…Crane on the move | Märklin 7051

Märklin developed a motorised dockyard crane in the 1950s. Made of tinplate and die-cast parts, it has two motors driving the turret and the hook respectively. An electromagnet can be added to lift and set down ferrous materials hands free.

1980s version of the 7051 crane with tan turret.

It takes skill to drive the toy and it has limitations. While the boom can be raised or lowered, this must be done by hand. With the crane fixed, it can only reach places within a given radius. Thus, plans were made to extend its range by making it move laterally. A rope and pulley system was devised…

7051 on the move by hand…

Finding a home in the newly redesigned goods yard, it travels back and forth between two sidings. Its operating crank was located in the middle of the layout and it was quite a stretch to access. One solution would have been a mechanical transmission to the edge, but that was too complicated. An electric motor was needed!

A lot of torque and low revolutions are key to making it work, so a DC gear motor was purveyed from a local shop. Its shaft fit the Meccano pulley exactly, so all that was required was a mounting plate and a big hole in the baseboard.

… and by electricity.