The award-winning Isle of Wight Steam Railway has announced that it has finished restoring its ex-Midland Railway crane.

In the early days of the steam railway, the crane was used in locomotive overhauls and in building Wootton station on the Newport-to-Ryde line, which first opened in 1875. The Isle of Wight Central Railway bought the five-ton crane in 1912, when it was already around fifty years old.

Until the mid-twentieth century, trains ran over fifty-five miles around the island, but the post-war period saw many branches closed.

In the 1960s, the Vectrail scheme acquired the crame, intending to use it to reopen the Ryde to Cowes line. However, this scheme failed and ended in 1970. The crane transferred to the Wight Locomotive Society and moved to Havenstreet on the last train from Newport in 1971.

The crane is now retired from active service, and is usually on display in the Isle of Wight Steam Railway’s Train Story Discovery Centre.

Over recent years, staff and volunteers at Havenstreet has dismantled the crane and built a new wooden underframe. They also repainted the metal structure a grey livery, which replicates its appearance in the Southern Railway wartime era.

Enthusiasts celebrated the restoration with a trip to Wootton with the railway’s flagship locomotive W24 Calbourne, and a ten-ton ex LSWR road van.