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Breakdown train entering Bletchley, 11.4.1963

The breakdown train is being hauled by Stanier class 5 No. 45292. Photographer Ben Brooksbank gives the details:

View SE, towards London; West Coast Main Line, ex-London & North Western Euston - Rugby (Birmingham) - Crewe - Carlisle - (Glasgow). The train is headed by Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45292 and it has just come under the new (c. 1962) viaduct joining the line from Oxford (to right) with that to Bedford and Cambridge (to left), which was built to allow east - west freight trains to by-pass Bletchley station; the viaduct was hardly used at all before the line to Oxford was closed on 1/1/68. However, that line was reopened Oxford - Bicester in 1987 and in 2010 plans were well-advanced to restore this important east-west link.

Photo © Ben Brooksbank

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  • Rob F on 2024-Feb-18 23:34:34 Rob F said

    What make and version of crane in seen here in this image, can anyone suggest?

  • BDCA Admin on 2024-Feb-19 09:47:36 BDCA Admin said

    The crane in the photo is the former LNWR MP21 later RS1020/30, built by Cowans Sheldon in 1908/9 and initially allocated to Rugby, moving to Saltley in 1931 and later Bletchley in 1961. Upon withdrawal it was claimed by the National Collection and stored at Preston Park until 1978 when it moved to the Steamtown centre at Carnforth and remained (and was operated) there until the centre closed in 1997. In 1998 it moved to the Churnet Valley Railway where eventually it fell into disrepair and was sold for scrap in April 2011. After a vigorous and successful campaign to save it from the cutter's torch, it was moved initially to the Crewe Heritage Centre before finding what it hoped to be a permanent home at the Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley Green, Manchester.

    This crane was the last of the old-style accident cranes built by Cowans Sheldon since by the time it was completed the demand for extended length jibs had rendered the design obsolete. It was notionally a 25-ton capacity crane but was acknowledged as being capable of lifting 30 tons at reduced radius, hence the suffix "/30" to the BR(M) number.