light.
8. The crane is missing 2 Cab Locking pins (which are really not applicable to the gantry crane operation).
9. The roof hatch has latches that broke at one time and I glued them back together. The glue is visible. (I should probably paint over the glue.)
10. The Decoder Board inside the crane is missing and therefore the crane doesn’t have a method of controlling the motors.
11. All 4 motors appear to be universal motors. (I have confirmed that they work using DC power. Lionel track power is AC power. Since the motors work smoothly under DC power it is concluded that they must be universal motors.)

1. 4 switches to control the 4 motors (preferably micro-miniature DPDT 3-Position On-Off-On switches).
2. A power source such as batteries (preferably 1 9-volt battery).
3. A way to connect the power source to the motors and a method to allow the batteries to be replaced when needed.
4. 2 or 3 lights (preferably LED lights) and very small wire.
5. Some method to engage the rotation motor with its driving gear.
6. Wires to connect the motors to the switches, the lights, and the power source.
7. A place to physically put the control switches and method of operating the controls to make the crane work.

1. I used a metal clothes hanger and a screw from a laptop.
2. I cut and shaped the clothes hanger so that when it is installed and moved towards the far front of the Cab, it disengages the drive gear and free-hand rotation can take place.
3. I installed the laptop screw. This screw should not be TIGHT, nor should it be allowed to LOOSEN so much that it falls out. The buyer may have to adjust the tension on the screw occasionally. The screw is located at the base of the custom-made lever.
4. When the lever is pulled backwards and allowed to rest on the base of the crane’s main frame, it provides enough pressure against the drive gear to allow rotation to take place via the motors. THE CRANE SHOULD NOT BE ROTATED MANUALLY WHILE THE ROTATION DRIVE GEAR IS LOCKED INTO POSITION. Doing so could damage the motor and the teeth on the crane gears.
5. It may be necessary to use a small screwdriver to change the position of the drive gear rotation lever. To move the lever, one should press the drive gear (the sprung smaller gear) seen when the right-hand side front door is open, and then pushing the formed clothes hanger forward or backwards. When moving the lever forward, be careful and make sure that all parts of the lever clear the gear. Do not push the lever to far forward as it might exit the cab or scratch the paint at the front of the cab. Go slowly. When moving the gear backwards, do so until it rest on the base of the Cab.

