Crossley RFC Tender

Military Modelling magazine 1971, JH Sparshatt and his crossley.

Not quit a RFC Crossley but an interesting newspaper scan of a retro build that did auctually see action in Ireland.

The “Queen of the west” was an improvised armoured car, built by the irregular IRA on the chassis of a Crossley tender. She is probably the most well known of the improvised vehicles that the irregulars built during the Irish civil war.

Constructed with a boiler that was taking from the Mulranny hotel in Co Mayo and mounted on the chassis of a Crosley, the boiler been reinforced by fitting extra metal plates with concrete in-between, loopholes been added for weapons to fire through, with metal plates fitted to protect the engine. The work been carried out at the garage of a Thomas Moran which was next to the Mulranny hotel in Co Mayo. A small slit for the driver to see through can be seen as well as the door to the rear of the vehicle which has several spare tyres droop over it.

Taking part in the fighting in and around Clifden Co Galway in October of 1922 the “Queen of the west” fell into the hands of the Irish national army after a successful attack on positions held by the irregulars at Clifden.

Her new owners renamed her “The girl I left behind me” and used her temporarily before been abandoned in a bog in north Mayo where she lay partly submerges until 1934 at which time an attempt was made to retrieve her with the intention of placing her in a motor museum.

After the civil war Thomas Moran attempted and failed to claim from the Irish state £1,156 in damages caused to his public house and his garage which was next to the Mulranny hotel.

Moran claimed that national army troops arrested him, broke up everything in his premises and fired their rifles through the roof and windows, three motor cars and a lorry were smashed, gallons of oil were spilled and his premises looted.

Where is the Queen of the west now?

Tom

Here are a couple of well known images showing Crossleys used by differing sides during the war.

IRA has an early Tender Body

RUC or is it RIC ? has the later aviation wagon type body from 1918 onwards with Lewis Gun

The biplane is an interesting feature!

Tom

Where is the Queen of the west now?

 

Tom

Thats where the trail end's. I would imagine its long gone but something mite turned up in the future.

here is a second photo of the "Queen of the west".

Last weekend at the Gordon Bennett rally in Carlow, Ireland

Met a chap who has a Crossley 25/30 enclosed staff car originally used by the viceroy of Ireland

He had recovered the remains of the car many years ago from a lake where it had been for 70 years

The car had bullet holes in the panels and is very decayed

He said the axles had been taken for the Queen of the West!

On the rally there was also a very original Fiat staff car from 1915.

Link to video Fiat is after the yellow Singer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpgzJ8i-hJA

Tom

Tom

You may enjoy this, not sure if youv'e seen it

I like the bit where they are towing a Crossley tender with a foden de louser. Is that a 'tin lizzie' on the back of the Crossely?

Tom

 

You may enjoy this, not sure if youv'e seen it

 

 

 

I like the bit where they are towing a Crossley tender with a foden de louser. Is that a 'tin lizzie' on the back of the Crossely?

I am pleased you like the youtube video, I put it together some time ago along with some others:

http://www.youtube.com/user/stadioscope1#p/u

And yes it is a Tin Lizzie

Tom

Interesting stuff Charawack.

Did you notice what club the Crosley owner was from, I mite track him down for more info.

I don't normally comment on how people spell as I am probably the worst offender

However to call Crossley, Crosley is a little painful, please see:

http://crosleyautoclub.com/

There is no connection between the two manufacturers other than the way the name sounds!

The chap with the 25/30 is called Martin Nyland, he is in the Crossley register and hails from the west of Ireland I believe.

I may have his email if you need it

Regards,

Tom

Looking great!

if you cant get the pictures up e-mail them to me and i will put them up for you.

