Apocalyptic image of historic Wolverhampton crane captured by photographer
It is a striking image from a bygone time when the canals and railway were the arteries of the Black Country.
The crane at Chillington Wharf, photographed here by 49-year-old Gary Crutchley, was once used to transfer goods between the canal, railway and surrounding roads.
The site in Chillington Street off Bilston Road, Wolverhampton, is now a listed building for its historic interest.
In Mr Crutchley's image, with barbed wire and graffiti in the foreground, it looks apocalyptic.
But it was once at the heart of Wolverhampton's industrial landscape.
The basin, which is connected to the Wolverhampton Level of the Birmingham Canal Navigation, dates back to 1829 and was used by the Chillington Iron Works. There was originally a single long basin, but this was enlarged by the addition of a second, shorter basin in around 1848.
It was taken over by London and North Western Railway Company in 1885 and work to construct a branch railway began in the early 1900s.
The basins were remodelled to provide two of equal length, as canal traffic continued to flourish.
By 1930, the basins were in the control of the London and Midland Railway (LMR), which removed one arm of the basin.
It was then in the 1940s that LMR installed the travelling crane, by Babcock and Wilcox, on the former site of the second arm.
It stands on a six-bay framework of concrete posts with the crane running along steel rails surmounting the concrete top rails.
It consists of a control room with a suspended cab and large jib with hook.
The canal-rail interchange continued in use into the 1960s, but latterly the majority of goods moved between rail and road.
After the third rail line to the basin was removed, road transport directly accessed the site of the travelling crane, which continued in use on the site until around 2000.
Mr Crutchley took the image with a Nikon D800 Digital SLR.
He said: "It is a very important historical site. There are not many of its type so I think it needs to be recorded or possibly preserved."
