J79 'Crane Tank' locomotives
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:49 pm
Been looking at photos of the H2/J79 Crane Tanks of the North Eastern Railway today - when built they had a simple weatherboard at the front of the cab with a couple of spectacle plates to look through, later photos show them with a half-cab, similar to that fitted to Y7's but only consisting of the front and about half or two thirds of the roof to allow for the crane on the rear bunker - the earliest dated photo was in the 1920's but that and others were in NER livery. Does anyone know when they received the half cabs? Unfortunately could find no information on dates for this, although the RCTS book mentioned it was 'well before grouping'