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45 ton Ransomes Crane


Hilux5972
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Mad, greedy; take your pick, the first of the two cranes I have ordered has arrived. When I spoke to the supplier a couple of days ago, I remarked, "i imagine you have sold quite a few of these". To which the rep I spoke to merely chuckled. I sincerely believe, as stated before, that a number of people are likely to be disappointed. How many Bachmann have made or will make, I have no idea, although I believe a second run is feasible. How long will we have to wait until the upgrades become available from the Model Railway cottage industry. Reviews have been good, if a trifle fawning, However, none has stated where they believe improvements could be made.

 

To all a Happy  Christmas

 

Nigel

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4 hours ago, G-BOAF said:

Can the original poster confirm they lowered the hook a bit first as instructed. If not it would not  be surprising that the jib cables ended up as a tangled mess as continuing the wind the jib would introduce a huge amount of slack in the system.

 

I suspect that we know the answer to that one !!

 

When all else fails - read the instructions (thoroughly)!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

I suspect that we know the answer to that one !!

 

When all else fails - read the instructions (thoroughly)!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Would be useful to have clarification as one situation is the fault of the manufacturer (or retailer) and the other the fault of the end user.

 

I do wonder how many returns Bachmann will have as a result of clumsy hands (or brains).

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Just now, G-BOAF said:

Would be useful to have clarification as one situation is the fault of the manufacturer (or retailer) and the other the fault of the end user.

 

I do wonder how many returns Bachmann will have as a result of clumsy hands (or brains).

 

More than they'd like - these things are not designed to suit the 'circle of track on the carpet' brigade !

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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27 minutes ago, G-BOAF said:

Would be useful to have clarification as one situation is the fault of the manufacturer (or retailer) and the other the fault of the end user.

 

I do wonder how many returns Bachmann will have as a result of clumsy hands (or brains).

Luckily instructions are provided for re-rigging the crane if such a thing were to happen. 

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Received my crane this morning. 

 

A couple of nice details I noticed during my breif look over. The overall detail is stunning. The gear that controls the slewing of the body rotates as the body, the handwheel on the relieving bogies can be rotated whether intentional or not I don't know. The detail in the cab is also very good considering its mostly enclosed.

 

Also after posting this I noticed the lamp inside the jib pivots according to the angle of the jib which is very neat. How long until someone puts an LED in it? 

 

I did have one issue when trying to lower the hook, it was jammed, I found the right hand pulley at the end of the jib was de-rigged and the thread had got caught down the side of the pulley wheel/body of the jib. Not quite sure how it could happen as the bar going a cross the top of the pulleys was so close to them I had to bend it slightly to re-rig the thread. All what was needed was a pair of fine point tweezers and a pin. Thankfully it's all sorted and no further issues while having a quick play around with it.

IMG_20191219_100427.jpg.604a7743702f39e9e3d8dc6fef51f59b.jpg

 

Something too look put for when first opening the. Perhaps the issue encountered by the person a few days ago with their crane? 

Edited by Pre Grouping fan
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This is a very impressive model but I wish it was a bit cheaper! Looks worth the money, though.

 

I have a colour postcode of diesel 10001 passing South Kenton with a red crane. I have the loco but no crane. I wonder if that would have been based at Willesden?

 

I used to live in Kenton but was born in 1963 so would have been tiny  when that train went by.

 

Dave

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On 18/12/2019 at 16:03, doktorstamp said:

Mad, greedy; take your pick, the first of the two cranes I have ordered has arrived. When I spoke to the supplier a couple of days ago, I remarked, "i imagine you have sold quite a few of these". To which the rep I spoke to merely chuckled. I sincerely believe, as stated before, that a number of people are likely to be disappointed. How many Bachmann have made or will make, I have no idea, although I believe a second run is feasible. How long will we have to wait until the upgrades become available from the Model Railway cottage industry. Reviews have been good, if a trifle fawning, However, none has stated where they believe improvements could be made.

 

To all a Happy  Christmas

 

Nigel

My preferred supplier received 15 in total last week (no, I don't know why it was 15 not 16 either!) and within the week has sold 12. I get the impression that those who forecast earlier in this thread that Bachmann had overpriced the model out of the market and would be left with a warehouse of unsold cranes will now be keeping very quiet!

 

Something I haven't seen any reviewer do yet is compare the different details between each of the four versions, such as the valve chests, RBs, and job runners. All are different and all are correct for the combination of identity and livery portrayed.

 

You really have to see this model "in the flesh" to appreciate fully just how good it is.

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On 18/12/2019 at 15:32, G-BOAF said:

I have to say that I am becoming increasingly irritated by the fact that every review I have yet read refers to the holes for the winder knob as "washout plugs". It depresses me that those who purport to present authoritative reviews can demonstrate such a level of ignorance about boilers. I accept that they won't know much about Cochran Hopwood cross-tube boiler, which is unusual, but even a basic knowledge of loco boilers should recognise the difference between a washout plug and a mud hole (they're not mud holes on the crane either).

