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PostPosted: 11 Jan 2011, 14:38 
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Joined: 23 Dec 2010, 00:07
Posts: 384
Location: Poole, Dorset
Some years ago there was a partwork produced under the title "British Steam Railways and how they shaped our history". This was a combined magazine plus DVD format produced by D'Agostini and Planet Three Publishing, and I believe that in total there were 96 parts. These quite often come up on eBay and fetch modest prices. Each DVD (at least all those I have seen) contains three separate features, one principal feature and two secondary ones.

The "British Steam Railways" series made the ambitious claim to be "the definitive record on film and in print", an absurd statement up to which it could not possibly live. The narration on the second feature mentioned below is feeble - it contains factual errors and misidentifications, and was clearly produced without any consultation with anyone who actually knew what they were talking about! However, bearing in mind it was a mass-market publication it could be worse. The footage is good enough to merit turning the sound off an enjoying the film in its own right.

There are two DVDs in the series that I am aware of which are of interest to crane enthusiasts, specifically Volumes 8 and 26.

The second feature on Volume 8 entitled "6201 Princess Elizabeth" is a 2 minute Movietone newsreel of the triple collision at Harrow & Wealdstone in 1952. Interesting and shocking footage, but fortunately reproduced with the original (and therefore reasonably accurate) narration soundtrack.

The third feature on Volume 26 entitled "The GWR Panniers" is an 11 minute featurette called "Raising the Wreckage" looking specifically at breakdown cranes. This actually has some very interesting footage and is well worth hunting down a copy.

It begins with footage taken after a collsion at Streatham in 1969 showing a 75-ton diesel-mechanical crane (therefore either ADB965185 or ADB965186, which of the two it is cannot readily be determined) at work. The narrator described this as a "diesel conversion" despite the fact that it is clearly a Diesel Mechanical crane, not Diesel Hydraulic, and the film was shot about 7 years before the first such cranes were converted! A smaller (engineer's) steam crane is also working.

Next comes footage of a derailment at Ormesby Bank (near Middlesborough) on an unspecified date but during the BR era, probably late 1950's. The crane seen working in this sequence is one of the three 25-tonners built by Craven Bros of Manchester for the NER, namely CME12, CME13, and CME14, but it is not possible to be certain which. It is however most likely to be CME13, which was allocated to Middlesborogh during the relevant period (the others being at Sunderland and Hull). This is the crane now preserved as a part of the National Collection.

Next comes a clip shot at Broughty Ferry on the Dundee to Aberdeen line showing the 36-ton Cowans Sheldon crane RS1062/36 of 1914 at work. Supplied to the NBR in 1914 as No 3, this crane, which is now preserved by the SRPS, is believed to be one of the first two built by Cowans Sheldon to use Spencer-Hopwood multitube boilers. It was withdrawn from Carstairs in 1979.

This final sequence in the featurette was shot in the preservation era at Swithland Sidings on the (preserved) GCR and shows the ex-GWR No 17 crane (later RS1097/45 and ADRR95208), one of four supplied to the GWR on Govenrment account in 1940, lifting a ballast hopper during a night photo charter in 2002.

As mentioned, the narration throughout this featurette is extremely disappointing but the fact that it features three very interesting cranes at work makes it well worth viewing.


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