| The "Little Hook" could never be a star performer in the dramas of railroading. It lacks the sleek
brilliance of smooth-skinned diesels, the deep-crested strength of massive steam power.
It misses the engineering grace of steel bridges and the excitement of busy stations. It isn't even
Picturesque. Yet for nearly half a century the "Little Hook" has been an indispensable backstage worker in the railroad drama.
Hiding behind warehouses,or pinched between team tracks,the "Little Hook" has done a big job. Clattering and whirring, swinging back and forth, it has unloaded countless tons of everthing from I-beams to brewery vats.
The Prototype was designed in 1915 by the Industrial Brownhoist Company of Bay City,Michigan and built for the Pere Marquette Railroad.
Brownhoist bllueprints describe it as a 10-ton electric pillar crane. It is interesting to note that Brownhoist did not furnish the cab as standard equipment, and its design was left to the option of the individual railroads.
As a result, nearly every crane operator has introduced his own modifications, and few "Little Hooks" will be found identical in appearance.
The models footprint is 1 1/4 X 6 1/2 inches.
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