Steam crane "39" - SHM
In this update we will look at the in 1946 build steam crane used by the "Stoomtram Hoorn Medemblik" railway museum. The nickname of this crane is "De Schelde". These photos are taken in 2007.
It is a 7.5 ton crane (originally 6) and is build on a 2-axle railway undercarriage.
Here in detail. In the square tubes optionally outriggers could be attached for a better stability and load chart.
A view in the crane. The operater operates the crane only using these four handles. There is also a fifth handle to drive, but this one was removed. Now the crane can only moved with assistance of a locomotive.
These cranes (two were ever build) were build after the 2nd World War by the Scheldewerf in Flushing (NL). In that time it was posible to use a fuel engine, but these were rare after the 2nd WW, this is why steam engine are used. Until 1954 the crane was coal heated, after that the crane became an oil burner, which speeded up the heating significantly.
On the left measurer is the pressure in the boiler vissible, expressed in Atmosphere (kg/cm^2).
The pistons are driving a centrale axle. Using various gear drives, al the functions of the crane could be operated. Here a view on the boom mechanism, moved by two gears and a worm gear.
Here a view on the drum with adjustment cable, above some tools are stored.
This is the axle for the hoist. The small gear is always rotating and could be slided over the axle. It graps into the bigger one.
Here a better overview of the hoist.
This is the slewing mechanism.
One of the two pistons, where steam is used to rotate an axle.
Another view of the mechanism to boom up and down. The orange axle box is always rotating and will be slided into the gear. This gear will rotate then.
A frontview shows the cables coming out. The cables on top will push the roof open when the boom is boomed up.
The lifting chart of the crane.
At this position the crane was beter to photograph. Like mentioned before, two of these cranes are built by the Scheldewerf in Flushing. Both cranes were driving on a network of railways and did diffrent kinds of work. Later both cranes drove in the steel plate park. For this, the boom of the "39" was extended by 2 meters.
However, because more mobile cranes were available, these cranes became unnecessary. The company doctor on this shipyard, came with the idea to donate the cranes to musea. Stoomtrein Goes-Borsele became "38" and SHM the "39". Unfortunatelly, the "38" is disassembled, I don't know in which condition it is now. As honor to the Scheldewerf, SHM gave the "39" the nickname "De Schelde". In 2015 was this crane "39" donated to Stoomtrein Goes-Borsele because the crane didn't fit anymore within the collection of SHM.
Action photos shouldn't be missing in this report. The crane is heated up to lift some boxes in the wheel storage.
For cooling the crane, the door on the left side is opened. The pistons can be seen well from this position.
With mutch violence the boxes are lifted.
The second box is lifted here.
We are closing with a photo of the "39" behind steam locomotive number 26 "ir. P.H. Bosboom", also od SHM. This unique crane is still active a few times a year!