Ardelt 57 ton steam powered railway crane - Deutsche Bundesbahn - Gauge 1 / 1:32

24NOV2025: SOME CORRECTIONS AND CHANGES ARE REQUIRED. EXPECT ADJUSTMENTS BEFORE 01JAN2026

Both Fleischmann and Märklin have had a German "Eisenbahnkran" in their model program for decades. For many a boy in the 60s and 70s it must have been a dream to operate such a machine on your h0 layout in the attic.

Because grown men are essentially boys with larger toys, this INTERPRETATION of an Ardelt railway crane was initiated in Gauge 1 / 1:32 / 45mm track. Like the childhood dream, this model is manually operated with a key.

In 1949 the Deutsche Bundesbahn commisioned several 57 ton steam powered railway cranes. Despite the general shape of cranes build by Ardelt is pretty similar, there are clear differences between 57 and 90 ton cranes.

The 57 ton version stores the counterweigths in the frame, while they are carried on additional flat wagons for the more powerfull 90 ton version. This made transport and deployment of the 57 ton cranes less complicated.

My main reference is this document by the Eisenbahnmuseum 'Alter Bahnhof Lette': http://www.bahnhof-lette.de/fileadmin/files/Monatsgeschichte_Juli_2020/Betriebsbuch_fuer_den_Kranwagen_Essen_734_062_01.pdf

This model uses the same design-features as my other published rolling stock (i.e. axles, bearings, bufffers, etc......).

The STL's for the flat support car (bijwagen) are also uploaded, including a support for the boom. The buffers, axles/wheels, spings and couplings are salvaged from a Märklin Maxi model.

Please note the boom is ~45 cm long, the crane measures ~32 cm buffer to buffer. Printing it takes a lot of time................... and it is likely you have to split the STL-files to be able to fit them on the build plate of your printer. Splitting parts can be done in you slicer software, or with Tinkercad (www.tinkercad.com)

The boom needs re-inforcement to make it more durable. Channels are provided for placing ~1.5 mm metal wire while glueing the 4 items together.

All STL-files are published using Dutch names. "Google Translate" provides decent translations for most of them ;-)

Please contact me if you have questions concerning the construction.

Good luck printing and building this "giant little toy".

Best regards,

Rob