The Classic Machinery Network

Yes Nick & John I do agree that the smaller "Iron Fairy" type cranes don't look very stable, strange though that most of the pics of cranes that have come to topple appear to be the larger cranes that would appear to have more stability

Anyway here is another Jones crane at the same location, I'm not too sure of the actual model type but its a KL something

Jeremy

An undated view of the Jones range from the back of a KL 15 crane brochure.

Dave.S.

We had a number of KL 44 and 66 ,s based in the rail yard at Radyr in the 1970's.They were kept very busy constructing rail points and track sections.Found them very reliable but a pig to steer.

Martyn,

I noticed that the KL 100, above, is rail mounted. First Jones I've seen like that.

The tracked version of the KL 44 were popular on the hydro electric schemes in Scotland for some reason.

Dave. S.

Hello Dave,all our rail cranes were Cowans Sheldon.The crane in the photo was one of three I worked on.They replaced the steam 12 tonners we had.They were still in use up until 1977.I think they had Jones railmounted cranes in some of the main railway works.I think they had one at Eastleigh.

Some working pics , the dockside ones are probably still there !

While looking in the archives at Wortley Top Forge (http://www.topforge.co.uk) for information on our Neal QM (which I did not find) I found operating instructions & parts list for a Jones KL22 which I can scan if anybody would like a copy.

john345me wrote:

Nick Drew wrote:

john345me wrote:these cranes have never looked that safe to me

Nah me neither John!

It all looks rather dodgy to me when these things are working

Nick

think i would need built in toilet to drive one

Hello John,
The Jones 6, 8, 12 and 15 ton "Iron Fairies" were surprisingly robust and safe lifters, the problem was getting them to site safely.
These machines seemed to have a mind of their own on the road, they were terrifying.
During my crane career I've driven all of them around London and my nerves haven't been the same since. !!!!

Here a picture of a Jones crane active in the 60s at Van Leeuwen Buizen (Lion Tubes) in the Netherlands. Looking at the brochure posted by David Shearer it seams to have been a type KL44.

kwhit01 wrote:While looking in the archives at Wortley Top Forge (http://www.topforge.co.uk) for information on our Neal QM (which I did not find) I found operating instructions & parts list for a Jones KL22 which I can scan if anybody would like a copy.

Hi! That would be a great addition for the downloads-section here.