The huge 70ft long unit arrived in Goulburn from Sydney yesterday lunchtime.

"It is a major piece of railway engineering infrastructure which will be a terrific asset for our society for there were few cranes like these built in Australia let alone survive into preservation," Mr Grose said.

Numbered 1072 in the former State Rail equipment lists, the unit was built in Manchester, England in 1926 as a steam-hauled rail-mounted accident crane.

It worked in that form attending major collisions for 50 years before being converted to diesel power during the 1970s.

For the full story, please see Monday's Goulburn Post, available from our front office in Auburn St, or at all leading newsagencies across the Goulburn area.