Caterpillar Cranes

A Caterpillar Crane (also known as a Crawler Crane) is a mobile crane that runs on caterpillar tracks. Several caterpillar cranes have appeared in The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends media.

Caterpillar Cranes (I)
These Caterpillar Cranes have be seen all around Sodor. They are described to have great maneuverability. They are also stated to work mostly in scrapyards and timber works, and occasionally harbours and quarries.

They have been specifically seen in the locations: Sodor China Clay Company, Brendam Docks, Tidmouth Yards, Tidmouth Sheds, Tidmouth Engine Works, Skarloey Engine Sheds, Skarloey Slate Quarry, Lakeside, Callan Yard, Knapford Harbour, Ffarquhar Quarry, Thomas' Ramp, Norramby Fishing Village, Bertram's Old Mine, The Intersection Station, and Sodor Ironworks.

Basis
The caterpillar cranes are loosely based on various Ruston-Bucyrus Crawler Cranes vehicles from the 1920s and 1940s. However, they have wooden-bodied cabs as opposed to metal.

Livery
The cranes are painted in a brown-green livery. A newer crane model appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, it was moss-coloured and had a dark grey arm, a light grey roof and lacked visble windows.

The 2002-2004 ERTL promotional artwork illustrated the crane with an india green cab and roof, grey arm, grey cable house and chassis, and reddish-brown caterpillar treads.

Appearances
Television Series= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 3 - One Good Turn, Oliver Owns Up, Heroes, and Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure
 * Series 4 - Trucks, Rock 'n' Roll, Steam Roller, Train Stops Play, Thomas and Stepney, Bowled Out, Toad Stands By, Thomas and the Special Letter, Special Attraction, and Fish
 * Series 5 - Horrid Lorry, Bye George!, Double Teething Troubles, Toby's Discovery, Something in the Air, Happy Ever After, Make Someone Happy, Sir Topham Hatt's Holiday, and Rusty and the Boulder
 * Series 7 - Harold and the Flying Horse

Specials
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 * 2000 - Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Official Description
1999-2004= From Official Media:

Trivia

 * The ERTL merchandise descriptions incorrectly refers the vehicle as a sentient male character named "Crane".
 * Two Gauge 1 models were built of this type of caterpillar crane.
 * The first appeared as set dressing during Series 3-5.
 * A slightly newer model only appeared in Thomas and the Magic Railroad. It was made to replace the original model, due to damage sustained while being shipped to Canada. However, the newer model was either lost or damaged while being shipped back to England.
 * In the third series episode, Heroes, the caterpillar crane had a shovel attached to its crane hook at the China Clay Works.

Merchandise

 * Ertl

Caterpillar Cranes (II)
These Caterpillar Cranes have be seen all around Sodor. One of these cranes was worked alongside the Sodor Construction Company in the reconstruction of Great Waterton.

They have been specifically seen in the locations: Brendam Docks, Tidmouth Sheds, Tidmouth Engine Works, Ffarquhar Quarry, Norramby Fishing Village, Sodor Ironworks, Three-Track Hay Field, The Brickworks, Sodor Construction Company Yard, Sodor Fuel Depot, and Great Waterton.

Basis
The basis of these caterpillar cranes are currently unknown.

Livery
The cranes are painted light grey with a reddish-brown arm, chassis and caterpillar treads. They have significant weathering details.

Appearances
Television Series= {{Scroll box|

Thomas & Friends

 * Series 7 - Bad Day at Castle Loch, Something Fishy and Peace and Quiet
 * Jack and the Sodor Construction Company - Alfie Has Kittens and Thomas and the Moles
 * Series 8 - Thomas to the Rescue, Percy's Big Mistake, and Edward the Great
 * Series 9 - Thomas and the Rainbow, Henry and the Flagpole, and Toby's Afternoon Off
 * Series 10 - Thomas and the Shooting Star, and James the Second Best
 * Series 11 - Dream On
 * Series 12 - Steady Eddie, and Rosie's Funfair Special

Specials
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 * 2008 - The Great Discovery

Trivia

 * Two models of this type of crane was built. These were a Gauge 1 scale model, and a Gauge 3.5 scale model.
 * These design of cranes were created to replace the previous model seen throughout Series 3-5 and Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Other Caterpillar Cranes
A grey modern caterpillar crane was featured in the 1990 magazine story, Duck and the Crane. In the story, Duck had to deliver the new crane to the quarry. Unfortunately, the crane could not go through a tunnel. So Duck was forced to take a longer route, and arrived at the quarry late. The quarrymen laughed, as they saw the crane arm was actually raised the entire journey and the ordeal could of been prevented if the arm was lowered.

Another caterpillar crane appeared in the magazine stories, Toby the Brave and Smoke Signals. This was a freelance design by illustrator Timothy Marwood, as it had a wooden-bodied cab, a large crane arm mounted above its roof, and railway buffers, couplings and running board.

Steam-powered caterpillar cranes appeared in the Really Useful Around the World animated short, Thomas Thinks Bamboo is Really Useful. These cranes were used for collecting bamboos to load onto Thomas' trucks in China.

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