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Albion BY5 F.B.E


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Hi.

I brought this Albion back in 1982 from Mains scrap yard in Oxfordshire. I later found out it is the only one left out of an order placed with Albion Motors for contract 294/V/ 5103 - F.B.E of 329. Lorry numbers started at L5332821 - L5333149 and the chassis numbers started from 52591J - 52561H, lorry number on this one is L5333042 and chassis number 52523K.

attachment.php?attachmentid=127867&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127868&stc=1 Photos of the Albion after it had been moved from under the trees it had been parked under for quite a few years - the camera decided to play up for the first photo. Parked next to it was half a remains of another Albion F.B.E but this one had the back half of it cut off.

attachment.php?attachmentid=127870&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127871&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127872&stc=1 On these remains I couldn't find any I.D for it, these photos were taken in 2011.

Why did I buy it well it looked mean and nasty, I fell in love with it.

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=127874&stc=1 We now come to 2014 and there she is on a farm Nr Wrexham looking very worse for wear having been stored out side for a few years. The cab had moss all over it and the chassis, birds nests under the engine covers and a very flexible steering wheel, if too much pressure put on it, it could of broke off in your hands.

 

If no ones eyes have glazed over and interest will post more about the work carried out so far.

 

P.B

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For those unaware, the towers are used to help load/unload the folding boats - the body could carry several boats but rather than loading to/unloading from the top of the pile you loaded to/unloaded from the bottom. The towers contain hand winches that raise and lower the pile of boats that you don't want to access - if that makes sense.

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Hi.

Right having got your interest more details. The F.B.E stands for Folding Boat Equipment and these lorries carried the folding boats to make up a class 9 bridge, class 9 means the maximum tonnage that could use the bridge.attachment.php?attachmentid=127960&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127961&stc=1 The boats are 22 feet long and could carry 3 boats on each lorry. Just to take a step back, Albion Motors just supplied a chassis and half a cab and Weymanns Motor Bodies, Weybridge , Surrey fitted the F.B.E bodies and also a contract to supply and fit General Service bodies as well. These photo show the folding boats at the company that made them and the last show the R.E building a Class 9 Bridge.

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The bodies had a roller bed for ease of loading the boats on and off and in a gap in the bed there are two sets of three lifting beams to lift the boat clear ready for the next one to be loaded, then same again for the last boat. The beams were operated by 4 personnel winding up/down the winch inside the four towers. On the right hand side looking from the rear, were the tie down straps of various lengths and on the left hand side were the hooks and chains that joined them up in the middle. Both sets of ties and chains had adjustment on them by the operator screwing up/down the eye bolt that the chains and straps were fixed to.

On the RH side of the chassis just behind the cab was a high level locker and on the LH side was a lower locker and these carried equipment such as ropes, lashings, hammers, cable and other parts to help in the construction of the bridge.

Also not to forget there were the Pontoon No 5 Body mk1, these carried the larger boats for the much larger bridges, these bodies were built on the same chassis.

 

The lorry was 21'-9" in length x 7'-6" wide x 10'-3" in height at the top of the towers. A point I nearly forgot was the cab had a 'V' recess in it, this was so the the nose of the boat would fit in. The lorry could be fitted with a trailer that could carry more boats.

 

Albion Motors had upgraded the engine on the BY5 from a 4 cylinder as fitted to the BY1, the BY3 had a 6 cylinder petrol engine - bore 3.1/2" x 4.1/2" stroke, capacity 4.25 litres and the BY5 had a 6 cylinder petrol engine - bore 3.5/8" - stroke 4.1/2", capacity 4.56 litres.

 

Having given the basic history and details of the lorry, I will put some photos and details of it's restoration.

 

Cheers.

P.B

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Hi.

With regards to a question about the folding boats, I would like to make and fit the boats but at present only have a few details on them. I trying to chase down where I could obtain plans for them - Southampton or Portsmouth boat building companies.

The photo of the pontoon lorry on Pegasus Bridge is of a Leyland lorry, some say it's a Albion but if you look at the rad you will see that it has rounded shoulders on it, where the BY5 has a square rad on it. Another history point and that is that Albion Motors had got to a BY7 chassis No 52600A - but was never taken any further.

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=127998&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127999&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=128000&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=128001&stc=1 These photos show how bad the steering wheel was, it was so rotton and had to be replaced. I managed to get another steering wheel I think they said it came off a Bedford lorry but it did fit.

On stripping the coating off the old steering wheel the rim was just full of rust holes and would of broken off the steering column if left .

I stripped the coating off the replacement wheel as this was missing in places and cleaned it up and just painted it black and had several coats put on to protect it.

 

Will post some more later .

 

Cheers.

