Does anyone know whether the records of the Ruston-Bucyrus company are held by any organization? If so, does anyone know whether they welcome enquiries e.g. if you have a serial number for an old 22RB dragline would they be able to access information like build date, who it was built for etc? I have a vague recollection of an organization in the UK taking on the archive but know nothing about it. Thanks in advance if you can help.
Caterpillar bought out Bucyrus International which was the new name of Bucyrus-Erie, who owned Ruston-Bucyrus. The Historical Construction Equipment Association might be able to help you find information about your RB. http://www.hcea.net/
If you get on youtube and search for "Salvage Squad" you will find their full series of British TV Shows. One episode was the rebuilding of a RB crane. They were able to locate someone who had access to the complete build documents. I realize this is a round about way to get what you are looking for but it was fun viewing. Good luck, Rick
rb records hello! just came upon this site (but have now joined!) by accident re above i actually am the RB archive person in the salvage squad film - for spares contact is delden machinery nottingham uk (they have a very good website and are very helpful for machines build date/serial number records,and specs for old RB mach i have records (about 85-90% complete) going back to no.1 machine in 1874,and can usually manage to date a machine,but always need few days to do it as records are all stored at a local transport company a few miles from lincoln i am always happy to answer queries on old machines,so if you can give me a number i will see what can be done very best derek broughton
Derek, g'day. Are you an old RB man or have you got involved recently..? If the former did you ever come across Snowy Clawson..? He was a bit of a legend in the RB service world. I first came across him in Angola in the 70's and the last time I saw him was in India in the early 90's. Apparently he joined RB from school at 15 and had well over 50 years of service even the last time I came across him.
Hi Derek, and welcome to the forum from another Yellowbelly. So RB has completely finished in Lincoln now, has it? That's sad, I remember when it was a major presence in Lincoln. Last time I went there was over 20 years ago to pick up some parts for a Priestman VC machine, and they were vastly scaled down then.
a bit of history hi! for my sins was was ruston and hornsby apprentice,then30 years RB,mostly in spares dept on end of telephone, yea,snowy indeed,he was a legend-if not for the time he was captured by the rebels in angola and was finally released months later considerably thinner having been marched 1000 miles plus by his captors he was one of the best-he could repair almost anything with almost nothing-some of todays "service engineers" would not know where to start! hope this helps-are you one of our australian cousins? very best derek v
hello! yea,Ruston bucyrus finished 1985 with management buyout to RB lincoln,workfortce c.400 in mid 90's having been hit hard by the asia crisis a restructuring reinvented the company as RB international,workforce c.250 and that went into receivership 1999,workforce c.50 mortal remains were bought out by langley holdings of retford uk (within a few months of buying RB langleys had also picked up stothert and pitt of bath (dockside cranes) and cowans sheldon of carlisle (railway cranes) in most cases they seemed more interested in the factory sites for residential development than in machinery,and a couple of years ago they decided to move on the RB name and rights to Delden machinery (some very good guys actually ),and deldens now cover all RB spares,remanufacture.hire,etc etc-incidentally deldens now also have the same manufacturing rights for nck interesting the vc-RB had great hopes for it,certainly for flogging lots of the in the states,but it never quite managed to take off- it was soon found when they bought it from priestmans that to follow in the footsteps of the legendarey RB built the proverbial brick outhouse build quality they had to do a major rework to the structure-i was in the repair shop then and every time a priestman vc came in for overhaul we know that some jobs(eg removing the boom pivot pin) would be an absolute nightmare due to distortion of the mainframe! hope this helps! very best derek
Australian..? Much closer than that. Born and raised in Chesterfield and did my apprenticeship with Ambling Bastards in Grantham.......... I bailed out of Angola about 6 weeks before Snowy and the rest were captured or I would have been joining them in the long walk. One fella actually wrote a book about the experience which makes interesting reading. My old man had a quarry and the last RB I had my hands on was a 54 on face shovel loading limestone......fuunily enough I just Google it and apparently the stone was used in the building of both Lincoln and Southwell Cathedrals as well as Bolsover Castle. I never knew that.
Hi Derek Broughton; your name and occupation gave me a good chuckle down here at the bottom of the world in new Zealand. Was having a beer with one of your 'namesake relations' from many centurys past yesterday ! A really neat guy called John Broughton who has been around draglines since his grandfather dug the canal to help launch the ark :drinkup He owned a couple of priestman cubs and a late RB10, and I think a RB22 also; all set up as draglines, draining swamps. Had a good chat yesterday in our local watering hole British rope cranes are certainly in the Broughton geneology. Cheers from kiwiland :drinkup. merv
RB shovel Hello Derek, very fortuitous to see your post re records for RB equipment. I have just returned from Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia after walking the route of the Sandakan Death March. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the tragic episode from WWII but 600 British and 1,800 Australian POWs were sent to build an airfield by the Japanese. All, except 6 Australians who escaped, died or were executed by the Japanese. There is a memorial at the POW camp site which includes the remains of a RB face shovel. I presume this was part of British inventory prior to the war, sent to the North Borneo Company. There is no engine on the remains but part of a plate on the boom which reads " ALWAYS QUOTE BUCK???ARM No 1??628". The first 1 is not clear nor is the 6 but that's my best guess. The two middle digits are indecipherable. I can send photos but am in a rush to head off to Timor so may not be able to get back to you for a couple of weeks. There are also the remains of the boiler and generator which supplied power for the electrified fence and lighting. Much appreciated if you could help to add to the history of this sad place. Andy Moran just came upon this site (but have now joined!) by accident re above i actually am the RB archive person in the salvage squad film - for spares contact is delden machinery nottingham uk (they have a very good website and are very helpful for machines build date/serial number records,and specs for old RB mach i have records (about 85-90% complete) going back to no.1 machine in 1874,and can usually manage to date a machine,but always need few days to do it as records are all stored at a local transport company a few miles from lincoln i am always happy to answer queries on old machines,so if you can give me a number i will see what can be done very best derek broughton[/QUOTE]
Ruston Bucyrus 220 RH Track Excavator I have a Ruston 220 RH Excavator Serial # 39129. How can I tell the Model Year for this Machine. This Excavator has been in Storage for the last 20 years and maybe one of the most original ones left. It started it's life with the UK MOD, then a Contractor owned it and didn't do much with it. The Machine was then purchased by myself and brought over to Ireland, mayde did 50 hours of work and then put in a Warehouse. Does anyone have an idea of what it might be worth In UK, Euro money. Maybe I can e mail, or post some pics.
Hi, I have a RB22 here in Scotland in the UK and i am looking for some info on it. I have the plate that has 22RB and No R-B32845 on it. Any info at all would be much appreciated. Mike Mackenzie
I was looking at a local auction site that I like (lots of estate sales, moving sales, business liquidations, etc., not really heavy equipment specialists), and came across this listing: https://bid.hostetterauctioneers.co...616844?url=/auctions/catalog/id/35156/?page=1 (There's a ton of old agricultural equipment in that sale there too, if anybody's interested.) I googled RB22, just to learn more, and surprise, surprise, got a result from HEF. It seems like there's only a couple of other mentions of them here, and this thread seemed most appropriate. If I had a pocketful of money, even if I couldn't get it to run, I'd like to have it as "yard art." But, I don't, and I also like being married. Anyway, bidding starts at $1.
hi who could tell me the age of a 22RBif give them the machine number
22 RB who can tell me the age of a 22RB HeavyEquipmentForums