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Having been rescued from being scrapped about a year ago, this unique No 1 Babcock and Wilcox 6 ton Electric Jib Portal Travelling Crane is in storage in the West of Scotland waiting for restoration and a permanent home. Its former working life at a yacht chandlers at Clyde Place ended with the Clydeside redevelpoment currently taking place in that area. The effort to save this machine can only be described as visionary, one man with a big idea, the Clyde Heritage Trust, and nothing more than enthusiasm, and the seemingly slightly eccentric notion that this is possible at all. It's huge, yet it's been paid for to be transported here.

The crane, built in 1909, could lift a maximum of 8 tons and is probably the only surviving crane in Great Britain of that era with all its original electrics still in the house and in working order.

"No 1 Babcock and Wilcox 6 ton Electric Jib Portal Travelling Crane"
...Made by Babcock and Wilcox
...6 ton load safe lifting capacity
...Electrically operated lifting/winding mechanism
...It has a portal in the middle of its legs. This was to allow a horse and cart to pass underneath __the crane, required because on one side of the crane was the dock edge and on the other __side_there was only about 5 feet or so between the crane and an adjacent warehouse __ __ b. building.
...Could travel along its rails up and down the quay. It has hand cranks on two of its legs to
__manually crank it along its rails. Also, there are hoops to which horses could be shackled to __pull the crane along in either direction.

Currently it's in three substantial parts - the house, the legs (lying on their side), and the jib.