Crane

Conrail yesterday reported a profitable first quarter, and directors of the freight railroad re-elected chairman L. Stanley Crane and president Stuart M. Reed. Conrail said its first-quarter net income increased to $60 million from $55 million in the same period last year, even though revenue declined to $775 million from $803 million in 1985's first quarter. The revenue drop was blamed on a 1 percent decline in loaded freight cars hauled and revenue ton miles (a revenue ton mile indicates one ton of freight hauled one mile)

A long-anticipated decision is imminent on a successor to L. Stanley Crane, the man who led Conrail down an arduous path from government stewardship to financial health. Crane, who has been chairman of the Philadelphia-based freight rail system since Jan. 1, 1981, said that there are at least six serious candidates for the job, half from inside the company and half from outside. Selection of the new Conrail chief executive is likely to be made within the next two months, and the individual chosen should be "actually physically on the job" by the end of March, Crane said in an interview.

Antonino Monti of South Philadelphia, 93, known for decades as "Tony the crane operator," died Sunday at Methodist Hospital. Funeral arrangements for Mr. Monti are being handled by his son, Samuel, whose father set him up as an undertaker, then spent several decades helping the younger Monti keep the place up. Before pitching in at the funeral home, Mr. Monti worked 42 years at Warner Certified Concrete Co. He started at Warner making concrete...

LONDON - A helicopter crashed into a crane and fell on a crowded street in central London during rush hour Wednesday, sending flames and black plumes of smoke into the air. The pilot and one person on the ground were killed and 13 others injured, officials said. The helicopter crashed in misty weather just south of the River Thames near the Underground and mainline train station at Vauxhall, and close to the headquarters of spy agency MI6. Police said one person had critical injuries.

Lying on her bed yesterday morning in her leopard skin-print nightgown, 58- year-old Luvinia Davenport read a passage of scripture. It was the 121st Psalm from the King James bible that says, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. " She stopped reading to answer a phone call. Minutes later, a crane crashed through her roof. As the crane descended onto her bed, turning it into what she called a "pancake," Davenport managed to get to her bedroom door, down the stairs, and outside without being hurt.

An antique 50-ton motor crane that had been offered free to a good home has found one. The crane, complete with a giant bucket and a 100-foot boom, will go to SMS Railroad Services, a short-haul freight company in Bridgeport, Gloucester County. There it will be put back into service rebuilding Baldwin locomotives, SMS' president, Jeffrey L. Sutch, said. The last Baldwin locomotive was built in Philadelphia in 1954. The crane, which was gathering dust in an industrial shed on Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia, is owned by the Samuel Tabas Family Foundation of Haverford.

Conrail chairman L. Stanley Crane, the veteran railroader who has been given much of the credit for transforming a money-losing company into a profitable operation, will remain in his post at least two more years, it was announced yesterday. In a prepared statement, Conrail said Crane, 71, was asked by the directors of the government-owned company to stay in his current position through December 1988. Crane and the board agreed to the arrangement on Dec. 16, the statement said.

After a three-hour rescue effort, John Wisham, 57, a crane operator for Jen Environmental Construction Technology of Southampton, Burlington County, walked out from beneath tons of wood and steel debris caused by the collapse of his crane yesterday afternoon as hundreds of onlookers cheered. A Medivac helicopter had been standing by at nearby Penn Wood East Junior High School, but Wisham, who appeared unharmed, declined to go to a hospital. Wisham was operating a 15-foot boom from the crane's cab, demolishing two houses between Yeadon Avenue and Church Lane gutted by fire three years ago, when the crane toppled.

Emergency responders in Delaware County used a crane to rescue a man trapped under a SEPTA trolley early Saturday. Around 3:30 a.m., the man was struck by a Route 102 Trolley in Clifton Heights along a stretch of tracks near East Broadway and Ogden Street, said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. The victim became trapped underneath the trolley, which was approaching the Baltimore Pike Station, heading towards 69th Street Station from Sharon Hill, Busch said. Local rescue crews and SEPTA personnel worked to free the man for about an hour and a half, before the crane was used to lift the trolley off the victim, Busch said.

Conrail's board yesterday elected Richard D. Sanborn chairman, president and chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1, marking a formal end to the company's eight-year turnaround under the leadership of L. Stanley Crane. Crane, 73, Conrail's chairman and chief executive since Jan. 1, 1981, announced on Feb. 29 his intention to retire. At the same time the board named Sanborn, 52, to be president and chief operating officer. Sanborn came to Philadelphia-based Conrail, the largest freight rail system in the Northeast and Midwest, from CSX Distribution Services Inc., where he was president and CEO. CSX Distribution is a division of CSX Corp.