Coles yard crane at former Swan Hunter's yard

[Gavin Phillips]

Well yeh...everyone's been paying attention to the big cranes being scrapped or being dismantled for their journey over to India, but what about the smaller vehicles doing their thing around the yard?

Well one of these "little guys" is a Coles yard crane, today was the first time I've managed to get a even semi decent picture of the machine as its usually parked behind/inside a building or seemingly on the quay where you can't get at even with a zoom lens.



Just wish the bush hadn't been in the way!

I've tried Googling around for more information on "Vanguard Shipping", as perhaps they could provide details on the machine, a couple of companies turned up on the search but neither seems to be the right one? I'd love to know more about the crane in question, lifting capacity etc. There was a similar Rapier-built crane which has already been shipped over to India with a few crane components and the dismantled American 11320 Skyhorse crawler crane.

Now that I have a more capable lens, hopefully I can get some better pictures of this crane and the other handling machines (Linde H160 16ton forklift included, small number of Hyster forktrucks and some kind of side-loader lift truck which you can see the back of in the picture).

Regards

Gavin

[Martyn Henley]

That Gavin if i am not mistaken is a Coles Iron Fairy.. 6 ton lift

Find out a bit more on http://www.ironfairycranes.co.uk/

Martyn

[Gavin Phillips]

Coles Iron Fairy

I do remember seeing some brochures of those on ebay a while ago, they seemed to be pretty old...certainly worth trying to get better pictures of this Coles crane then, I can't see me getting an ID from a pic of that quality.



Here's another mystery crane, same place but a different design. No details on this one I'm afraid, I haven't seen this particular rig for months now. It could be parked inside one of the remaining buildings or have been sold off already.

[Gavin Phillips]

Hi Martyn. Thank you for the reply and the link! I have emailed them regarding this crane, will have to see if they can help at all.

One of these days I may end up getting a decent picture of the crane...here's to hoping!

[tim]

Hi Gavin I think the second crane is a Grove RT series machine Tim

RT1.jpg

[Gavin Phillips]

Hi Gavin I think the second crane is a Grove RT series machine Tim

RT1.jpg

Thanks Tim!

With a little luck I may have some luck with contacting Grove to get a possible model ID on it.

Cheers

[Gavin Phillips]

Just for reference, I do have a better picture of the Coles Iron Fairy crane, sitting in the floating dock which will start its journey to India sometime in December.

The large structure with the propeller behind it is the base of the floating crane "Titan III".



Thank you everyone for all the replies. Never had any idea that this crane would be something special.

[davej]

looks very much like an RT760..

Vanguard shipping...have been around in various forms (one day i'll tell the story of holding a rolling mill to ransom when they went bump)...Export packer and shippers have a depot in hartlepool and warehouse in blackburn

last time i talked to the guy from there..was just after we took the skyhorse in from shepards offshore..they had shipped over 250 40' iso containers..and were refurbing the floating dry dock..to put the cranes in..then a semisubmersible heavy lift ship is coming for the lot....couldnt speak highly enough of the indian guy buying it all...

is the skyhorse still on site? and any chance of pics of it in its dismantled state?




to me looks like an ex-swan hunter yard crane..

[Gavin Phillips]

The American Skyhorse 11320 crawler crane has long since gone I'm afraid. To be honest, it didn't seem to be doing that much one site, the bulk of the general purpose lifting was done with the Manitowoc 4100W's and the heavy lifting was done by Saren's-owned mobile cranes on a contract basis.

I have no pictures of the dismantled American 11320, however there are a couple of pictures which may interest you on this site: http://web.mac.com/madie2/Swan_Hunters_ ... lcome.html
In particular interest to me is the Rapier mobile crane!

I've met the site creator/editor a few times while I've been over-watching the yard's developments. There have been a number of other people taking pictures as well, people involved in the Tyne & Wear archives, locals, fisherman, historians, to say a few.

The semi-submersible ship thats coming over to collect the floating dock with its cargo is called the Fjord, supposedly arriving on the Tyne on December 20th. I'm planning to see it arrive on the Tyne and get pictures but I'm out of luck if that happens to be at 3am...

[Brian C]

The small crane is an Grove/Coles AP415 12t on riggers Approx 8t free on wheels i used to operate one many moons ago they were a good little crane and worth their weight in gold in the right enviroment

Hope this helps

Brian