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January 2006 This wharf crane has been built for some time, but I only just got around to taking some photos. It is a fully operational minifig scale crane, able to quickly and easily lift and transfer standard LEGO 8x4 containers between ship, truck, and rail.  | The operator gains access via a ladder at the rear. The cabin, which moves with the hook traveller, must be "parked" to enable access.
The boom is stowed when not in use to allow clearance for shipping. |  | Operation Because the grabber is operated by cable, a differential mechanism was required to allow both raise/lower function (when both cables must be activated together), and grab/release (where just the grabber cable is activated). The photo below shows the mechanism from above. It's a little hard to see everything, but the 2 cable spools for raise/lower and grab/release are on the right, near the bottom. The raise/lower wheel is top centre, the grab/release lever immediately to it's left. The wheel on bottom left is to operate the traveller trolley. The tricky part of this was actually working out where to put the hose reels to provide friction at the appropriate points so it all operates correctly. 
Finally some other general pics:  |  |  | | Here is the crane holding a standard LEGO 8x4 container. | And views showing the total reach of the traveller. As you can see, it extends out a long way for reaching wide beam ships, and all the way to the rear, allowing many options for container transfer. There is also plenty of clearance between the legs for vehicular access. | Here's the gallery with more shots (after moderation).
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