A fellow member found this a while ago.
I did ask the original contributor for any more he had ..... but none was forthcoming ...

http://www.6lda28.com/brel/shed.html

I am interested to ascertain where the impetus within the UK came from for dieselising such cranes; were the Army, LTPB, BR or CS in the forefront?

Incidentally see http://www.derbysulzers.com/45066.html under the 1975 heading for a picture of Army 62003 ( R&R 1943 45T ) awaiting entry to works for conversion.

Chris, I have always understood that the impetus came from BR arising from the increasing diffficulty presented by operating steam power machinery in a diesel network infrastructure, but I could be wrong.

Incidentally it might be worth noting that the BDCA was given approx 15 pallets of casting patterns supposedly originating from the Derby Crane Repair Shop upon the demise of Swindon Historic Castings last year.

Unfortunately an initial assessment has revealed that the majority of these are Taylor Hubbard patterns for smaller engineering cranes, and although they do on the whole have pattern numbers it is very difficult to identify what they are for. Since they are of no relevence to breakdown cranes we are currently seeking a suitable alternative custodian for these.

Also included were two stillages of Petter diesel engine patterns, and unfortunately we have absolutely no idea what engines these are for, nor what rail vehicles (if any) they were used in. Again, we are seeking alternative custodians for these.

In the unlikely event that anyone reading this has an interest in these patterns and woudl like to take them on, please "pm" me or contact BDCA site admin. We have to relocate them in reasonably short order since they are in temporary storage at present.

The very small number of patterns which are relevent to breakdown cranes will be kept by the BDCA so as to be available to anyone with a need.

After steam locos disappeared, there was always a problem of getting water for the cranes on site. The Southern Region got round this for their older cranes with tank wagons but don't forget that their two 75T and two 30T cranes of 1961 construction were diesel powered when built which rather suggest BR.

Richard

Richard, firstly a big welcome to the BDCA. Good to see you already active on this forum!

This is not directly relevant to the topic but I have a query about the year that you give for the construction of the SR's two 75T and two 30T diesel-mechanical cranes.

The late Alan Earnshaw, in one of his magazine articles, listed the build year of the two 30-tonners as 1962 and the two 75-tonners as 1964. He listed the year for all the steam 30T cranes as 1961 and the first of the steam 75T as 1961 with the others as 1962.

Unfortunately Alan was rather prone to error in his data publication, but I suspect he may have been correct in this instance.

And let us not forget that the first of the four diesel-mechanical cranes (30-tonner ADRC 96100) still exists and is stored out of use at Carnforth. As this was the very first diesel powered breakdown crane built for a British railway it is surely worthy of preservation!

Sadly all my attempts to establish who actually owns it (I think it is the Fastline group, ex-Jarvis) have sofar proved unsuccessful. If anyone reading this knows, please do tell.

Roger

Order dates, delivery from works dates, received at site dates, commissioning dates, and signing off as accepted by the client dates can all vary by a year or two! ( Or more if the Great War or WW2 got in the way. )

I'll have to concede that I don't really know, David, but Brownlie gives 1961-2 for the four cranes.

Chris made a good point about order dates, build dates, delivery dates etc. In fact Brownlie says the four cranes were ordered in 1961/2.

We have another lift with our 40-tonner this Wednesday. I'll be part of the ground crew and there's a fair chance I'll draw the short straw for disposing at the end of the session. That's an awful job, but I'm still pleased the crane is powered by steam rather than diesel!

And now refurbished, and , I believe used as the venue for the last weeks edition of Master Mind.

A couple of 'trade' pages!, with a phot or two.

http://www.flowcrete.com/OurNews/Flowcr ... house.aspx

http://www.icipaints.co.uk/news/case/fu ... ollege.jsp

I note that you have some patterns and spares for light duty Taylor-Hubbard rail cranes. As the person responsible for looking after DRT 81367 in working order on the Caledonian Railway I would be happy to offer them a home of they are still available.

Steve Pegg