Ransomes and Rapier steam crane, makers number F2122/8, was built for the British Ministry of Supply around 1944, with the intended use of it working on a metre gauge railway in Africa.
At its heart is a Cochran & Co vertical boiler working at 120psi. This supplies steam to the various engines, including those that give this machine a 15 ton lifting capacity.
Having not gone to its intended destination, in 1946 it was advertised for sale worldwide, and NZ Railways bought it in that year. However, it didn’t start work in New Zealand until February 1948, due to the time it took to re-gauge it to 3ft 6in. Once in traffic it spent its time on the North Island on Permanent Way and Works duties, being based at several different depots until it came out of service in 1992. During the mid-80s, the crane underwent a major overhaul at the Hutt workshops, which included major boiler repairs and a change of axle bearing type! After this, it saw little service which obviously made it a good candidate for preservation. It was ‘written off’ the stock lists in 1996 and subsequently sold to the Silver Stream Railway (SSR) in February 1997 and, after an extensive inspection and some repairs, it entered active service there in May of that year.
Its initial NZR number was 124 but under the Traffic Monitoring System became ELS 1599 and unusually it had two 4-wheel runner wagons, being the only NZ crane to do so.
