Rodley Crane Works

trophy · Post by **trophy** » Fri 09 May, 2008 7:24 pm

the building which is still standing was smiths booths was where the new appartments are.

isambard01 · Post by **isambard01** » Sat 10 May, 2008 7:16 pm

I lived in Farsley and often went to Rodley in the 1950s/60s. There were two crane builders that I know of - Thomas Smith and Joseph Booth. If you want to see the location of both works, there is a map - I bought one from Alan Godfrey Maps (through their website). It is called Bramley (North) & Rodley 1906 and costs about £2. The remaining buildings are part of the Union Crane Works - here is a photograph that I recently took of the inside of the main building. Booths still exist - they are now part of Wellman Booth Ltd, Kirk Lane, Yeadon. You can download their prospectus from their website.

D2G · Post by **D2G** » Sun 11 May, 2008 7:45 am

Wow thank you for posting that picture! i have always wanted to see inside and now I have

LS13 · Post by **LS13** » Wed 14 May, 2008 11:31 pm

trophy wrote: the building which is still standing was smiths booths was where the new appartments are. So the black and white image in the original post is the works which was on the site of the new apartments and isnt actually the one which is still there?

trophy · Post by **trophy** » Sat 17 May, 2008 10:45 pm

i have asked a mate who also lived in rodley in 50s 60s we both agree the building still standing was smiths .booths was between the crown and smiths .i was knocked off my motorbike by smiths chief designer has he was pulling out of coal hill lane ouch!.

jane666 · Post by **jane666** » Sun 18 May, 2008 10:26 pm

thomas smith and son helped construct lewis's in the 30's

isambard01 · Post by **isambard01** » Tue 20 May, 2008 11:44 am

The 1906 map of part of Rodley would show that the remaining buildings are part of the old foundry, not the Booth's Union Crane Works itself. I have photographs of railway cranes at the remaining building in 1958 and they are John Smiths cranes.

isambard01 · Post by **isambard01** » Tue 20 May, 2008 11:59 am

Map of Rodley 1906 . . .

D2G · Post by **D2G** » Tue 20 May, 2008 8:37 pm

Great map! where did you get it from?

Xilence · Post by **Xilence** » Tue 23 Dec, 2008 12:00 pm

Hello.I'm from the netherlands and I happened to find this website.I have build a website of the Smith cranes and I'm still searching for photographs or brochures of the Smith dragline, crawler cranes, ect.If anyone has information (photos,brochures,) or knows someone with more information about the Smith cranes, please contact me trough www.smith-cranes.nl. Thank you in advance.