A water crane designed by New South Wales Government Railways with a valve operable from ground level only. Modelled on cranes in use at Hawkesbury River in the 1950s.
In game, an engine can stay attached to a consist while watering.
The jib length is 8ft, so the separation between track centres served by the crane is 16ft.
There are no fixed tracks. Instead the user must place a trackmark on each of the track splines that pass on either side of the water column. The trackmarks must point toward the crane jib. Blue Surveyor-only wedges enable precise positioning of the trackmarks.
Given the localised name of the water column is 'myName', the trackmarks must be named <myName> + '-mark-acw' and <myName> + '-mark-cw'.
Trackmark <myName> + '-mark-acw' is located adjacent to the column of the water crane on the track serviced by an anti-clockwise swing of the jib. Trackmark <myName> + '-mark-cw' is located adjacent to the column on the track on the opposite side of the crane.
Adjust the trigger radii of the trackmarks to 6m.
When placing the crane on track with a non-zero gradient, the model may be rolled (hold down SHIFT key while using the ROTATE button, also hold down CTRL button for fine adjustemnt) to match the gradient up to a limit of 2% percent (1 in 50).
The crane's arm is animated. It will rotate anti-clockwise (track-acw) or clockwise (track-cw) by 90 degrees or 38 degrees depending on whether the loco's water port is centrally located (standard) or on a side tank, respectively. The presence of a side tank port is indicated to the water crane script by use of a 'yes' value for a 'lsp_side-tank' tag in the 'extensions' container of the vehicle's config file.
If accurate alignment between the water crane and the loco's water port is to be achieved, the longitudinal offset (metres) from the vehicle's pivot point (main mesh origin) and its water port must be specified by a 'lsp_offset_water' tag in the vehicle's extensions container.
For locos under player control, the player should spot a tender's water port adjacent to the crane's column or at the column-facing edge of the drain grill for a side-tank engine.