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PostPosted: 28 Jul 2019, 08:43 
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Joined: 28 Jul 2019, 08:29
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Hi,

I come from Ipswich and my Dad worked for Ransomes and Rapier in the later 1950's to early 1960s. He travelled the world selling rail cranes to Africa, India and the Far East, and many to BR.

I purchased a 1934 cast iron "Ransomes and Rapier Ltd - Ipswich England - Or D5990. 1934" plate, for sentimental reasons.

My Dad (87 years old) has developed Dementia and I want to renovate, paint and give this plate to him to remind him of his days with this Company and travelling the World. His long term memory is good, short term poor.

My question is; Does any one have any information, photos or back ground to the machine that this plate would have come off. Its a long shot, but your collective assistance would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you

Will


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PostPosted: 30 Jul 2019, 16:34 
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Joined: 23 Dec 2010, 00:07
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Location: Poole, Dorset
Hello Will, welcome to the forum!

it is very interesting to hear of your father and I am sure that any anecdotes or stories he can recall from his time at Waterside Works would be warmly welcomed on this forum.

The plate you have, with the D.5990 order number and 1934 date, could have come from almost anything and I suspect that the only way to find out would be to refer to the original order books. I believe that most (or at least many) of these are held by Suffolk County Archives at Ipswich. It might be worth your while sending an email to ipswich.archives@suffolk.gov.uk with an enquiry.

Sadly one thing that I can say with some certainty is that it did not come off a breakdown crane supplied to a British railway. Order Number D.4648 was a 35 ton crane supplied to the LNER in 1932, and the next British railway crane order was E.4334 for two cranes for the Southern Railway in 1937. It could however have been an overseas crane or any of the multitude of other products that R&R was supplying at the time, such as turntables, sluice gates, etc. R&R tended to use a standard design of maker's plate across the full product range.

I do have a couple of other sources to check out, but I am afraid that I don't hold out much hope - I do think that the archive at Ipswich is the most promising line of enquiry.


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PostPosted: 31 Jul 2019, 08:38 
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Joined: 15 Dec 2010, 22:30
Posts: 298
Location: North Cambridgeshire, UK
Thanks for that, Roger.  Your response adds nicely to the information provided by Chris Capewell directly to Will following an email I sent to Chris on the matter.

Yes, I made the all-too-common mistake of using emails to discuss matters raised on the forum. :oops:

I'll stand in the Naughty Corner for the rest of the morning!


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PostPosted: 31 Jul 2019, 16:57 
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Joined: 28 Jul 2019, 08:29
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Hello Roger,

Thank you very much for replying. I have Suffolk RO lined up for a visit. Thanks for the insight and leads, it's not only going to make my task easier, but very enjoyable.

I spent my childhood in Ipswich listening to one Grandfather talk about Ransomes Sims and Jefferies (Bill Akester), another Grandfather about Crane (Robert E Dunnett) and my Dad (Robert J Dunnett) about R&R. I remember in the 1970s going to Ransomes Simms and Jefferies for a summer open day and the thing I most remember was the enormous forging power hammer, which was as high as a house, pounding a piece of steel with sparks flying everywhere, and the floor and me, for that matter shuddering with every thump, for an under ten year old, that was very exciting and quite awesome.

My father's long term memory is very good, short term not very good. I have asked him to write down some of his recollections and I will post it. I live in Reading, but my parents live near Woodbridge Suffolk.

I won't forget, I have spoken to him just now and he's going to trawl his memory for as much as he can. My Mother is very much on the ball and will keep him on the case.

His period of employment at R&R Waterside Works, next to Cocksedges Engineering was 1948-1955 (drawing office), then two years in REME National Service - Cypress and Borden Hants, then returned to R&R in 1957 after NS, until 1964. He came back to R&R because he was asked to "travel the ports of the World" to sell R&R machinery. For a young man in his early 20's, post war, this was a great opportunity. My Dad said Dick Stokes MP (Ipswich) was in charge as MD, I think he married into the Rapier family.

Any way, I'll report back with as much engineering and other stuff within a month or two. I will not forget.

Kind regards.

Will Dunnett


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PostPosted: 02 Aug 2019, 08:56 
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Joined: 28 Jul 2019, 08:29
Posts: 3
Hello,

Whilst sorting through some books, I found "The History of Engineering in Ipswich". First published in 1974, being the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Ipswich Engineering Society.

I have attached a pdf of the front cover and forward with a list of the engineering firms the books covers in separate chapters. This may or may to be of interest to your members. Very happy to scan and attach various chapters on request and post on BDCA.

I will scan and attach R&R chapter shortly.

Regards

Will

PS.I can't seem to add the pdf to this post. Could I email it to someone who knows how to attach the pdf.file.


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PostPosted: 03 Aug 2019, 09:55 
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Joined: 15 Dec 2010, 22:30
Posts: 298
Location: North Cambridgeshire, UK
Hello Will,

I'm sure what you've found would be of interest, and it's most kind of you to offer the provision. Unfortunately the forum is not configured to display PDFs.

My first thought was to offer to convert your scans from PDF to JPG for uploading. However I then realised that the content of the book most likely remains subject to copyright protection which is effective for 70 years from the death of the originator.

Thanks very much again, but I think we need to assume that copyright prevents us going further.

Regards,
David.


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