When I saw that part I could immediately picture the crane. One of the great mid 80s town sets :). It should still be in the Lego bin at my mom's. With a little luck the container is still assembled with the stickers still applied. There was also an excellent fire truck from that time, 6358 Snorkel Squad, that used that very same boom assembly in red and white with a basket at the end.
6361 actually came in variations with both molds. The one with 15 studs and print is exclusive (while several other versions with 15 studs exist). The one with 16 studs only exists in this print and color version, but was also used in a less common set 1489.
The very first LEGO set I ever owned was a green LEGO City shipping crane with a black boom arm piece. The other part of the crane arm wasn’t a crane arm piece but instead a regular Technic beam. The 2x2 base end of the outer arm has 2x2 studs on top. I don’t know when the specific set was released initially, but I know it was in the late 2000s when I recieved it.
i have this set, all of the pieces, and the instructions still. i always thought it was really cool having all of it still. EDIT: i found the name. what i have is the cargomaster crane. it isn't the exact set, but it uses the same piece.
I had one of these as a kid but being as it was what it was it was broken in the middle idk whether it had the print or not. I remember my brother said it was a gate for a railroad crossing. And was broken when a lego car plowed through it. I'd assume it was mid 80s based on my brother age
