Bachmann Ransomes & Rapier 45T Steam Breakdown Crane GWR Grey

[Rich123]

I am thinking of buying one of these. If anyone has one can they please advise its length and height so I can see if it will fit my layout. Height is most inportant as I need to know if it will go through my tunnels and under the road bridges and footbridges. Thank you.

[Richard08]

As far as I know the cranes (with chimney de-mounted) had to be in-gauge so they could reach 'everywhere', so should been in-gauge in OO to presumably. I've no idea about length, but this video shows one trundling around which may hep you get an impression (it may even tell you what you want to know, I had the sound off).
https://youtu.be/9n6i8OZBe0Y

[Phred]

the Rails of Sheffield site tells me that the length is 393mm. No height is listed.

Using the image below, I calculate the height to be about 63mm.

52a.PNG (107.56 KiB) Viewed 513 times

I'm not good at maths so 'all care, no responsibility taken'!

[Bigmet]

As far as I know the cranes (with chimney de-mounted) had to be in-gauge so they could reach 'everywhere', so should been in-gauge in OO too presumably...

And the model is in gauge with the jib fully lowered onto the match wagon support. It is necessary to read the operating instructions to both raise and lower the jib without getting into a mess; because slack has to be provided to release the jib from the travelling position before raising, and then on lowering to travelling position, the slack is taken up to retain the jib at minimum height. (Shortly after release of the model I recall some online comment from crew who had operated such cranes that this resembled what had to be performed on the prototype.)

I don't own this model, just sat and laughed as my friend read and re-read the instructions until he arrived at a working understanding; it's a very fine piece indeed.

[Lysander]

'...it's a very fine piece indeed...'. Absolutely so, and I'd love one. But having seen a club member spend nearly an hour re-rigging it when the cables became undone, I decided to pass!

Tony

[Rich123]

I've taken the plunge and ordered one. I'll have to wait for a while as I've asked for it to be weathered.