This crane was constructed for
use at the Southern Railway’s Ashford Works where it
remained for all its working life. A ten ton six-wheeled machine,
it is more lightly constructed than Nº. 133, weighing
in at 40 ton 7 cwt in working order. The parts came from Grafton
Cranes’ Vulcan Works at Bradford (Nº. 2690) but
it was assembled by the SR at Ashford as their number 1770/10.
It has a 4 ft vertical boiler by Ruston & Hornsby working
at 100 psi. The maximum lift is 10 tons at 13 ft radius and
is easily recognisable by its 35 ft lattice-work jib. It was
originally specified for bridge work but then was fitted with
an electro-magnet, now removed. Its Greenwood and Batley turbo-generator
has been retained for lighting purposes. Compared with Nº.
133, the Grafton Crane is more lightly constructed on the
gearing and the engine side, with slimmer journals and bearing
surfaces. It became DS 1770 in BR service and, in 1978, internal
user Nº. 083316, being marked ‘Internal use only,
Ashford’.
After 1980 it was only used intermittently for lifting bogies
from scrap wagons and steam heating oil tanks and tar containers.
It was taken out of service in 1983 upon the closure of BREL
Ashford. It had received a full overhaul at Horwich Works
in 1975 and when examined by the K&ESR Crane Group was
found to be in very sound mechanical condition. It arrived
at the Railway in February 1984.
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