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Breakdown Crane


B15nac
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Hi

 

I'm after a bit of help I won this crane on a auction site recently and I was wondering if anyone could identify what type it is or if it's kit or scratch built here's some pictures

 

Kind regards Neil

 

GWR (No.1)?

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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Hi Neil

 

Wow what a nice model. It looks like a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton. I am not aware of a kit and it isn't RTR. I think you have a scratchbuilt model. It looks like one of the batch built for the LMS. I have just had a quick look on google for images but all I could find were the similar diesel powered batch built for BR.

 

Peter Tatlow wrote an article in BRM about these cranes, and done a lovely drawing. In his two volume book on railway breakdown cranes he includes this batch.

 

post-16423-0-94473100-1511443166_thumb.png

This is my model based on Peter Tatlow's drawings.

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Thanks for your help I would say your right an that it's a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton crane which isn't ideal for me as I was hoping it was something I could use on my (WR)layout I don't think they had any 30ton cranes did they? it is very nicely made though an is all brass by the looks of it

 

Regards Neil

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The model looks like a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton crane built for the LMS in 1940

 

The WR acquired two Cowan Sheldon 30 ton 5 axle cranes in 1960 which were based at Newbury and Banbury. They were numbered 139 and 140.

 

GWR No 1 was built by Stothert and Pitt of Bath in 1909.

 

All above from John S Brownlie's book.

 

Gordon A

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Thanks you so they did end up with two of them! I wonder what match trucks They had when on the western region?

I think they would have retained their 6 wheeled ones that were built for them. I cannot recall Tatlow mentioning any getting new match trucks.

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The model looks like a Cowans Sheldon 30 ton crane built for the LMS in 1940

 

The WR acquired two Cowan Sheldon 30 ton 5 axle cranes in 1960 which were based at Newbury and Banbury. They were numbered 139 and 140.

 

GWR No 1 was built by Stothert and Pitt of Bath in 1909.

 

The two "acquired" by the WR in 1960 were new and with welded jibs from the same family as the contemporary 75 Ton cranes. They were not part of the 1940 LMS batch.

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Here's the match truck that came with it not sure if it's correct

The match truck looks GWR, the LMS ones had a handwheel to operate the brakes not a Dean-Churchward lever. There were two designs of bolster, some of the cranes had articulated jibs and there match wagons had a fixed cradle for the jibs. The early built cranes had a fixed jib and to allow movement the bolster had rollers on it.

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Does anyone know what sort of makers plates or information plates would Be on this crane? I can't seem to find anything out

 

Kind regards Neil

 

There would usually be a builder's plate giving the builder's details, number and date. There would also be a quite large plate defining the lifting capacites, both propped and unpropped, at various jib radii. Somewhere on the jib, witin sight of the driver, would be an indicator (operated by a plumbob type thingy) to tell him the capacity at the particular working radius.

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This is a model (actually quite a good one too) of one of the batch of eight 30-ton cranes built by Cowans Sheldon of Carlisle for the LMS and MoS in the period from 1941 to 1944.

 

The first crane, RS1066/30, was supplied to the LMS in 1941 and after a period of testing and assessment a further five were ordered and came into service between mid-'43 and early '44. These five were numbered RS1072/30 through to RS1076/30. In 1940 a further pair was built to a the Ministry of Supply order for military use.

 

The six-wheel jib runners for the LMS cranes were built at Wolverton to diagram 2081.

 

RS1072/30 was transferred to the ER in 1956, the other five remained with the LMS or BR(M) throughout their lives.

 

Of the LMS cranes, the first to be withdrawn was RS1076/30 in July 1969, followed by RS1072/30, damaged after an overload, in Jan 1973. Last to go was RS1075/30, cut up in Nov 1986. 

 

One of the two ex-MoS was shipeed to Marchwood in '44, then went overseas in June '45 and ended up on the OBB in Austria. It was preserved at Strasshof in 1998. The other similarly went overseas but was repatriated and used at Longmoor from '55 to '65, then moved to Shoeburyness where it was converted to diesel, and has subsequently been scrapped.

 

There has never been a kit of these cranes produced, so the model must be scratchbuilt. Although there are some minor errors visible in the photgraphs, it looks to be a fine model which captures the prototype very well. It is not possible to tell (at least not from the photos) whether it is a model of a specific crane, since they were all remarkably similar, but the jib runner identifies it as an an LMS crane not an MoS crane.

 

Chapter 6 of Volume 2 of Peter Tatlow's "Railway Breakdown Cranes" covers these cranes in detail and has many photographs.

Edited by craneman
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Thank you for all your replies with information an help it's much appreciated an now I no there is no real connection between this crane an the GWR or WR I think I will sell it an search for somethink a little more western. I'm not sure what it's worth to be fair so it may end up on a auction site

 

Kind regards Neil

Edited by B15nac
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