Tim

2011 picture

"Loaded Crossley with Lewis at speed "- Woodvale

Comparable 1921 image

"Tactical Crossley on duty" - County Clare

AVIATION IN PARLIAMENT AUGUST 12 1920

Houton Station, Orkney

MR. WASON on July 29 asked the Secretary of State for Air if he is aware

of the extravagance carried on at Houton, Orkney, in running the Air Force ;

that the lorry and tender are doing no real work and are practically only

used for running into Kirkwall and back for amusement, and that all the

stores and rations could easily be carried by a small cart; and whether,

under all the circumstances, he can see his way to abandon the station ?

Mr. Churchill: I cannot accept the suggestion that there is any extravagance

at Houton Station. Enquiries have been made, and the Air Officer

Commanding reports that mechanical transport is only used for Service

purposes. It would not be economical to provide horse transport specially

for light loads. The question whether this station can be dispensed with is

now under consideration.

:shocked:

Time over Christmas has been spent assembling the Tender Engine

Re-bored- only plus 20 thou!, new pistons, new white metal bearings, full flow filter, new "Silent" timing chain, Caterpillar valves.

One block metal stitched to fix old external frost crack.

Ready to re- assemble.

Now looking at the steering box, in very good order except drop arm is on parallel square which I will change to a taper square by building up with weld, milling on a dividing head and blueing / filing the drop arm to suit, a long job.

The engine rebuild and steering box are similar to the staff car which worked well once the engine oil control rings were dispenced with!

Tom

Engine with covers off

Scruffy workshop with limited headroom to lift tender, but still makes working and reassembly easier.

Tom

AVIATION IN PARLIAMENT AUGUST 12 1920

 

Houton Station, Orkney

 

MR. WASON on July 29 asked the Secretary of State for Air if he is aware

of the extravagance carried on at Houton, Orkney, in running the Air Force ;

that the lorry and tender are doing no real work and are practically only

used for running into Kirkwall and back for amusement, and that all the

stores and rations could easily be carried by a small cart; and whether,

under all the circumstances, he can see his way to abandon the station ?

 

Mr. Churchill: I cannot accept the suggestion that there is any extravagance

at Houton Station. Enquiries have been made, and the Air Officer

Commanding reports that mechanical transport is only used for Service

purposes. It would not be economical to provide horse transport specially

for light loads. The question whether this station can be dispensed with is

now under consideration.

 

:shocked:

That strikes a chord since I've actually been there. Houton is on the 'mainland' of Orkney, looking south east over Scapa Flow, with Flotta dead ahead ( south east ) and Hoy off to the right ( south west ). I believe it achieved some importance as a seaplane base but don't know exactly what time period. The seaplane ramps / hardstandings still exist near the current ferry terminal.

Interesting,

A tender was parked near the shoreline of Hoy for over 40 years, the parts were eventually recovered I believe in an extremely poor condition suitable only for patterns. The Tender was used as a mobile shop on the islands for many years.

All spines gone and most of drum

Brass unaffected by salt

How many girls can you pick up in a Crossley Tender?

Here is a picture showing both body types used during the war.

To the left is a Staff Car which may be Crossley.IWM

Code 70 Loads.

Lorries - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 tons

Unarmoured crossley tenders-- - - - - - 15 cwt., or ten men including driver.

Armoured crossley tenders- - - - - - - - 8 men, including driver.

Armoured Lancias - - - - - - - - - - - - -7 men, including driver.

Girls are lighter!

Code 71 Speed of vehicles.

The maximum speed of the various classes of M.T. Vehicles is as follows :-

3 ton lorries and all solid tyred vehicles---- 12 miles per hour on the open road.

8 miles per hour through towns and villages.

Touring cars;Box body vans ,with- - - - - - 20 miles per on open road

pneumatic tyres ambulances, motor- 10 miles per hour through towns and villages.

cycles and side-car combinations.

These speeds are on no account to be exceeded unless a written order is given by an officer.

Have a look a this interesting article and click on the photo and links

http://www.prewarcar.com/magazine/previous-features/the-slough-estates-railway-017092.html

Tom

The book The Slough Estates Railway was first published in 1989. I believe it has been expanded for this new edition. New photos of 'The Dump', hopefully! I've yet to see it. ...and for those with an interest in the post WW1 activities at Slough (or should I say Cippenham), do also get hold of Long Lease! by Michael Cassell.

