THIS is a new picture of an old piece of equipment which was used to load stone used in the construction of Stocks Reservoir, near Slaidburn, and still remains in nearby Jumbles Quarry.
The reservoir was created by the Fylde Water Board by flooding344 acres of Dalehead valley including the hamlet of Stocks-in-Bowland. It was opened in July 1932.
A railway system was installed which linked the dam works with a railhead on the Long Preston to Slaidburn Road. Steam traction engines hauled building material between Tosside and the water board depot at Long Preston.
This crane is a Smith Rodley steam-powered crane known as a ‘Leeds type’. Thomas Smith & Sons’ foundry was between Town Street, in Rodley, near Leeds, and the Leeds-Liverpool canal.
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