Steam crane

Railway steam crane, with vertical cross-tube boiler, at Summerlee Heritage Park

Fairbairn steam crane in Bristol

Derelict Smith (Rodley) crane, on the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge. It usually has a vertical boiler placed at the back so that the weight of the boiler counterbalances the weight of the jib and load.

They were very common as railway breakdown cranes and several have been preserved on heritage railways in the United Kingdom.

Manufacturers

• Black Hawthorn – Gateshead (unrestored example at Beamish Museum
• Coles Cranes – of Derby (restored example at Beamish Museum)
• Cowans, Sheldon & Company – of Carlisle (rail cranes)
• William Fairbairn & Sons – of Manchester
• Ruston Proctor – of Lincoln
• Stothert & Pitt – of Bath
• Thomas Smith & Sons (Rodley) Ltd – of Leeds

See also

Steam powered Overhead crane from 1875

• Crane
• Crane (railroad)
• Crane tank
• Steam shovel
• Fairbairn steam crane

References

• See external links

External links

• Ransomes & Rapier steam crane
• Cowans & Sheldon steam crane
• Nine Elms steam crane
• Model steam crane