Ever since the preservation of the Middleton Railway, it has needed to use cranes for all kinds of lifting operations. In the early years of preservation two steam cranes were available for this, and these are still in the MRT's collection. Then an ex-Midland Railway hand crane was acquired, but since this had a wooden jib it was not long before it became illegal to use it for lifting operations, and so it was passed on to the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley for preservation as a museum piece.

In the late 1970s a 5-ton diesel crane, which had been built by Booth of Rodley, was purchased by a member and donated to the MRT. Over the next 25 years or so it proved invaluable, particularly for permanent way work, but eventually had to be taken out of use because it was no longer safe. By this time the MRT had acquired a 10-ton diesel crane, which had been built by Smith of Rodley, and this had become the main operational crane. By 2012, however, it was beginning to need an overhaul, and fortunately the MRT was able to acquire another 5-ton crane, also built by Smith of Rodley, to ensure that lifting operations could continue while this overhaul took place. This meant that the 5-ton Booth crane was no longer needed, and it has been dismantled to provide spares.

The MRT's collection of cranes therefore consists of two group. The first group is the old steam cranes, which are no longer operational, but are now historic items in their own right. They are as follows.

Booth 2-ton crane; and
Isles Crane.

The second group of cranes in the MRT's collection consists of the operational diesel cranes, and these are as follows.

The pages for these cranes give a brief overview of our collection, but for more information about it our stock book is available in the shop. Click here for more details of this.

Return to the page for our museum collection.