Crane boom car seems excessively high

[Maletrain]

I recently purchased a Bachmann crane and boom care combination, and have a couple of concerns. 

First, the boom car looks like a flat car that was jacked-up to make its deck level with the deck of the crane.  Was the prototype raised like that?  It looks strange to me.

Second, the little tool that comes in the set to adjust the crane hook and boom positions does not seem to want to engage the pins in side the crane body.  Are there any hints to help with that?

[Maletrain]

OK, I got a response on another forum, along with some pictures of prototypes.

The conclusion is that the boom car deck should be the height of an ordinary flat car, with its deck well below the deck level of the crane car. 

That means I need to shorten the boom car bolsters.  To do that, I need to CAREFULLY mill the bolsters so that the new surface remains parallel to the car deck.  Otherwise, the car will tilt on its trucks and look silly.