South Devon Railway - Turntable arrives

The
South Devon Railway
Hull Turntable arrives at Buckfastleigh

Turntable departing from Hull Botanic Gardens on its way to Buckfastleigh

The move to transport the Hull Botanic Gardens turntable to Buckfastleigh for future use on the South Devon Railway went without a hitch. A team of two travelled up to Hull last Thursday to prepare the table and associated gear for the lift. Friday and Saturday were spent undoing the necessary nuts and bolts that held the centre bearing down, and removing nuts and bolts that held the circular rail around the circumference.

Sangwins Crane Hire carried out the lift on Sunday using a 300 tonne capacity crane as it was necessary to lift the table out of its pit from outside the depot fence. This was achieved with aplomb and loaded on to an Allely's lorry. A second lorry followed with the centre pin and bearing and the circumference rails. The smaller lorry arrived early on Monday morning and was quickly unloaded. The larger lorry with its 13' 5" wide load arrived early Monday afternoon and was unloaded within an hour by Devon Lifting Services.

Well done to all concerned! Now to start planning the installation. The cost of purchase was £1 - including VAT!! Transport, crane hire, Network Rail costs and SDR costs were about another £14,999!! The table will form the centrepiece in front of the planned new museum at Buckfastleigh (see earlier report).


Safe arrival at Buckfastleigh.	All we have to do now is dig the hole.