1. Since the motors operate directionally by reversing the current, I decided to use 4 DPDT switches (3-position [On-Off-On] Double-Pole, Double-Throw switches, to be exact). I would like for the switches to be as small as possible. Probably, little miniature black sliding switches. I have some NEW, small black DPDT switches but they are 2-position On/On switches. The only 3-position DPDT switches I had were previously used by someone else. I acquired 8 of them in a lot that I bought several years earlier. All of those switches had all 6 connectors soldered with some heavy copper wires on them. The previous user cut the wires instead of unsoldering them. Unsoldering the wires would simply make a huge mess and even melted the insides of 1 switch when I tried doing that. So, I continued using the existing wires on the leads already which in some cases were up to 3/4″ long. And these switches are much larger than miniature slide switches. This would make for a bulky wiring job and a much larger control box than I originally envisioned.
2. I located the 4 DPDT switches and hand-held them together as I test fitted them against the shell to figure out what would be the best way to arrange the switches and where I could possibly put them. Creating a piggy-backing box with the controls at the top came to mind and would provide the best fit.
3. The next decision was how to get the switches to ride on the back of the shell. I had a new, very old, never sold U.S. Robotics 56K modem laying around. Many years earlier I decided I would someday use the parts in this modem with my trains. I had already used the power transformer to power lights on my HO scale Libraryville layout. Now, I decided to use the plastic shell of the modem. I unscrewed it from the modem, cut a corner piece off of the back plate the width of the 4 switches, and then fitted it against the shell. I made a few more ruff cuts on the plastic and before you know it, it appeared as if the modem’s plastic shell could easily hang on the back of the crane’s shell. I then invested about 10 hours carving, cutting, drilling, and melting different pieces of that plastic which is about 1/8″ thick, to create a box that would hang on the back of the crane’s shell and encompass the 4 switches.
4. The hole in the rear of the crane’s shell which is supposed to have a rear light in it, didn’t have one. I figured I could route wires from inside the shell to the outside of it.
5. I chose to use multiple, different colored wires that I pulled from the inside of a broken laser printer. The wiring is stranded, somewhat small, and flexible. It would be great if the wiring had been even smaller, but again, I wanted to use what I had available that didn’t cost me any more money. I have smaller wires that I’ve bought but I will save those for other projects that benefit my own personal needs.
6. Next, I cut the wires in pairs and removed the shielding on both ends of each wire.
7. One goal that I wanted to achieve with this project is that no matter what modifications I made, I want everything that I’ve done to quickly and easily be able to be UNDONE, removed, or detached leaving all the original components intact so that if the buyer does wish to purchase the Lionel Decoder Board and other replacement parts, or try some of my original suggestions to get the crane to working using TMCC or Legacy controls through track power connections, that they would be able to do so. I managed to reach this goal. In doing so, some of the methods and modifications that I made were done the way they were done to ensure that this goal would be achieved.
8. Therefore, I tinned one side of the 8 wires I cut to control the motor and inserted those tinned ends into the Lionel connector harness that goes to the 4 motors. I then wrapped a small piece of paper around the connector and hot glued the wires in place. I didn’t have a matching connector for the harness plug Lionel used. I did have a lot of different ones on the ends of wires that I removed from printers, but none were an exact match for Lionel’s. Using the hot glue keeps the leads in place. Pull the glue hard enough and all the leads will come out cleanly and any excess glue can be scrapped off cleanly too. The paper should make undoing this connection quite easy and clean and it isn’t touching anything that could create a fire hazard.
9. Next, I ran the 8 leads through the back hole and soldered those leads to the connections on the 4 DPDT switches appropriately so that each switch controls a matching motor.
10. From the beginning, I had simply wrapped 2 wires around the posts of a 9-volt battery. I used a red and yellow pair of stranded wire for that. It was quite a long pair of wires. Although now a very tight fit, I managed to get the 2 power leads through the rear hole of the crane for a total of 10 wires in there. I tested each connection and motor operation in turn. The last switch for the Small auxiliary hook failed to operate. I ended up having to replace it. So, altogether I used 6 of the 8 DPDT switches that I had, 2 of which turned out to be bad and had to be discarded.
11. Next, having already built the control box using 4 of the 5 pieces that I had precut and shaped, there was a gap produced on one side of the control box that is closest to the ladder on the shell. So, I had to cut a 6th piece which is a small slither of a piece to fill the gap. Altogether, over 30 hours would be consumed working on the control box, sanding it down, painting it, gluing the parts together, and getting the leads of the switches soldered together. This step took a long time, but still, I was not finished.

1. I have some very small wire that I think is called magnetic coil wire. I think it is similar to wire used as windings around armature stacks in small motors. This I ordered back in 2016 and have not used any of it until now. I bought it to install LED’s inside of a double-track signal platform that I modified for my HO train layout and where needed for some really small N scale wirings. I just haven’t made it to that point in those projects yet. I figured I could use this wire which has red and black enamel coating over the 2 wires which are twisted together in a pair. They certainly fit through the small holes and shafts inside the headlight housings.
2. I didn’t have any headlight lens covers, but that didn’t matter. The 1.8 mm LED’s I decided to use are too big for headlight covers anyway since the LEDs actually extend outside of the front of the housing. This is okay because I feel like they look good sticking out of the housing. The only question would be could I solder the wires close enough to the LEDs to actually be able to get the LEDs inside the headlight housing. The LEDs were purchased in 2019 to install directional LED lights in 3 HO scale Bachmann Union Pacific GP-18’s that are in another project that is started but have not completed yet. Thus far, only 1 of the 3 locomotives has received LEDs plus another Like-Like PRR Diesel. The LEDs came as part of 10-piece pack with current limiting resistors. They are Golden White LEDs recommended as realistic lighting for older era diesel locomotives.
3. When I first decided to put my LEDs on the crane, I thought I might use 3 of them. I feel like the beams from the light are impeded a little bit by the frame of the boom. I wanted to put 1 light in the center of the front of the crane. I soldered leads on 3 of the LED’s. But when I started fitting the lights in place, I realized there would be no way for me to install the middle light because the shell must come off and the light would have to stay attached to the crane. Without 2 micro-miniature connectors that could easily be disconnected at will the 3rd center light just couldn’t be installed. So, you may see in some pictures that there is a third light. It gets used, but not as a third light.
4. I originally connected 2 LEDs in series and tested them directly with the 9-volt battery. They worked fine. I ran the leads through the shell and connected them in series to 1 resistor, thinking this would give me brighter light output plus protect the lights from receiving too much voltage. The LEDs worked fine during my test. I used heat-shrink tubing around the junction of the larger printer wire to the micro enameled red & black magnetic wires.
5. I glued the light leads to the inside of the shell and ran them to the back of the shell to rendezvous with the 9-volt power source.
6. Now, the question was, should the lights always be on or not? Well, they should have a switch so the user can turn them on when desired. I didn’t have enough room to install another switch. So, I decided to re-task the Run/Program switch already inside the crane attached to the crane’s main frame. This switch has leads on it that go to a 3-pin female connector plug. The connector probably plugs into the Decoder PC Board but since that board isn’t present and since this crane isn’t being connected directly to the track power, the switch would be perfect for controlling the lights. Otherwise, the switch would be useless and have no connection or function in my modified use of the crane.
7. I looked on a PC Board of a Receipt Printer that I had taken apart some time ago and found a 3-pin male receptor plug housing that matched the female connector the Lionel Run/Program switch provided. I unsoldered the male receptor from the printer board and soldered blue printer wire leads to it. I then soldered this assembly into my circuit for the lights and connected it to the 9-volt battery power source.
8. The wiring looked beautiful and the installation was sweet. The lights looked great and perfectly positioned. So, I worked on the next objective. [I’m going to try to maintain my timeline of events here although this is not the end of dealing with the LED lights. I will reference this point again later so that you know exactly what happened and when.]

