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Simply "WOW": The slewing railway crane EDK 750

No matter who has seen the slewing railway crane EDK 750 (Art. No.: 73035, 79035, 73036, 79036) so far and has had the possibility to "play" with it, the general reaction was "WOW"!

The unique technical refinement of this highlight is unrivalled in the modelling market. Turning, lifting, lowering, driving - almost every part of the crane can be moved with the remote control (e.g.: Z21, Multimaus, or Gaming Controller) or manually.

There is still a little bit of time left until this technological gem is delivered to retailers, but you can already admire the crane in a new video.

The crane in full action

From the big one to the small one

Crane wagons of all sizes and designs were built for the internal railway service from a relatively early stage. Today, the range extends from simple, manually operated fixed cranes mounted on a rotating plate on a flat wagon to powerful, diesel-electric railway slewing cranes. In the past, steam cranes were common due to their high performance and high load capacity; today, diesel-electric or diesel-hydraulic drives are used predominately. Steam cranes, by contrast, are now largely „extinct“. While railway crane types were never standardised by the various railway administrations, nevertheless every country – or more precisely, every manufacturer – has a characteristic design that makes it easy to identify each crane‘s origin. 

The German archetype – the EDK 750 railway slewing crane built by Maschinenbau Kirow in Leipzig – can lift loads of up to 125 metric tons with the appropriate supports. Its tasks even include replacing steel girder box bridges, as well as easier assignments such as removing and reinstalling switches and track yokes. For the latter, it is usually not necessary to extend and adjust the cranes‘ supports. The horizontal boom is suitable for working below the overhead line system and inside tunnels. The crane can be transported at speeds of up to 100 km/h when being transferred to the work site.

But not only the big original has some technical features to offer, the model is in no way inferior to that!
With the EDK 750 railway slewing crane, an absolute highlight model will appear in 2020.
This top-of-the-range model is unrivaled in 1:87 scale (item no .: 73035, 79035, 73036, 79036).

Fully functional model of a 6-axle railway slewing crane with movable telescopic boom. The crane can travel independently or, once the gear coupling has been unlocked manually, as part of the train. The upper carriage can be rotated 360° with no end stop. All turning and lifting movements feature a soft start and stop mechanism. This means you can have lots of fun lifting bridges or laying switches and track yokes. The horizontal boom is suitable for working under overhead contact lines. The telescopic boom can be tilted and telescoped in any working position, even with a load attached to the crane‘s hook.

Pre-series of the digital crane – a development under stringent conditions!

When the first sample models of the digital railway crane EDK 750 made their rounds at the Roco booth at Nuremberg Toy Fair 2020 customers’ enthusiasm was enormous.
At this point in time, however, it was not foreseeable that the project would still face some severe challenges due to corona pandemic and so the pre-series for the digital railway crane was planned for early April.
In the course of this pre-series production, the assembly of up to 20 crane models was planned so that the model could be given the finishing touches for series production
For the pre-series test, there was an extensive package of features that should be tested including even quieter motors so that the operating noises come into their own even better as well as an adopted control software to be able to control even more sensitively. For the first time we will have completely painted parts so that the overall visual appearance can be checked.

When extensive measures to contain the corona pandemic came into force in mid-March, a pre-series in the usual manner was out of the question. It quickly became clear that the health of our own employees and all people was a priority! Nevertheless, our development department did not give up so quickly and plans were drawn up under which conditions the pre-series of the digital railway crane could still take place in time. It was at the beginning of April that a big quantity of boxes and bags were transported to the largest available room at the headquarters in Bergheim, Austria. Due to the contact restrictions, the complete pre-series was than only carried out by two employees at the location in Bergheim this time – a truly unique event!

And so the two employees went to work protected by masks and at a sufficient distance from each other. Instead of the planned 20 samples, only 6 were built due to the lower number of employees, but these already show the model implementation of the railway crane of the German Federal Railway (73035/79035) in yellow and the Austrian Federal Railways (73036/79036) in a red color dress. The model already shows the design related differences of the fully functional boom lighting as well as the different handrails and steps.

It took some time to assemble the pre-series models, but it quickly became apparent that the models were already at an excellent level of development. The subsequent driving and functional tests were also carried out to the satisfaction of the developers, so that we could give green light for series production.
In order to increase the anticipation of the model once again, some pictures of the promising, but not printed, samples could be taken during a break. But see for yourself!

The highlight of the anniversary year - the EDK 750 - is now in its final phase. With all its functions it will be certainly soon impressing you on your model railway layout. As you would expect from ROCO, however, we also give great importance to perfect painting and printing. Currently, the model of the ÖBB crane (Art. No. 73036 and 79036) is in its final printing stage. Based on historical photos, partly from private archives, even the smallest inscriptions have been transferred in the scale 1:87. A unique eye-catcher are the yellow/black warning stripes, decorating the EDK 750 of the ÖBB. The printing of the models will soon begin, and the series production is starting soon!