1928
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 The Electric Crane is a model of the mobile
type of crane that would
have been a common sight in British railway goods yards and industrial
sites from the 1920s
until the 1950s. When I was a small lad our local British Railways
goods yard (Gravesend East) had one such
crane in the 1950s. I remember it noisily and slowly
trundling around on solid rubber tyres. The model is No 20 in the Meccano Super Model Leaflets and was first published in 1928. In November 1932 the Meccano Magazine had a big feature on the crane with a cover picture and article about the original crane and also promoting the Meccano Special Model leaflet. The model is a fairly accurate representation of the prototype, a 6 tonne Ransomes and Rapier petro-electric crane. The prototype crane, as in the Meccano model has front wheel drive with rear caster steering. Petro-electric means there is a petrol engine driving a generator that provides power for electric motors one for each of the operations of the crane. However the model is poorly designed with regard to the operating mechanism which is operated from a single Meccano motor in this case the E20R(S). If I were to ever build it again I would redesign the mechanism from scratch using small modern motors one for each function. The last paragraph of the instructions is sub headed "Final Adjustments." If any Meccano Boy got that far he would certainly need to make some! An updated version of the model was published in Meccano magazine in the late nineteen fifties other versions were produced over many years but none had quite the charm or realism of this model.
The black and white picture shows the prototype of the crane
lifting an early wooden shipping container in a railway goods yard
circa late 1920s.
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