A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge.^{[citation needed]} It usually has a vertical boiler placed at the back so that the weight of the boiler counterbalances the weight of the jib and load.

They were very common as railway breakdown cranes, and several have been preserved on heritage railways in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}