1. Somewhere in my train collection, I have a 9-volt battery clip wiring harness. For 4 days I tried to remember where it is and even took a couple hours to search my inventory database as well as certain places within my home to locate that battery clip. I just couldn’t find it. I know I have one and now is the perfect time to use it. However, I didn’t find it. Then I put about 3 more hours into visiting 4 local stores: Dollar Tree, Big Lots, Roses, and Walmart trying my best to find a low-cost item that uses a 9-volt battery. I was willing to pay up to $5 for the item because all I was going to do was cut the clip out of it and use the clip for the project. I couldn’t find anything that used a 9-volt battery with a wired clip. So, I returned home and cut the one out of my alarm clock in my room. Before I went shopping, I did add a 10-pack of battery clips to my Amazon shopping cart, but it would be New Year’s Day before they would arrive. I really wanted to be done with this project by then.
2. With the clip in hand, I cut the red and yellow wires that I had wrapped around the 9-volt battery to a shorter length that seemed appropriate for inside the shell connection to the battery including having enough slack to remove the crane’s shell without ripping the battery out of place.
3. Next, I soldered the battery clip into place connecting it as the power source to the 4 motors and the 2 LED lights with the Program slide switch acting as power control for the lights.
4. I had been using a Duracell 9-volt battery that I have had for quite some time. I decided to grab a fresh, new, Energizer 9-volt battery and connect it to the battery clip. I will sell the the unit with the Energizer battery inside and connected. The battery objective is now accomplished and all the inside wiring looks good. I am almost done (or so I thought).

1. I began by creating a document to print the labels.
2. First, I used Microsoft Word. I wanted my arrows to match what I envisioned. None of the arrows inside of Word lived up to arrows that I wanted.
3. I located some arrow images on the internet. I opened Paint.Net which is installed on my laptop, and I pasted them inside. I finally narrowed my selection to the 1 that I liked best. However, it was a solid arrow with 2 directions. I modified it. But when I attempt to import it into Word, it was just WAY too large and reducing the size became too time consuming with results that I didn’t like.
4. I chose Microsoft Excel and inserted arrow symbols into cells and function words into other cells. I merged the function cells and their coordinating arrow. I turned on the borders to specific cells. Then I started test printing the labels on regular plain paper.
5. After getting the functional labels the right size, I decided to make a couple informational labels identifying me as the maker of the control box and the dates of manufacture. I test printed, cut and fitted the labels to positions on the control panel as well as to the Atlas Connectors.
6. Lastly, I put 3M Sticker paper in my printer and printed the official labels.
7. I applied the labels to the Control Box.
8. Lastly, I put a layer of clear shipping tape over the applied stickers.

1. I positioned the control box in place. The box split open a little bit (I may not have let the glue dry long enough or the pressure of putting the box in place pushed it apart). It appears to be holding so I left it split apart. (I might try applying a little more glue before it ships out).
2. Then, I positioned the shell on top of the main frame and screwed the shell on. I even found 2 laptop screws to fit in the 2 mid-shell holes that didn’t have screws in them when I received the consignment.
3. The crane looked good.

