The Travel Town Museum is excited to add Locomotive Crane #1887 to its historic rolling stock collection. This World War II "Veteran" was built by the American Hoist and Derrick Company and delivered to the United States War Department at Madison, Indiana in 1943. It is a Model 508CD and has a nominal lifting capacity of 40 tons. It is mechanical driven and self-propelled, with a direct-drive Diesel engine powering both the hoist and locomotion. The "CD" stands for Caterpillar Diesel, the manufacturer of the original engine (later replaced). Crane 1887 was assigned to the U.S. Navy as USN #84-00503. Most of crane's working career is unknown, but by the mid-1960s it had found its way to the Douglas Aircraft (later Boeing) plant in Torrance, California, working alongside two other pieces of ex-Navy railroad equipment - an EMC Model 40 Diesel Switching Locomotive USN #65-00323 and a 40' flatcar USN #61-02001. In a "kismet" for railroad preservation, all THREE of these historic Navy railroad pieces are now preserved at Travel Town - having been donated over the years by McDonnell-Douglas and its aircraft-manufacturing successor the Boeing Corporation.

The historic American Crane is now part of Travel Town's operating equipment fleet and is designated Crystal Springs & Cahuenga Valley Railroad No. 1887. She represents an important theme of railroad history and technology - "getting the job done". When major sections of track needed to be rebuilt or other trains derailed, a crane was called in to do the job. At Travel Town, Crane 1887 serves as both an interpretive artifact and an operational tool - among several jobs already planned for her, she'll provide the lifting power for boiler, cab, and tank removal during the S.P. 20 steam locomotive restoration as well as heavy-lifting service in maintaining the Museum's operating Diesel locomotives. The rehabilitating of this important piece of railroad equipment will directly enable bigger and better restoration and upgrade projects in the Museum's future!