I was down Newport docks last week.They were using four old Stoddard and Pitt cranes to unload a Polish coal ship.Will take some photos when I am there next.They also use a couple of 38 RB's on some unloading jobs.
Martyn

Hey all,
I come from the island of Malta. Since Malta was a British Colony, one can still find a number of classic British machinery...I am a great fan of Hydrocon cranes and am currently restoring two of them, of which I intend to place photos on this site as soon as I get them restored...can anybody give me the exact address of where the orange Hydrocon is in Middlesbrough and can anyone acquire the contact number of the yard where it is, since next summer I will be in England and I really really really must pay a visit to the orange Hydrocon...thanks in advance for your help...any personal information may be passed onto my email olione@maltanet.net.

Thanks friends

Here's an Iron Fairy and a Coles currently at the Scottish Railway Preservation Society in Bo'Ness (This is the yard where the JCB 4 featured in CP & M came from).

Dave. S.

Oliver the orange Hydrocon is at this address.
G & M Autos Tel: 01642 253353 -
Transport Yd
Marsh Rd,
Middlesbrough,
Cleveland,
TS1 5LB

Best of luck if you speak with the scrap yard owner !!!
You can just see it on google earth.
But if you want me to confirm its still there when you visit contact me through this website.

Thanks my friend...today I tried calling but there was no reply...perhaps coz it was after 4...tomorrow morning I'll try contacting again...if in the meantime you can check for me if its still there and send me some photos of it...I'd be more than grateful!!!

Cheers mate,
Oliver

Its still there-Sent U2U

The old Hydrocon in Middlesbrough has dissapeared after many years service in scrapyard , replaced by an ancient Iron Fairy.
Did Oliver buy it ???

Someone asked me on Friday why I was taking another 3 hour cruise down the river Tyne when I'd already done it who knows how many times before "surely there's nothing else to see?"

And yes, they were wrong!

I've uploaded a few more pictures to my flickR gallery featuring crawler cranes of interest, but this Priestman crane with a high-view cab is what attracted my interest most of all. Its the first time I've seen it. The yard where it sits has had a few pieces of older machinery including a Poclain 85 rehandler, a Daewoo DH220, a larger Daewoo excavator (DH280 or something of that ilk) a couple of old Coles cranes (sorry no pictures of those) and then this bright red shiny Priestman turned up.

I'd love to get some info on this machine, what model it is especially. Its the first Priestman I have in my photo collection so its quite valuable!


URL of the original image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3433/3721424700_4f74bbe3a5.jpg

URL of the original image: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2476/3720604293_9c3dede77e.jpg

URL of the original image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3506/3720597207_4eafd3c0a2.jpg

Looks like a BC-72 too me, it's a 36 tons crane.

Chatteris kind of still exist, they are now known as Stainless Metalcraft (Chatteris) Ltd. Much like Babcock & Wilcox turned into Doosan Babcock Energy; Chatteris changed their whole outlook and moved away from crane design & production. They no longer build cranes (and probably haven't for some considerable period of time) but appear to specialise in other types of engineering products now.

I'll finally get to have a look at these two cranes myself during the last week of September.