Auxiliary trains were made up of old freight cars used to carry repair materials, retired passenger cars, like the West Coast Railway Heritage Park Colonist Car, for crew accommodation. The most imposing part of the Auxiliary was the massive Steam powered crane, known to railroaders as the "Big Hook". This crane was kept under a full head of steam at all times in case of emergency. When there was a wreck the Auxiliary train would be hauled to the "affair" by any available locomotive in the terminal.

CPR Steam crane No. 414330 and its Idler car No. 402107 are typical examples of their types and will form the nucleus of the West Coast Railway Heritage Park maintenance of Way theme set.

This crane is a 150 ton capacity steam powered, coal burning wrecking crane built by the Industrial Brownhoist Company in 1913. These cranes were usually mated to a former steam locomotive tender which supplied it with fuel and water. The Idler car, No. 402107 was most likely built from an old flatcar or boxcar. In the small house on one end were carried the tools, ropes, slings and jacks necessary when clearing a wreck. There is a carriage device which holds the crane's boom in the lowered position when the crane is not being moved.

Today's railways have adopted heavy road/rail cranes to clear most wrecks, although a number of large diesel cranes with capacities approaching 250 tons are kept at various locations. They remain an important tool for railroaders.