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Healey Mills and Holbeck Cranes
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Author:  Brian Eves [ 25 May 2021, 16:07 ]
Post subject:  Healey Mills and Holbeck Cranes

I've come across a couple of drawings that show the maximum load on level track for the Healey Mills and the Holbeck cranes.
Whilst they give a crane number on each drawing they do not give the makers name.
Healey Mills is described as a 45T Stream Crane No 107 and having four axles with six outriggers.
Holbeck is described as a 40T Steam Crane No 159 and having four axles, three outriggers and releasing bogies either end of the crane.
The drawings are BRB, Eastern Region, Chief Civil Engineer, Works section and dated 1968 for 107 and 1973 for 159.
Any info greatly received
Many thanks
Brian

Edit by Admin: "Healey" spelling corrected to aid future forum searches

Author:  Roger Cooke [ 25 May 2021, 17:33 ]
Post subject:  Re: Healey Mills and Holbeck Cranes

107 is the 1926 Cowans, Sheldon & Co. Ltd., crane currently preserved on the NYMR and in regular use. One of a pair supplied in 1926 at the behest of HNG to provide the capacity to lift his larger locomotives, it was allocated initially to Doncaster. Transferred to Healey [note spelling] Mills in 1965 it remained there until it was sold to the NYMR in 1981.

In LNER ownership it carried the numbers SB1, 39A, 941590, ending up as 330107 in the BR era (hence the "107"). Under CEPS it was allocated the number ADRC95224, under which number there are many fine photos in the BDCA gallery here.

This pair of cranes had an unladen weight of 84 tons and ran on two four-wheel bogies, making the pair unique for cranes of this type in the UK. This, coupled with the absence of relieving bogies, resulted in an axle load of 21 tons and an R.A. of 9, severely limiting the places to which they could travel.

159 is the 1931 Ransomes & Rapier Ltd., crane currently preserved and operational at the Nene Valley Railway. This crane was supplied to the LMS in 1931 as a 36-tonner and initially allocated to Kentish Town bearing the number MP3, moving to Leeds in 1939. In 1940 it was upgraded to 40-tons capacity, renumbered RS1004/40 and transferred to Meadow Lane. In 1954 it was transferred to the NE Region at Holbeck and renumbered 159, later (ADE)331159. Under the CEPS scheme it gained the number ADRR95207. In 1978 it was transferred from Holbeck to Doncaster, and in December 1982 it was sold for scrap but was resold to the NVR preservation in January 1983.

MP3 has a four axle carriage and is equipped with Stokes Patent Relieving bogies, and is in fact now the oldest surviving crane thus fitted in the UK.

One again there are many fine photos of the crane in the BDCA gallery here, and for MP3 you can also find an illustrated history in the "Selected Chronicles" area of the site here.

Author:  Brian Eves [ 26 May 2021, 14:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: Healey Mills and Holbeck Cranes

Thanks for this info Roger.

I should know the spelling of Healey Mills as I was there often enough between 1987 and 1991 as an S&T lineman.

My interest in breakdown cranes stems from the start of my railway career in 1974. As a member of the Plant and machinery department I assisted in servicing Allerton's cranes, a Craven 50T ADRV95206 and a Cowans Sheldon 30T ADM1091/30.

Brian

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