Throughout the railway, we use a lot of heavy equipment, cranes, road railers etc.  Each of these pieces of equipment are a significant capital investment and carry a heavy burden in terms of cost to provide the maintenance required to ensure that they remain reliable and safe to use. 

At Llangollen we have two rail mounted cranes, A self propelled 12T Plasser GPC and a 50T Cowans Sheldon breakdown crane.

The 12T crane is most often used to support Permanent Way Renewals lifting rails and sleepers or entire panels of track, whereas the larger 50T item is more typically used to support locomotive maintenance and overhaul tasks such as lifting boilers out of locos or lifting locomotives off their wheels. 

Our 12 Tonne crane has recently undergone a programme of improvement works including the fitment of a new load safe system at a cost of £5000, a new hydraulic traction motor at £3000, a new wire rope at £1000 and a fresh coat of paint.  

The 50 Tonne crane whilst still operational is also scheduled for some overhaul works, including shot blasting and a re-paint to protect the structure of the crane for the future. 

We also own and operate a Requote Case 988 road rail vehicle which is critical for supporting Permanent Way and Infrastructure works throughout the year and for helping us to maintain the lineside vegetation through the attachment of a flail. The RRV is in contact use and in recent times has had a new hydraulic motor at a cost of £4000, the rail wheels have been re-profiled at a cost of £3200 and often requires attention to various sensors which enable the load safe systems to operate. An typical service on the RRV costs in the region of £800. 

All our lifting equipment is regularly inspected by an independent inspector to ensure they are they are kept in good operational condition and that the safety systems are working correctly.  

We also have some aging diggers, rollers and excavators which soldier on to provide support to our Civils and Buildings Maintenance teams and your donations will help us to keep these stalwarts operational.   

Your donation to this fund will be ringfenced for Plant and Machinery ensuring these essential pieces of plant remain serviceable and safe for our staff and volunteers to use on our critical Permanent Way, Infrastructure and Locomotive Maintenance works.