 

For the record the holes in the boiler are properly known as doors. The higher one is a manhole door and allows access to the water space above the tube nest, the lower one is one of a pair of tube doors (the other is inside the cab) and give access to one end of the tube nest. They weigh a couple of hundredweight each and are seriously awkward to fit - they fit inside the hole so boiler pressure pushes them against the seat, and there's a gasket that has to fit perfectly. In addition each door is hand finished to fit perfectly in a particular orientation in a particular opening in a particular boiler and is therefore unique.

 

It's a good thing Bachmann research's the subject better than the critics!

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1 hour ago, craneman said:

I have to say that I am becoming increasingly irritated by the fact that every review I have yet read refers to the holes for the winder knob as "washout plugs". It depresses me that those who purport to present authoritative reviews can demonstrate such a level of ignorance about boilers. I accept that they won't know much about Cochran Hopwood cross-tube boiler, which is unusual, but even a basic knowledge of loco boilers should recognise the difference between a washout plug and a mud hole (they're not mud holes on the crane either).

 

For the record the holes in the boiler are properly known as doors. The higher one is a manhole door and allows access to the water space above the tube nest, the lower one is one of a pair of tube doors (the other is inside the cab) and give access to one end of the tube nest. They weigh a couple of hundredweight each and are seriously awkward to fit - they fit inside the hole so boiler pressure pushes them against the seat, and there's a gasket that has to fit perfectly. In addition each door is hand finished to fit perfectly in a particular orientation in a particular opening in a particular boiler and is therefore unique.

 

It's a good thing Bachmann research's the subject better than the critics!

My dear Mr Craneman,

 

Gasket ?????

 

I'm shocked !!!!  That is an automotive term, they are called a door joints !

 

I used to make them by cutting them out of CAF sheeting with Gilbow tin snips, but that was twenty odd years ago.

 

There has been the odd time or two that I have been through the man doors with the rivet jammer refitting the flue to the outer shell of such contraptions. You are quite correct that they are heavy awkward things to fit up within the shell.

 

Gibbo.

 

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One I simply could not resist. I'll have to suffer flak from the missus but it will take centrepiece sat alongside my diesel mpd. I don't think it was the same beast that languished most of the time outside Bristol Bath road, but for my purposes sufficient to jar those happy memories at the end of platform 11. 

Edited by Downendian
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45 minutes ago, Downendian said:

One I simply could not resist. I'll have to suffer flak from the missus but it will take centrepiece sat alongside my diesel mpd. I don't think it was the same beast that languished most of the time outside Bristol Bath road, but for my purposes sufficient to jar those happy memories at the end of platform 11. 

 

And should be good for winching those massive carp in with Mr D!

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On 17/12/2019 at 20:06, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Russ,

 

Ouch ! I've worked with a C&S 75 ton, we never did anything until the girders were out and it was securely packed.

 

Metal spaghetti is one thing, bolognese is quite another.

 

Gibbo.

 

Although not a railway crane incident, I did see something similar happen in the Netherlands about 20 years ago. They were excavating some foundations for a block of flats near our house and word got around that a crane had fallen in the hole. Sure enough, there was a medium-sized wheeled crane on its side at the bottom of the hole, about 20 feet down. No word of any casualties, fortunately. They then (as we watched) brought in a much bigger wheeled crane to attempt to lift the first one out, and to everyone's dismay and incredulity that one went in as well, and ended up in a mangled mess on top of the other one.

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I wasn't aware of that one, although I used to travel through Alphen most days.

 

I also witnessed the aftermath of what I understand was a fatal crane accident near Noordwijk (where the first one happened). A road crane went under a motorway bridge where the clearance wasn't sufficient. The jib impacted the side of the bridge, and the cab was then driven up hard into the underside of the bridge.

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1 hour ago, Barry Ten said:

 

Although not a railway crane incident, I did see something similar happen in the Netherlands about 20 years ago. They were excavating some foundations for a block of flats near our house and word got around that a crane had fallen in the hole. Sure enough, there was a medium-sized wheeled crane on its side at the bottom of the hole, about 20 feet down. No word of any casualties, fortunately. They then (as we watched) brought in a much bigger wheeled crane to attempt to lift the first one out, and to everyone's dismay and incredulity that one went in as well, and ended up in a mangled mess on top of the other one.

Double Ouch !!!

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On ‎17‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 15:06, RGR said:

I intended to buy the early BR version but noticed that a recent magazine review stated the crane is recommended for 3rd radius curves or greater.  I contacted my preferred supplier who confirmed this is the case, but the model may negotiate 2nd radius, although there could be de-railing problems.

 

I wasn't prepared to risk spending over £200 on a vehicle that might well not run on my layout (2nd radius minimum) so I won't be buying one.  A great shame, as it clearly is an excellent looking model; but it's got to work as well.

 

Has anyone out there had problems with running the crane on less than 3rd radius curves?

Review in latest Model Rail states they ran it on 1st and 2nd radius curves with ease and also 2nd radius points. It did de-rail at high speed well in excess of what would be prototypical.

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