'Carlisle's Crane Makers', Alan Earnshaw, 2004


Frontispiece - Ferro Carril Central Argentina, 6 wheel, say 20? ton capacity, steam crane with vertical cylinders

Poor Proof reading / Mispellings – i.e. Bristol, Stanier; then there is capitol ( money, not architecture, the raising thereof ), an unknown A1 named ’Fairwax’, and Devonport and Devenport in the very same caption!

p.8 – Picture caption not strictly correct; the line in the foreground is the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway.

p.10 – Article and photograph in ‘The Engineer’ in 1909 states this was for the GIPR in 1866.

p.12 – upper pic. – The stated hand crane is surely hydraulically powered.

p.12 – upper pic. – What has the oil drum got to do with it? The crane is on its’ own rail wheels.
In March 1990 Railway World a copy of this picture is captioned thus: "Indian State Railway 5 ton hand breakdown crane supplied in 1863 and withdrawn in 1937, pictured at Kirchapwaknia in 1943 having been adapted as a quayside crane”

p.15 – upper pic. – 1892 Steam winders on a massive plate base. For a blocklayer?

p.17 – lower pic. –
Same crane as p.42, stated as SAR crane, works no. 8500 which would be 1944, capacity stated as 30/36 ton, date certainly not 1899 but probably 1940s-50s. The number 565 might fit a SAR crane of the mid 1950s, but I have no fitting order. It may well be that if it was described as other than a breakdown crane

p.22 – upper pic. – Cowans Sheldon blocksetter on North Tyne Pier, The 1905 machine originally ordered for Capetown ( maybe the order went back to 1903 ), as hired by the North Tyne Pier contractors before it went to Peterhead.

p.28 - Chinese Purchasing Commission - three 30 ton cranes from Cowans Sheldon in 1933 ( 5399-5400 ) and 1935 ( 5731 ).

p.29 - LNER bogie Cranes – Debatable as to how much an 'epitome' in the narrow British sense, more as a pair of rather axle-weight heavy one-offs? But much more in line with developments for overseas markets. ( One does of course survive, and a lovely beast she is. )

p.35 – top right – Destination stated as Australia 1954. Not so - Pakistan ( it is broad gauge and fitted with buffers ). Capacity stated as 50 ton. I’m not sure given that lightweight jib. I think they were 25T bridge department cranes. Note the forward control position.

p.35 – The C prefix to the Cowans Sheldon order refs. Only appears to have been used in the order book from C1 to C9, not thereafter. Neither have I ever seen it ever inscribed on a Cowans Sheldon worksplate.

p.37 – Both these Port Cartier Cowans Sheldon cranes survive in working order although only the larger is in use.

p.39 – The Railtrack order for refurbishment of the ( originally six ) 75 ton telescopics was either for four plus one option, or indeed for five.
Certainly one of the six ( 96711 ) was dismantled for spares ( at Gateshead, either in the old NER works area, or at Clarke Chapmans works ) after its jib was condemned.
The fifth to emerge from Clarke Chapmans Gateshead works did not do so for some time after the others. Probably when new owners Langley Plc told Network Rail they wanted some rent for the space it took up. And it did absolutely nothing thereafter. It had been advertised for sale at one time. It was initially moved to Thornaby, has been in store at various locations including Hither Green, Ludgershall and OOC, before scrapping took place in 2009.

p.40 – bottom left pic. – This is not a picture of a Cowans Sheldon BR 75 ton crane; it is one of the tube gauge telescopic cranes ordered by LUL in the 1980s. ( There is thus not a picture of the BR 75 ton telescopic cranes in the book )

p.40 – The overhaul of a fixed jib 75 ton crane was not proceeded with.

p.41 – bottom - The ex Marylebone Cowans Sheldon turntable was installed at Fort William, not Mallaig.

p.42 – lower pic. – Same crane as p.17.

p.43 – Text notes105 ton cranes for BR, but surely is in error. The biggest bdc were 75 ton/75-76 tonnes.

p.43 – lower pic. – Where is the Met. Rly. crane?! Hiding! Why use this photograph, when better are available?
See Brownlie fig. 44, and Graeme-Bruce p.65. ( though admittedly the latter upgrades it to a fictional 50 ton capacity. ) It was built for 20 tons ( order book ) and upgraded to 30 tons ( Brownlie ).

p.42 – bottom left pic. – This caption is completely wrong; it is not a photograph of the crane that went to the NCC. It is one of the three number in the 1930 Order (Cowans Sheldon 5111-5113 ) for the LMSR.
The NCC crane was, indeed still is, as it survives in preservation, a 6+6 wheel bogie crane without relieving bogies (Cowans Sheldon 5233/1931 ).
Its' jib and superstructure are indeed essentially the same as the three LMSR 1930s cranes. The carriage and bogies are basically as the contemporary BBCI and GIPR 65 tonners.
Aside of the above: the caption suggests or infers: firstly that it was a diverted LMSR order and not NCC specific, and secondly that it was gauge convertible; otherwise it would not have been able to be trialled in Scotland. What is the evidence for these two claims?
The Cowans Sheldon order book in no way supports an amended order, 5233 ( interestingly not 5232 as Earnshaws caption ) is entered separately as an NCC 36 ton order.
A correspondent supports an NCC specification very much independent of the LMSR; with the introduction of heavier locomotives and rolling stock in mind. The civil engineering works for the diversion at Bleach Green / Monkstown / Greenisland were also in prospect at that time and for which the machine would have been useful.

p.45 – bottom right pic. – reusing the runner and match that they had used with their previous crane, a Cowans Sheldon steam 45 tonner, obtained from the British Army post WW2. Note also that the company name was the Steel Company of Wales.

p.46 – photo below pic. – Not South African Railway but South Australian Railway. One of these survived until 2002 ( albeit dieselised and having changed gauge ).
Note that exceptionally for a Cowans Sheldon crane it had horizontal cylinders. The odd rated capacity of 107 tons is interesting; they were originally specified for 120 tons.

p.46 – top pic. – This is not outside Paddington!!! ( it may have been that rural 120 years earlier! ). Probably Hinksey Yard, Oxford, or Oxford MPD.

p.57 - top left - I believe the spelling is Blitterlees.
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p.58 –pic. – Hardly typical cargo handling; more for placing masts, guns and machinery. Note the Fairbairn swan-neck crane in the background.

p.60 – bottom right – Union-Castle Line it may be and certainly is, but it isn’t the good ship ‘Union Castle’. In fact it is the ‘M.V. Pendennis Castle’,. Harland and Wolf, Belfast 1958, maiden voyage 1959.

P62. – 50 ton swan-neck crane at Devonport Naval Dockyard.
Steam as stated? Surely electric per the brochure page for said machine.

p.68 - No mention is made of the pair of 1912 Cowans Sheldon cantilever / hammerheads for Japanese Admiralty shipyards, which were big by anyone's book. One or possibly both were substantially subcontracted to Cleveland Bridge; erection was by the Imperial Japanese Navy.


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Chris, thanks are due to you for listing the errors in this crane book and in the three others upon which you have commented.

The subject book is particularly disappointing; probably the worst for errors of the very many that I have studied as a 'lifelong non-fiction bookworm'. Thankfully a friend loaned me his copy just hours before I was due to buy my own, and I quickly saw enough errors within it to decide me to keep money in pocket.

I entered an 'error warning' against the listing of this book in our website's Bibliography but hadn't realised the extent of those errors until I saw your post!