Smith Rodley Crane

The Middleton Railway recently acquired a 5 ton Smith Rodley crane from the KESR. This is a diesel conversion of a steam crane. However, it is apparent that the crane is not what it was meant to be! KESR have it as being Smiths No 12019 of 1935 in their stocklist and ex McAlpines in 1971 (Kent & East Sussex Railway - No. 109 - 5 ton capacity Smiths Diesel Crane) but it is almost certainly No 20054 of circa 1953 build. I have been trying to find out a bit more about its history but am failing miserably. The surviving Smiths records held at West Yorkshire archives have failed to turn anything up other than the diesel conversion kit fitted was one of six ordered for stock in 1967 and probably fitted to this crane in 1968.

It's a bit of a long shot but I'm hoping that someone on this forum might know a bit about the history of this machine.

 

Steve
There is another S+ R Crane that was converted.
Currently on the NYMR at Newbridge, it must have been a fairly common practice to convert.
Detail as we have it:-
Smith and Rodley 5t Crane ED5
Built: 1929. Engine: Was Steam, Now Diesel
Originally built for Stavely Chemicals in 1929, this crane was steam powered and coal fired but converted to Oil firing in 1959.
This failed to supply the required amount of steam for Grab operations so was further converted to Diesel operation in 1963

http://yorkareagroup.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/plant/thumbs/thumbs_smiths-5t-crane.jpg

This crane is currently out of service and has had an extension of life as it is due for scrapping but awaiting an upturn in scrap steel price. However if it can be of use for spares come and have a look.
I am at Newbridge most Fridays or see Martyn at PW
There was a number plate on the cab will check what number it is.

 

Hi Bryan,

Conversion of steam cranes to diesel power was rife in the late 1950s'/60's due to implementation of the Clean Air Act. Smith Rodley and Booths, at least, converted so many that they ordered the necessary equipment in job lots of several sets at a time for stock. One thing that I know about our crane is that the conversion kit was ordered as a batch of six for stock in 1967 and the first of this batch was fitted to our crane in about 1968. We have this Smith Rodley and a similar Booths 5 ton crane at Middleton and they have identical diesel/torque converter drive systems, including the controls, so it is quite possible that Perkins (the engine manufacturers) or Brockhouse (the transmission manufacturers) actually designed the power trains for supply to the crane manufacturers.

I'll have a nosey at the NYMR crane when I'm next up at New Bridge but I think that yours is an electro-diesel 5 ton crane - hence ED5.

 

ED5 is its NYMR number and refers to Engineers Dept 5 and has no other meaning.

The actual crane number is 11453 from the cast plate now sitting on my desk.

 

Coincidence then that Smiths used a similar system to specify their cranes; E for electric, D for diesel and a number for the capacity although I'm not certain of the order they used; might have been 5DE or DE5!
Does the NYMR crane have a torque converter, then?

 

Now you are getting into technical details of the nether regions into which I seldom delve.
Or to put it another way:-
Good Question, Well Presented and Deserves an answer.

All I know is that it was once steam driven and was converted to diesel.
It worked for a long time on PW and last worked about 5 years back.
Now totally out of ticket and unsuitable for NYMR use as no buffers or through braking.
These could be fitted but with other larger cranes available there is no benefit in doing so.

 

Interesting Steve in that the NRM's 5 ton Smith was also new to McAlpine's in 1935. Alex Betteney is the Rail Cranes Officer for the Industrial Railway Society, I'll seek out his email address.

 

There's a Smith - Rodley steam crane at the Amberley museum: not sure if it is working right now, but I believe it has has worked in relatively recent times.

Photo here (not mine): Crane driver | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Tom

 

Thanks Anthony. Looking at photos, your crane is a yard crane with no buffing and drawgear, which is more what I'd expect for a crane used by McAlpine. Ours is what Smiths seemingly termed a permanent way crane, built to the loading gauge and able to travel in an unfitted goods train with a jib runner (which we don't have).
What number is your crane? Can't find any info on the NRM website. I'm back at West Yorkshire archives after Xmas and will look out for any info they might have, although it is like looking for the proverbial needle; Nothing is catalogued and they have over 600 microfilms with perhaps a couple of hundred prints on each film. Oh, and no microfilm reader at the moment! The rest of the collection is fairly fragmented, as well.