TomCrewe Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 After a little mix up with 'transfer supplier' and answering a question on another post - and then starting the post in the wrong forum I will just recap again. Anyway I thought I would start my own topic on my new project.......... As a child this was always on my Santa list but he never obliged. Now I am back into railways I accidentally saw one of these on eBay, I did a little research and was hooked again. I have now bought one of these fine models £23.95 inc. post. I want to strip it and detail it. I am told the best reference book is 'Railway Breakdown Cranes Vol2 by Peter Tatlow' but I cant find a copy anywhere. I did find one in Cyprus but they wont export to UK, a book stall holder at local market knew the book and thinks he may have it in his lock up (I have to ring Saturday and I have been the library and put in a request for a copy to be brought over, £3.60 if its a normal library and £15 if its from a university or The British Library. But the librarian did not seem sure if any Library has it! My Crane has now arrived and stripped down. I have found there is a Cowans and Sheldon crane not 1/2 a mile away. Crewe Heritage Centre has ADRC 96717 and 50 ton painted on the jib, steam converted to diesel and bright yellow, information from data files here says 45 ton. I have been looking at the photographs and come to a radical conclusion. If you take the Hornby R197 and want to detail it to a 75 ton crane, the end of the jib is wrong, the jib runner is wrong the cranes rotation point is wrong (the rear boiler housing hangs over the edge of the base) Now if the Hornby R197 didn't have 75 ton on jib but had 50 ton then the jib, jib runner and rotation point would be right. So my radical idea is that Hornby modelled (loosely) a 50 ton crane and stuck a 75 ton sticker on it. Can people with more knowledge of these cranes have a look, could this be correct.... That's just a recap and thanks to all that helped on the other thread but apart from Personal messages I have now lost that information! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 (edited) These are the Hornby R197 and Cowans and Sheldon 45 ton Steam Crane axle comparison almost all within 2 mm, the worst being the relieving bogies from first axle to buffet but this has a 5 mm section which is easily removed. Edited February 12, 2019 by TomCrewe correct picture 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 After some hunting I have 'THE' book so have a bit of reading and thinking to do.. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 The Hornby crane is a 75t shrunk to fit in a standard box, and look sensible through trainset curves, Hornby shortened the jib (and consequently the runner wagon) , and left out the drivers cabin (which is why the boiler doesn't overhang the back) but in most other respects its pretty good. Many years ago I did some resin bits to convert it to diesel and make it scale... 3 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 I should add, the Crewe crane is a smaller 45T crane (of the type made by Hornby Dublo) but it had an accident that caused the jib to be damaged, and a slightly different design of jib was installed, also giving an up-rating to 50T Jon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted March 9, 2019 Author Share Posted March 9, 2019 After reading the book and seeing the plans within the Hornby model is clearly a 75 ton, also noticed the number on the side of the jib runner wagon 'DB998617' and 'DB966111 crane number' are for.... So now just have to build one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 I have now modified the parts concerning the crane carriage, jib runner and relieving bogies. I was surprised how soft some of the plastic parts were. Time to start reassembly. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted May 30, 2021 Author Share Posted May 30, 2021 It's been a couple of Days, Weeks Years. This project got placed on the back burner but over the last few days I have made a little progress. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo675 Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Hi Tom, Here is my modified Hornby 75 ton crane which had quite a bit of work done to it including a new jib. The modifications were so extensive I did wonder whether I should have just scratch built one instead, I had fun doing it so it doesn't really matter. Almost finished/nearly started. Winding drums. Major component parts stripped down and an N Gauge version. Gibbo. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 97406 Posted May 31, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 31, 2021 Ooh, I quite fancy doing one of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomCrewe Posted June 1, 2021 Author Share Posted June 1, 2021 Some work done on the match wagon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 (edited) If you look through RMWeb there are several threads about modifying the Hornby crane. In fact, the Rail Mounted Cranes thread by @Gibbo675 is in this section and is dedicated to cranes!! @jonhall has already posted but is too modest to point you at his own thread - but I’m not!! Take a look - plenty of interesting reading and great examples of how to in both those! Steve S Edited June 17, 2021 by SteveyDee68 links added Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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