My involvement with breakdown cranes is specificaly with the Bluebell Railway steam crane project in the 1980's and early 1990's. The former Gorton and Newton Heath crane, a Ransomes & Rapier 45 tonner, currently numbered RS1083/45. I was at Newton Heath for the removal by road, quite a task in itself, and met former Driver Bert Horridge who had collected the crane from Ipswich for the LNER and worked with it for 35+ years, he was then in retirement but Foreman Tommy Bartram had brought him in specially, really great to have access to that continuity of experience.

A small team of predominantly Bluebell Loco Dept members made the crane run again and it was operated from 1985 until the early 1990's when it became clear that the mechanical clutches required attention that we could not provide outwith a workshop, it has never been able to receive that attention, in view of queue of locos waiting same. Subject to agreement of Bluebell's Management I hope I hope to be able to fund and arrange for the crane to be checked, moved, cleaned, painted and put on display in a presentable condition at Horsted Keynes or other site as permitted. A realistic assessment of the work required to steam and operate again can be made at that time. I cannot assume that Bluebell will agree to this, but for purposes of introduction that is who I am and what I am proposing to do.

Neil,

Welcome to the forum!

It is interesting to hear what you have to say about the Bluebell's 45-tonner, since I have wondered for some time why it fell out of use.

What is the clutch problem you refer to? It is a shame I didn't know about this a year ago, since I could probably have secured the complete crankshaft and slewing clutches (assuming that that is where the problem lies) from DS1560 for you!

Can you tell me, out of interest, what type of boiler fittings you have on your crane? The first batch of wartime cranes (supplied to the SR and GWR) had GWR fittings, but I am not sure what the second batch, for the LNER, had. The Cochran drawings for the boilers for the first batch, although revised, make no mention of the LNER cranes, so I suspect that there were differences in the fittings. The last SR crane, DS1580, has entirely different fittings to the first batch. Does your crane have GWR running gear (like the first batch)?

If your crane is in need of boiler repairs you might be interested to know that the boiler destined for GWR No 2, ex-SR DS1560, is currently undergoing a full overhaul at Cranmore. We presently have the firebox out to allow renewal of the stay tubes, and we are building up a level of knowledge and experience with the Hopwood type that we are happy to share.

I wish you the very best of luck with your project, and if there is anything that I or the BDCA can do to help, let us know.

Roger Cooke.