1. I had to determine the problem with the LED light and fix it.
2. This would now become the 3rd time I had to undo one of the light assemblies. I had to redo one light before after having glued its assembly down when I was working on the lights the first time. The resistor came unsoldered when I pushed the shrink tubing over it. So, I had to cut it off, re-solder the connection and wrap the wiring up again. That was no fun. Well, neither was this.
3. This time, it was the other light. I took the wiring apart first. Then, I took that 3rd LED light that I had originally wanted to put in the center, and I touched it to the leads laying inside the upside-down shell. I already had the light switch on. The LED blew. That let me know that too much voltage was going to the LED and that meant that the light inside the housing was also blown. I had 1 LED remaining now from my original 10-pack (that I bought to put in various HO scale locomotives).
4. I hot glued the lights into the assembly and I did a great job originally. Getting a light out, wasn’t easy at all. I actually had to heat the exterior of the light housing using the soldering iron in order to get the glue inside the housing to melt so I could pull the burned-out LED out of the socket.
5. For this one, I would have to completely start over, re-soldering the tiny wires as close as possible to the base of the last LED I was willing to devote to this project. Then, I had to install the LED again.
6. I did that. I glued the light in and connected all the wires. I tested the light again. Well, it didn’t work again although just before installing it in the light housing, it did work. This meant something must have come unfastened inside the shrink tubing or the light housing which is what happened to the first light.
7. So, here I go again, heating up the exterior of the light housing and sure enough, the tiny wire had come unsoldered to the cathode side of the LED. I managed to re-solder the connection and reinsert the LED into the housing again, only this time, I wasn’t as proud of the install. The glue didn’t look as clean or compacted nor did the light look lined up right or symmetrical with the other light.
8. I trimmed glued off around the housing, tucked some of it back inside the light, and then used the soldering iron to heat up the housing again until I was able to get the light looking the best that I could.
9. I had to glue wires back down inside the shell. This time, my gluing didn’t look as pretty as before. In fact, I used too much glue in a couple places but didn’t realize that would affect the operation of the crane.
10. I tested the lighting and put the shell back on the crane. The lights were now working fine.
11. I did a complete test of everything. Everything worked. I took a break.

1. I set the crane up in my train picture taking box. I wanted to show that the crane could be manually rotated when the rotation drive was disengaged. So, I disengaged it, and the darn crane wouldn’t rotate. It took me a good 5 minutes looking over the crane trying to figure out what had happened.
2. I made a small change previously to the design of my replacement rotation locking lever. But that was not the problem since putting the lever in the open (not locked) position clearly frees up the gear that gets engaged when it is locked.
3. I looked closer inside the crane and discovered that the over gluing was the problem. The glue was binding against the large gear that the small gear connects with in order to rotate the crane. The motor is strong enough to rotate the crane with the gear snug against the glue, but hand turning it with the glue there didn’t work.
4. I took the crane apart again, took out the soldering iron, and spread the glue out thinner, preventing it from binding on the gear.
5. I put the crane back together.
6. I tested it again before taking pictures. All the functions work.
7. I took pictures and made a video.
8. Afterwards, I opened and closed all the doors and discovered that the rear right-hand side door must also be binding against glue or some of the wires stuff inside the compartment near the back of the cab because that door is now stiff and hard to slide open. I didn’t feel like removing the shell again, so I left this hard to open door as it is.
9. The crane is improved, operational, and ready to be sold to highest bidder.

Listing as of 10:30ish pm, January 14th, 2023:

O Lionel MOW Conrail Gantry Crane combo now battery operated

Description

As far as I am aware, this is now the MOST UNIQUE Lionel Operating Gantry Crane on the planet.  It is a combination of parts from 2 different Lionel O scale items.  The base is from one of Lionel’s stand-alone Maintenance of Way Gantry platforms.  The Crane is from Lionel’s Command Control Conrail Crane Car.  I have made all the vital functions of the crane operational using ingenuity, craftsmanship, some random materials, and a 9-volt battery.  Now, one can manually operate the crane with hands-on actions.  I do so in the video that I have provided here.

