Hello to all,

I have just stumbled across your group whilst looking for some information on the Peterborough crane.

For the record I was crane driver on the Stratford accident vans from 1982 to 1991 driving (if my memory is correct) ADRC96701.

I will have to dig out some photographs of it in action, I also have a video somewhere of our crew playing with airbags to roll over some waggons & tanks, The Stratford crane can be seen in the video & I remember the sound of that Detroit diesel sounding lovely.

I also did have the blueprints for the Stratford crane but gave them away to a friend's son who was working on a restored railway near Colchester. Might have to try & get those back



Anyway, nice to find the group.

Chris

Hello Chris.

Your photos etc will, I'm sure, be of great interest to us all.

You remember correctly that Stratford's 75-tonner was ADRC96701, built 1961. I understand that it moved from Stratford to Leeds Holbeck following its conversion to diesel-hydraulic in 1977 (displacing 40-tonner ADRR95207 which is now at Nene Valley Railway), then returned to Stratford in 1988. Since scrapped.

I have sent you a private email on other matters.

I really thought that my early profession had died as the cranes were withdrawn, after all there prob are not many of the crane drivers still alive, most at the time I was there were fairly old. I took over from Ted Shelly who had died, & Kenny was the relief driver until I was trained up. I was driving for two years before being sent to Kingmore depot Carlisle to get my ticket, funny thing was when I got there the relief crane I had been driving for over a year at Stratford was the training crane at Kingmore, I ended up training the drivers while the instructor trained the supervisors. I only actualy drove at Kingmore on the final day of the two weeks just to prove that I could do what I said I could do.

ADRC96701 went to Ashford in Kent before I started on the vans, I cant remember the number of the relief crane now but ADRC96701 returned to Stratford aprx 1984/5 after a refit, I drove it until I left in 1991. I do know that the relief crane went to Kingmoor at Carlisle because that was the crane I got my ticket in after being sent there for two weeks.

Chris,

A very warm welcome to the group! One of the reasons that we decided to set up this forum was to try to allow us - the people who now operate 'heritage' cranes - to establish contact with you - the people who used to use them in anger. We realise that there are relatively few of the 'real' crane drivers still around and we are therefore delighted that you have found us and joined.

Roger

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Just to add why ADRC96701 went to Ashford, I believe it was that whilst out on a job & the breakdown train was in sidings, the crane had been moved behind the tool vans ready to propel onto the site in the morning, at some time during the night they moved the flats with the bridge sections, I guess that the sections were not secured because one bridge beam had slewed around slightly on the flat, when it passed the BDV the bridge beam went straight through the rear of the crane into the engine room ! very lucky realy because had it been the other way round it would have hit the riding van.

If anyone has the breakdown foremans book " From Steam To Stratford" (W P Robinson) I am sure it will have that incident & many other intesting stories.
I am going to try & get a copy myself as I have only just been made aware of it.

Chris

I have a copy of "From Steam To Stratford" but it is a long while since I read it. I will try to dig it out and have a look for the incident you mention. A lucky escape indeed!

The published records for crane allocations and movements during more recent times (say from the seventies onwards) seems to be very sketchy, and it is fascinating to hear from former crane staff such as yourself since it allows a better picture to be built up. I was trying to figure out from my records which crane would have been the relief crane you had at Stratford, but based on the sketchy information from the period it is difficult to say. It may have been ADRC96704, which my records suggest was at Stratford at some time between 1978 and 1988 - I don't know if this rings any bells? ADRC96702 is another possble contender since this was apparently at Ashford Crane Repair Depot (presumably as a regional spare) at about the right time.

Hopefully over time, and expecially if we can attract more people into the forum, we will build up a better picture of the movements of the 75-tonners.

Not quite sure of the relief crane number, more likely to be 704, if I can find my pictures I took some of the two cranes together when 701 came back from Ashford & we were swapping all the kit back into our jib carrier, for some reason the spare had no spreader beam of its own.

About a year after 701 returned to Stratford the relief crane we had was at Kingmoor because this was the crane that was there when I did my ticket. 704 does seem to ring a bell the more I think about it.

Hope that helps

Unfortunately Robbo's book stops at the end of 1978, but he doesn't say why. It just ends with "The last two derailments of the year [1978] were caused by snow in the points and it looked as though it was going to be a bad start to 1979".

Very strange ! almost seems as though he gave up writing it .................. and then I woke up and it was all a dream !!!!! LOL