Railway Breakdown Crane
Built by Chris Warrell in March 2012 for the Pocket Meccano Set X N Secretary’s Challenge
This model has been built for the ‘Pocket Meccano x N’ Secretary’s Challenge for March 2012.
It’s a Railway Breakdown Crane, based partly on a Ransomes and Rapier 10 ton accident crane, built between 1880 — 90 (from a picture) and a Great Eastern Railway 10 ton crane of around 1914 (from a line drawing). Both illustrations came from the book Railway Steam Cranes by John S Brownlie (1973).
The limited number of parts has meant that the model is quite small, being only 5” long (excluding buffers) giving a scale of about 1:48. The wheels have ended up a little undersized and the width of the frame comes out at around six feet, rather than 8’-4”. There’s no hook in the set so, instead, I’ve built up a lifting beam.
The biggest increase in parts from the single Pocket Meccano set is Fishplates, there being 25 in the model instead of the two in the set, meaning you’d have to have bought 13 sets to build this model!
Two cranks, one either side, are for luffing the jib and lowering the hook.