New 500-Ton Crandall Railway Drydock For Fairhaven, Massachusetts

The first Crandall-designed railway drydock to be built in Massachusetts in 50 years has just been completed by Norlantic Diesel, Inc. at their repair yard in Fairhaven. This upgrading of Norlantic's facilities i l l u s t r a t e s the belief that the New Bedford fishing fleet is alive and is well on the road to recovery after many years of marginal operation.

The drydock is a standard Crandall railway with a certified lifting capacity of 500 tons. The cradle is of composite construction, having a timber undercarriage supporting steel beams and uprights. This combination of materials has proven over the years to be very effective from the operational standpoint and to make c o n s t r u c t i o n easy—Norlantic's own forces fabricated and erected the structure.

The entire facility is supported on treated timber piling. The track upon which the cradle runs is of structural steel, which was fabricated in easy-to-handle sections and installed by divers.

Other features of the railway are the standard Crandall rollers, the open-link railway chain, and an electrically driven open-geared type Crandall hauling machine, which was made locally and installed by Norlantic.

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