Most station goods yards had a fixed hand-powered crane to transfer heavy items (often timber) from rail wagons on to horse-drawn carts and vice versa. The maximum lifting capacity of these cranes varied, but was often 5 tons or less. Although the Southern Railway had a handful of rail-mounted goods cranes which could be relocated to stations where there was insufficient or no lifting capacity, WW2 altered the picture completely.
In preparation for Operation Overlord (the Allied invasion of Europe), numerous military installations were set up in the south of England, usually in remote locations served by wayside stations. Additional travelling cranes were needed to provide the extra short-term lifting capacity required.
The Ministry of War Transport (MOWT) ordered a number of cranes for use on the SR. These machines carried SR numbers but remained the property of the MOWT.
1748S is a 6-wheeled 12 Ton Hand Crane built in October 1943 by Joseph Booth & Sons (Works No.4854/43) at a cost of around £4,000 when new. It was numbered in the SR service stock list, hence the 'S' suffix.
To support the crane jib and to carry loose lifting tackle, the MOWT commissioned the SR to provide a match wagon or 'skillet' in SR parlance. 1748SM was built on a standard vacuum-braked wagon underframe at Ashford in 1943. The crane itself has a through vacuum pipe.
The crane and skillet passed into BR custody, still owned by the Ministry of Transport, until ownership was transferred to BR in 1951. At this time the crane was numbered DS 1748 and the skillet DS 3182; BR practice being to number cranes and their match wagons separately.
DS 1748 spent the latter part of its life with the CM&EE Power Supply Engineer at Horsham where it was mainly used to lift rectifiers into position at electricity substations. It was purchased by the Bluebell Railway in 1972, collected from Horsham Coal Yard by road and arrived at Sheffield Park on 24 June 1972. The crane had to be partially dismantled for transport by road and a set of buffer stops had to be removed and replaced at Horsham Yard.
This crane put in much useful work following its arrival on Bluebell, despite its operation not exactly being a light task.
Right: During February 2007, towards the end of its overhaul, the hand crane was used to lift the south end of the Queen Mary brake (Tom Waghorn)
See also photos of 1748SM, the Skillet (Match Wagon) for this Crane.
