A crane wagon joins the PLR

[ge_rik]

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I purchased a ToyTrain crane wagon for the railway. For various reasons I was not too happy with the wagon - not least because it looked out of place on my 1930s UK-based railway. I decided to make my own which hopefully does look a little more realistic.

I ask you not to look too closely at my bodgelling efforts, but for info, the chassis is ex-Hartland, the superstructure is mostly 1.5mm Plasticard, the gear wheels are modified from some I bought ages ago from a primary schools' technology supplier (http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Catalogue?nguid=0cc60030-c30b-40b8-97ce-c65331a738a2 < Link To TTS) and other bits and pieces included a couple of 00 wagon wheels, a plstic milk bottle top, some lengths of dowel, a few bits of redundant earthing copper cable, a length of anchor chain from a model boat supplier and some bases from an Airfix station canopy kit.

Although it would be feasible, I decided not to make the winding mechansism operational as I wanted the chain firmly glued into place. It needs some judicious weathering - it looks far too new and unused for my railway, but I feel it looks more the part than its predecessor.

As usual, there's a blow-by-blow account of how I constructed it on my blog for those who might want to learn from my mistakes.

http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/how-i-constructed-crane-wagon.html < Link To http://riksrailway.blogsp...ucted-crane-wagon.html

Rik

 

[bobg]

Me likey! Could want one of those. The fact that the tie-rods to the jib aren't dead straight adds wonderfully to it's authenticity; these things did get knocked about in use.

 

[Don Gilham]

Very nice indeedy, Rik

 

[yb281]

That looks brilliant Rik, top job.

 

[Gizzy]

Nice work Rik....

 

[ge_rik]

Thanks folks
BTW my model was based (very) loosely on this one on a standard gauge wagon.

This one is actually in Slovenia, but there seems to have been quite a few manufacturers who made manually operated yard cranes which were also mounted on wagons and I seem to recall seeing some of these knocking around in preservation railway yards.

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

The fact that the tie-rods to the jib aren't dead straight adds wonderfully to it's authenticity; these things did get knocked about in use.

Of course that was deliberate

Rik

 

[playmofire]

Great work.

 

[pugwash]

You're right on two points Rik, it needs weathering and it is waaaay better than the ToyTrain jobbie. I would pay good money for such a model, excellent

 

[mike]

fantastic, love it:love:

 

[Rob s]

Rik - that just so fits - real magic

 

[philg]

Rik - a beautiful model. I've always been a bit intimidated by the complexity of cranes.
Especially impressed with the list of components used !

Phil

 

[ge_rik]

Rik - a beautiful model. I've always been a bit intimidated by the complexity of cranes.
Especially impressed with the list of components used !
Phil

Thanks Phil
I missed another source of bits off the list - sections of old biro tubes. A smaller hexagonal one made some very effective looking bolt heads while a larger round one was used for the winding drum. The gears were the most intimidating part. Once I'd identified a source for those the rest was fairly straightforward. The positioning of the gears dictated the size and shape of the two main frame members.

Rik

 

[C&S]

Quite brilliant. Congratulations! With a slightly longer jib it would be useful as a fixed goods yard crane - though I believe that some companies used these wagons instead, just sending them to the goods yard that needed their services to deal with a bulky or heavy load.

 

[ge_rik]

Quite brilliant. Congratulations! With a slightly longer jib it would be useful as a fixed goods yard crane - though I believe that some companies used these wagons instead, just sending them to the goods yard that needed their services to deal with a bulky or heavy load.

Thanks for that. That's what I thought I could use if for - seems to make sense for a cash-strapped railway to buy one portable crane rather than buy a yard crane for each station. Glad to hear that there's a prototype for this practice.

Rik