Container Crane from Heljan

In a series of four articles I will try to cover Heljan’s interesting new container crane from different perspectives. In this first article I will describe my first impressions after receiving and unpacking the crane, as well as show my first attempts of operating the crane, see the video below.

In the second article I will discuss the visual apperance of the crane compared to the real-life gantry crane it is modelled after, namely the crane in Vasbygade near Copenhagen Central Station in Denmark.

In the third article I will try to sketch the development and history of the modern global container system, while the last article will be about the technical details of the model and hopefully an in-depth review of the possibilities offered by connecting the crane to a PC.

Container Crane from Heljan

The model railroad shop Kystbanen just north of Copenhagen were kind enough to lend me Heljan’s model for review.

The crane comes in a, for H0 scale, gigantic box. Opening the blue box reveals the top of the crane as well as the digital control and one the two supplied containers.

Container Crane from Heljan - the rails

The next step in the assembly was constructing the base plate. Rails for the crane were already fitted, and just had to be put together using rail joiners. This, however, proved to be very difficult, since there were hardly any rooms for the joiners. After a bit of prying and a tiny bit of violence, they were made to join, but not perfectly, though, as can be seen on the image above.

The top of the base plate can be cut to fit an embedded rail with a base length of 226mm. Since I only had the crane temporarily for review, I chose not to cut the base plate, and instead place track on top of the plate.

Container Crane from Heljan - track

The tracks seem to be code 83, which in my opinion combines good looks with reliable operation.

For modellers using Märklins three-rail system this causes some problems however. Not only will they have to impovise the third rail, which shouldn’t be too difficult, but most likely will the tracks be too low for the large wheel flanges of the Märklin system. More about this in the fourth article.

Container Crane from Heljan - gantry

The gantry was already assembled and was easily removed from the box and placed on the tracks of the base plate.

In the second article I will talk about the name “Containerterminal” as well as the logo on the top left.

Container Crane from Heljan - trolley

Please try to ignore the hand of Godzilla above, holding the preassembled trolley. :-)

The tiny wheels fit very precisely onto the tracks of the gantry.

Container Crane from Heljan - digital control and power supply

On the left is the supplied digital control station. Heljan states in the manual that it requires 14-16V AC or DC with up to 2,5 amps! I connected it to my trusty old Titan transformer, even though it would only supply up to 1,35 amps, and fortunately it seemed to be more than enough.

Container Crane from Heljan - supplied container to the left

The container crane came with two Heljan containers with preinstalled magnets. Comparing the Heljan container on the left with the Electrotren container on the right comes out to the disadvantage of the Heljan container, which looks somewhat crude.

Container Crane from Heljan - seen from above

Seen from above it is obvious that it is a very large model. Heljan even produces extensions to the base plate, so the crane can span the entire layout…now we just need switches.. :-)

It is a very interesting model Heljan has created. For fans of epoch V the model is spot on, as it makes an even more interesting and varied operation possible.

The first impression is very good. The model seems very solid, being made mostly by metal. All motors, gears and decoders are cleverly hidden from view. The operation of the lights is easy and looks great, see the picture at the top of the article.

The running of the model will follow in a later article, but below can be seen my not-too-succesful first attempts of being a crane operator :-)

All sounds are from the crane, including the moan of the electric magnet in the end. One can only suspect why Heljan in its official video discarded the sound and added beautiful classic music instead. :-)

Container Crane from Heljan - spotlights

In the next article I will compare the model with the real crane in Copenhagen.

Please feel free to add your comments, praise and critiques below until then.. :-)

Lignende indlæg:

  1. Postvogn fra Heljan
  2. PB-vogn fra Heljan
  3. Ny PR-maskine fra Heljan