17.02.2023

Veteran crane needs saving

An aging Rapier mobile crane with cantilever boom needs saving from the scrap yard.

We think it is a Rapier 8 Standard Mobile Crane, built by Ransomes & Rapier. The crane is based on a design concept that dates back to around 1923 and, apart from the cab, it remained largely unchanged over the years, at least in concept terms.

This type of crane was widely used in the UK rail industry working at stations and in goods yards. The Rapier was also the crane on which ‘Kevin the mobile crane’ in the children’s books Thomas the Tank Engine was based.

The crane is currently owned by Transport For London and under the management of its museum, but it is surplus and unless claimed was to go to the scrap yard on Monday. However Pete Issitt of Crowland Cranes, has agreed to take the old crane, and if so will rebuild it, as he has done with several historic cranes in the past.