This crane is a consigned item that has been presented over the past 4 years at various train shows.  While a lot of people have looked at it with interest and curiosity, no one purchased it, probably because it was unknown whether or not the crane worked.  Well, it works.  It works very well.  I have documented exactly what I went through to make this crane operate.  I will provide the buyer with a link to that information in the box when I ship it.  For now, I have listed the condition of the items along with the features now applicable to this crane:

• The gantry platform is in Great shape.  It appears to be missing ladder handrails on 2 legs of the crane.  (One might be able to fabricate replacements out of stiff metal rods or plastic including plastic sprues.  Simulated stairs appear on 2 legs of the platform).
• The crane (which was removed from a crane car) fits snuggly on top of the gantry platform.  The crane is in good shape but was received with a lot of issues.  I have resolved or provided replacement functionality for most of the important and relevant issues.
• The crane has a very nice, rich, blue paint job with crisp, clear, white lettering.
• I made a function control box for it which you can see in the pictures appears on the rear of the crane and has 4 Double-Pole Double-Throw 3-position (On-Off-On) switches on it.  The control box is painted black with printed function labels.
• The crane rotates 360 degrees.  It can be rotated by hand or by motor control.
• The boom moves up and down via motor control.
• The main (Large) hook raises and lowers via motor control.
• The auxiliary (Small) hook raises and lowers via motor control.
• All 4 motors operate independently and can all be operating simultaneously.
• 2 operating golden-white LED work lights are positioned at front of the cab.  The lights have their own On/Off switch located inside the door on the left-hand side of the cab when looking at the crane from the rear towards the front.
• Contains 4 powerful, maintenance-free, Universal motors.
• Has Die-cast frame and boom.
• The assembly has very good weight to it.
• There are 3 sliding cab doors on the crane.  They all work.  However, when closed none of these doors completely seal the compartment.  A gap is always present when the doors are closed as far as they will go.  This may be by design.  (Originally, all 3 doors moved freely with very little resistance.  After I made the control panel, the right-side rear door is very stiff to move.  I suggest not opening this door simply because the battery compartment is visible inside the door along with tape and other non-prototypical items.)
• 1 set of metal crossbar supports appears to be missing from the boom.  It appears as if there should be 4 of these on the top side of the boom, but there are only 3.  (A replacement set could probably easily be fabricated.  Not sure if Lionel sells those as a part.)

Overall, I now feel that a lot of value has been added to this battery-operated Gantry Crane combination.  In the first online listing that I made for this crane starting around the middle of December 2022, I provided suggestions on ways to make this crane work.  I still believe it is possible to make this crane work using Lionel’s TMCC and Legacy control systems.  In my very extensive write-up that leads to the development of the battery-operated modifications that I made to this crane, those suggestions are still present and available on the web.  I will leave them there well after this item is sold.  Additionally, all the modifications that I have made to this crane have been done to increase its saleability and prove that the crane works.  All the modifications I have made can easily be removed without any damage to the crane itself and if one wants to make this crane work remotely using TMCC, Legacy, or their own control designs, these options are still available to them.  To make the crane work using TMCC or Legacy, the Decoder PC Board that was missing from the inside of this crane when it was consigned to me (and still is missing), would need to be replaced.  The Decoder PC Board and other official Lionel parts may be available from time to time via Lionel’s parts website.

People interested in buying this Battery-operated Lionel Gantry Crane combination might want to know how to change the battery and how to operate the crane.  Here are the instructions to accomplish that.  The video also shows how to operate it:

How to change the battery

1. Remove the crane from the gantry platform by holding the platform steady with one hand and lifting the crane straight up from the base with a firm grip around the top and sides of the crane.
2. Disengage the Rotation drive (see below).
3. Carefully lay the crane upside down on a soft surface.  (You may wish to use a thick towel or pillow.)  Be very mindful of the control switches at the back, the delicate top hatch cover that will sway freely when you turn the crane upside down, and the simulated cables that wrap around pulleys on the boom, as well as the boom itself.
4. Attempt to maintain tension on the boom cables as you turn the crane upside down.  Failure to do this might require routing the simulated cables around the pulleys again.
5. Unscrew the 6 Phillips head screws underneath the frame of the crane.
6. Flip the crane back over holding it to the frame as you do so.
7. Gently and slowly lift the shell of the crane upwards and backwards simultaneously so that the front of the shell clears the cables and motors.
8. After the shell clears the motors, rotate the shell upwards so as to be pulling it backwards at 45 degrees and then continue until the front of the shell is nearly perpendicular with the base of the frame at 90 degrees.  Make sure to minimize the distance you pull the shell away from the frame because the wires go through the rear of the crane and connect to the components inside that are secured to the frame of the crane.
9. Lay the shell on its side and perpendicular to the crane.
10. You will see red and black wires attached to a traditional 9-volt battery clip.
11. Gently slide the battery up and out of its resting place.
12. Carefully remove the battery clip from the battery.
13. Replace the battery.
14. Test that the battery is working properly by flipping the little black switch on the frame of the crane upward.  The lights on the shell should illuminate and glow.  Slide the black switch down and the lights should go out.
15. Reverse the above directions working backwards from steps 11 to 1 to put the battery back in its place and put the shell back on the frame.

