Sunday, April 28, 2013

What's he fiddling with?


Another picture from the Boy's World 1967 Annual that we saw the cover of yesterday. This painting is captioned "An emergency squad of British Railways at work at the scene of a crash." and is in the "All Action Trains" section of the annual.

What I'm wondering, and hoping that blog reader can put me right on, is:

What's that guy doing fiddling with the handwheel on the side of the crane?

I think that if there is a handwheel there, it's for applying the brakes. Now, I might be wrong, but one thing you really don't want when trying to lift a crumpled coach, is for someone to let the crane brakes off!

4 comments:

Andy in Germany said...

He's just realised the side jacks aren't out and he's desperately trying to get the crane ready before the Jib goes out sideways and the whole lot falls over.

Matt Dawson said...

I would say it's the handbrake too.

But I would say that the crane is not powerful enough to lift the coach as it's mounted towards one end, so it's more likely to be dragging the coach away, which doesn't make sense.

Chris Ford said...

The wheel is the valve for the tea urn. Being 3 0'clock it's just that time.

matt scrutton said...

I like the fact hes got a fag in his mouth while he does it.