I took the Crossley out for a run after installing the rebuilt engine and found a squeal from the gearbox!

Decided to remove the 3cwt box and investigate, but nothing to see which was obviously wrong.

Then I stripped it and all was revealed.

When the engine was installed it was found the gearbox splined input spider was loose, however the fixing nut was pinned!

This nut was tightened and the combined linear dimensions of the two bearings and primary constant mesh gear were too small resulting in the rear face of the direct internal gear being rubbed against the gearbox casting.

This was remedied and with little modification the two constant mesh gears were also turned round so the unused tooth face is now the load face, this will reduce gear noise dramatically.

The transmission brake mounted on the back of the gearbox was found to be full of oil and the shoes had worn down to the rivets.

The shoes have been relined, the drum machined and a modern seal fitted with a new speedy-sleeve for the seal face.(these are excellent) http://www.skfmarcomms.co.uk/focus/speedi.htm

The UJ was in very poor shape and is to be replaced with a UJ from the spare South African gearbox once it has been reconditioned.

I will post some images before long.

Tom

Here are some images of the gearbox:

The internal direct drive gear at the top of the image which was rubbing against the casing behind, the constant mesh

gears are behind this casting partition.

The brake drum and seal assembly are shown along with the gearbox fitted with new brake shoes and speedy sleeve on the cast iron housing, just waiting for the reconditioned UJ then all can be assembled.

It will be interesting to see how much better the brakes work in the absence of oil and fitted with new shoes.

Tom

The gearbox was refitted on Saturday and driven on Sunday

Having turned the constant mesh gears round all noise has been eliminated from the drive train when under load

Now noisy on the over-run as you would expect.

However I did not realise just how much time was spent reverse diving through the gearbox!

The result is good from a mechanical point of view and the gears will now last years, its just a question of how long I am prepared to live with the over run noise.

The refurbished UJ is doing its job and is hopefully being lubricated, you cannot see it.

The new Transmission bake shoes are working judging by how hot the drum gets.

I try not to use the transmission brake which is connected to the foot pedal, as it puts more load on the transmission gears than the engine!

I am considering attending the RFC formation centenary at Stow Maries on the 5th to the 7th of May.

Would be a testing trip for me at 250 miles each way.

http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hertfordshire/Potters-Bar/EN6/News/Whats-On/216654-Centenary-of-the-Royal-Flying-Corps-5-7-May-Fly-In

Tom

Neat fix Tom, glad it worked OK as you never know till you try things out, I always think vintage stuff doesn't sound quite right without a bit of a whine somewhere..

Today we tested the gearbox for further whines with a 110 mile round trip to a local event via Newby Head Pass 1437 ft , then on to the B6259 where the Tender wheels actually touched some snow! There is still some up here on the higher roads above the Ribblehead viaduct.

B6259

Newby Head Farm on the 6255 one of the bleakest spots anywhere but we did not see it on the return trip due to to rain stinging our eyes.

On the return trip we lost a hub cap, we had heard a noise and assumed it was something from the road, but when we stopped a few miles further on to clean the carb jet we noticed the cap was missing. Despite the horizontal rain and high winds we turned back and surprisingly there it was pain as day, on the tarmac in a lay-by. I have lost things on the road before and never found anything!

Bumped into a chap at Kirby Steven who is involved in the AEC centenary celebrations somewhere down south (Newark)

He asked if I could attend, so I asked if there were to be any Y types present and surprisingly he said none were on the 'list'.

http://aec2012.org.uk/rally.php

Seems a shame to me as there are some about, in fact the Russet family who owned the Tender used to have one:

http://ccmv.aecsouthall.co.uk/p818743552/h9E2DE46#h11b4b3e9

After getting home tonight, wet through and cold, had a bath then watched this:

http://www.channel5.com/shows/revealed/episodes/ww1-top-gun-revealed

Recommended :-)

Tom