Cab of steam crane beside wharf at Thwaite Mill, Leeds

So now we are out in the open air beside the Aire and Calder navigation at Thwaite Mills to see a demonstration of the steam crane used to unload raw material from barges. As you can see, facilities for the driver can best be described as primitive!

This crane was built in 1946 by the Butter brothers of Glasgow. It was used at Thwaite from 1947 until 1963 to unload chalk, china stone and flints from the barges.

It was refurbished by Dorothea Restoration in 1986, which included the provision of a new boiler. The old boiler is now used as a cargo for the crane to lift.

Ian

[gloria jones]

Neat shot...great shapes, lines and information...There's quite a difference between this crane and the huge gantry cranes of today :).

[Dianne]

Lovely to see this restored and working.

[Pyrrhula]

Beautiful, and still working? fav.

[Lynne Hart]

So nice to see these engines working. Good shot.

[Judith Johnson]

Nice shot of this fascinating piece of engineering.

[Bob]

Cool machine. Nice that these vintage machines are restored for us photographers. Nice shot with the operator so we can get the scale of this crane.

[Tony]

Excellent capture and great narrative again. Must be interesting to see tht old machine working.

[Dione Giorgio]

Fav. I have seen one like this - it was at Liverpool docks (if I remember well). A very nice piece of engineering. Love your shot and story.

[Michelle Renee]

Love the gentleman you caught in there!

[Fisher Family]

@seattlite @dide @pyrrhula @lhart @busylady @bobhuegel @tonydebont @sangwann @bokehdot

Thank you all for your generous comments and favs, which put this shot on the popular page.

It was great fun seeing all the old machinery at work - the next shot in this mini-series shows the crane doing a lift.

Ian