FFF 69. Friday Facts & Fotos

Friday 17th November 2023

Moving heavy parts and equipment around Newport

With all the construction and maintenance activity around Newport, a number of steam cranes were used to move heavy parts, materials and equipment from one location to another.

These two PROV photos which show cranes working around the yard at Newport. The first photo shows crane No. 8 moving wheelsets from the wheel lathe to the area where wagons were being overhauled. No 8 was built in 1916 and survived for nearly five decades until scrapped at Ballarat Nth workshops in 1965.

The PROV describes the second photo as a crane lifting a Tait pantograph. These small 0-6-0 locos were also used to shunt wagons in and out of the workshops.

There were at least two of these 5-ton cranes working around Newport to move large heavy objects from one location to another.

Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, and Nth Melbourne loco & wagon shops also had cranes doing similar work as well as assisting at minor derailments.

Photos courtesy of PROV.

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