< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright Julian Bowden-Green Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details 1292R 521FJJ Location Link/s Chiswick Works Date added to site 19/06/2009 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: The numbered service vehicle fleet has only featured 6 pure cranes (as opposed to lorries that were also fitted with cranes). The first of these were built by Ransome and Rapier and were given R suffixes, this later being used to include cranes from other companies. 1292F was new in 1963 and wore a non-standard (at that time) red livery. A curious-looking machine, it had four wheels on two axles, the rear axle being considerably shorter than the front. The lattice jib was mounted on an A-frame beneath which an enclosed cab was fitted. Although the jib could not be turned, it could be tilted up and down by means of cables attached to the balance end. As such, the vehicle was rather similar to much older 352R. By the time it was photographed in Chiswick Works in the 1970s, it had lost its front registration plate (originally underneath the Rapier badge on the cab front) but was very unlikely to have ventured onto the public roads anyway. 1292R remained in stock until the mid-1980s. It is worth mentioning that some similar-looking small cranes were operated by London Transport as un-numbered plant.

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