How to operate the crane.

All instructions I provide start by orientating the crane so that the rear of the crane is facing you and you are looking across the top of it towards the boom.

While the battery remains connected all the time, no power is utilized until you engage a function.  The middle position of all 4 silver DPDT 3-position switches is the OFF position.  The off position for the black SPST 2-position switch inside the cab is when the slider is at the bottom of the switch.  All 5 functions of the crane can be active simultaneously so long as the battery has good charge on it.  Replace the battery when trying to operate 2 or more functions simultaneously results in very slow or no operations.  Because there is no Decoder Board inside the crane, make sure to pay attention to the extents of functions you perform.  Once engaged, there is nothing to limit a motor’s operations except by you turning a function switch off.  For instance, the boom can only raise or lower so far.  There is no circuitry to shut a motor off when the boom reaches its physical limit.  If you fail to turn a motor off, you can damage the motor or a function of the crane.

Set the crane rotation method:

1. Physically turn the entire Gantry Crane Combo 90 degrees to the right so that you are facing the right-hand side of the crane and looking at 2 doors on that side.
2. Slide the right-most front door to the left to open it.  This can be done by using either your finger, a small flathead screwdriver, or a popsicle stick.
3. To disengage the Rotation drive, move the funny shaped piece of clothes hanger wire lever forward slowly until all of the metal on the lever extends past the spring-loaded gear that pops towards you.  Be careful not to push so far forward that the lever damages the window in the front of the cab on that side.  Go slowly to prevent from scratching the paint off the inside of the cab.  Doing this puts the crane in Free-Hand Rotation mode and therefore you can freely rotate the crane using your hand.  This is also the mode the crane should be in when it arrives to you and when you choose to move it from place to place or ship it somewhere.
4. To engage the Rotation drive, use a finger and push the smaller gear inward while moving the lever backwards towards the rear of the cab.  Go slowly and lower the lever all the way back until it rests on the bottom of the inside frame.  Note that a portion of the lever keeps pressure on the small spring-loaded gear and keeps it pushed inward.  This is necessary to enable the motor that rotates the crane 360 degrees to operate.  Use the control switch on the back of the crane to rotate the crane using the built-in motor when the crane is in this mode.  One should not attempt to rotate the crane manually while the lever is engaged.  Doing so might damage the motor or the gears.

Operating the Crane:

The crane has 4 motors that independently control the Rotation, Large Main Hook, Boom, and Small Auxiliary hook.

• Rotation:  The left-most switch controls the rotation of the crane.  Flip the switch to the left and the crane rotates leftward.  Flip the switch to the right and the crane rotates rightward.
• Main Large Hook:  That main hook is used to lift the heaviest portions of items.  The main hook is control by the 2nd switch of the control box (counting left to right from the rear).  To raise the hook, push forward on the switch.  To lower the hook, pull backward on the switch.  (Note:  In my opinion, this hook doesn’t weigh as much as it should.  Because of that, when lowering the hook without a load on it, you may need to pull the hook downward gently as this switch is engaged.  Also, occasionally, the hook may lean favoring 1 side.  (Not sure if this is by design or if a small rod is missing.))
• Boom:  The Boom switch raises or lowers the boom and is controlled by the 3rd switch of the control box (counting left to right from the rear).  To raise the boom, push forward on the switch.  To lower the boom, pull back on the switch.
• Small Auxiliary Hook:  The auxiliary hook is used to lift lighter portions of items and is controlled by the right-most switch on the control panel.  To raise the hook, push forward on the switch.  To lower the hook, pull back on the switch.

Turning the lights on or off:

The light switch is located inside the door on the left-hand side of the crane.

1.  Turn or rotate the crane so that you are facing the left side of the crane (the front of the crane will be on your left while the rear of the crane will be on your right).
2. Slide the door to the right to open it by using your finger, small screwdriver, or popsicle stick.
3. To turn the lights on, slide the small black switch inside upward.  The lights should turn on.
4. To turn the lights off, slide the small black switch inside downward.  The lights should turn off.

In my opinion, this modified Lionel battery-operated O scale Conrail Gantry Crane would be a great add-on to someone’s layout that has trackage and scenery where this Conrail Gantry Crane combo would fit right in.