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| Roger Cooke http://www.bdca.org.uk/forumtwo/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16 |
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| Author: | Roger Cooke [ 05 Jan 2011, 15:29 ] |
| Post subject: | Roger Cooke |
As one of the people instrumental in the establishment of the BDCA I thought I had better introduce myself. I have always had a strong interest in railways and steam locomotion, something I no doubt gained from my father who has similar interests. Once long ago I had the good fortune to be able to visit Steamtown at Carnforth during its heyday as an heritage centre, and found parked up at the end of one of the sidings the ex-LNWR Cowans Sheldon 30-ton crane, MP21. At the time I knew very little about this (or indeed any other) steam breakdown crane, but I was captivated by the great complexity of exposed gears, clutches and mechanisms which allowed all the necessary motions to be derived from a single crankshaft. Until then, I had thought that steam ploughing engines were pretty 'cool' (although in that era it was probably "groovy" rather than "cool"), but here was something altogether more interesing! And thus was the seed sown... Many years later the interest triggered by that day at Steamtown was to result in me buying the derelict hulk of the GWR No 2 crane, probably the most important and seminal railway steam crane ever built in this country, possibly the world. At the time of my purchase, the crane was in poor condition after suffering a series of misfortunes since being sold into private ownership by the DVLR some years earlier, and was partly dismantled with a number of components (including the boiler) missing completely. Although now, some five years on, the crane visually appears to have changed little (and still looks derelict!), much progress has been made and most - but not all - the missing parts have been recovered. The restoration is however a very slow process since it is being carried out almost entirely single handed and has to be fitted in around a lot of other activities. My interest in steam cranes resulted in a lot of study, reading, and research on all aspects of these fascinating machines, including their development, history and operation, and during the course of this I came into contact with many knowledgable and interesting people including those with similar interests, as well as former operators of steam cranes and many involved in their heritage operation. In 2006 I was put in contact with David Withers and we became frequent correspondents, and ultimately various events lead us to feel that there would be benefits, primarily to the people who operate heritage breakdown cranes in the modern environment, to the establishment of what became the BDCA. |
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