Second crane for Hanging Hill

[Clive]

Hanging Hill already has a 30ton crane which is about the correct lifting capacity the breakdown train for a depot of its size from the informationin the working Time Table Supplement for the southern area of the Eastern Region (1970 edition). Trouble is a long time ago I was given a Hornby breakdown crane, it had been damged by my son when he was young so it was not really up for sale. What should I do with it? I have seen some excellent conversions of this to the diesel rebuild of these cranes, but never a steam version. In comparing the model with the BR diagram the amount of work almost amounts to scratchbuliding. However the diagram of the Cowans Seldon 45ton steam crane is quite close to dimensions of the Hornby model. Armed with drawings of other Cowan Sheldon cranes from the same time period, 1930/40s as well as the BR diagram I feel I can model this beastie.
Last night I done an internet trawl for photos of Cowans Sheldon 45ton breakdown cranes and found some really good ones of the crane at Ruddington, including detail shots of the boiler pipe work etc. One omission by the chap who took the photos was the gearing. From the days when I built my 30 ton crane I recalled that in Peter Tatlow's LNER wagon book was a detailed shot of the gears of a Cowans Sheldon crane. Pulled the book of the book of the shelf and to my surprise the photo is of a 45 ton machine. In a short space of time I hope that I have gathered enough information to get started on my second crane in a few days time.