PB

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Hi. A couple of photos to show a update.attachment.php?attachmentid=128013&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=128014&stc=1

These were taken in April but has moved on a bit more lot of the work is is underneath. I will sort out photos of the new decking as there was just marine plywood used.

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These photos show how the side locker was when found and during rebuilding. The first photo shows the locker as found with two plastic containers with fuel still in them, these were quickly removed. There had been a piece of plywood bolted to the front and spare parts of the lorry including the rear small prop shaft, With the wood on the front the locker had became a small pond over the years stood out in the open rusting valuable parts. If you look at the photo you can see the recess in the back of the cab for the nose of the boats to fit in.

 

The next ones show the new steel being fitted and the hinges were found in the remains of the passenger seat/tool box in the cab.

 

The locker is finished as you can see in the top photo but all that I need is two locker hasps that are bent to fit over the edge of the angle iron at the top and fit onto the staples.

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Hi.

I brought this Albion back in 1982 from Mains scrap yard in Oxfordshire. I later found out it is the only one left out of an order placed with Albion Motors for contract 294/V/ 5103 - F.B.E of 329. Lorry numbers started at L5332821 - L5333149 and the chassis numbers started from 52591J - 52561H, lorry number on this one is L5333042 and chassis number 52523K.

attachment.php?attachmentid=127867&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127868&stc=1 Photos of the Albion after it had been moved from under the trees it had been parked under for quite a few years - the camera decided to play up for the first photo. Parked next to it was half a remains of another Albion F.B.E but this one had the back half of it cut off.

attachment.php?attachmentid=127870&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127871&stc=1attachment.php?attachmentid=127872&stc=1 On these remains I couldn't find any I.D for it, these photos were taken in 2011.

Why did I buy it well it looked mean and nasty, I fell in love with it.

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=127874&stc=1 We now come to 2014 and there she is on a farm Nr Wrexham looking very worse for wear having been stored out side for a few years. The cab had moss all over it and the chassis, birds nests under the engine covers and a very flexible steering wheel, if too much pressure put on it, it could of broke off in your hands.

 

If no ones eyes have glazed over and interest will post more about the work carried out so far.

 

P.B

 

Your photos look like a mixture of the one you rescued & the one that's still left in the yard ? I think if you spoke to the owner now you may be able to rescue the second one ? before it disappears in the crusher or the earth.

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Hi.

With regards to a question about the folding boats, I would like to make and fit the boats but at present only have a few details on them. I trying to chase down where I could obtain plans for them - Southampton or Portsmouth boat building companies.

 

If you haven't seen these sites already you may find them useful:-

 

http://www.re-museum.co.uk/collections/ and click on "Enter the online catalogue"

 

http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/bridges.23821/

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Hi. The remains of the other Albion in the scrap yard, the owners are not going to let it go and to be honest the photos I took of it in 2011 then it was passed the point of no return, 6 years later I dread to think what is left of it. If anyone decided to take it on, the amount of money needed to restore it would beyond the normal enthusiast. They would have to strip all useful parts off it and start again with a brand new chassis.

As I have found that Albion parts are not that easy to find, I'm still looking for a speedo cable that is 11 feet long and a complete rear diff to finish off the rear axle.

 

Many thanks for all your kind remarks about the project and I will keep you all up to date as progress moves on.

 

 

Cheers.

P.B

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Hi. Many thanks for the details for the web sites for Royal Engineers and WW2 Talk. There is lot of details on the folding boat and looks like I shall be ordering a fair bit of canvas, I hope the wife's sowing machine is up to scratch.

 

As for interchangeable parts on other models I might be right or wrong the FT 11 and Chieftain models might have parts to swop but I have tried putting a post for parts or borrowing parts from FT 11 owners but with no luck.

 

Cheers.

P.B

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IMHO I'm thinking that an 11ft speedo cable would be relatively easy to construct as long as the have the correct ends, and hopefully you have an old one that could act as a template for the remake.

 

If your Albion was perhaps from 1914 you might have cast your own rear diff like 'Great War truck' whenever he is lacking a part, but I guess thats out of the question and together with the internals might be a bit pricey.

 

Have you considered fitting a rear diff or both diffs from another manufacturer? I seem to remember that has been done by other MV owners for various reasons. I suppose it depends on how much of an adaption they need but it might be a way of geeting you on the road until you find that elusive part!

Edited by LarryH57
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IMHO I'm thinking that an 11ft speedo cable would be relatively easy to construct as long as the have the correct ends, and hopefully you have an old one that could act as a template for the remake.

 

If your Albion was perhaps from 1914 you might have cast your own rear diff like 'Great War truck' whenever he is lacking a part, but I guess thats out of the question and together with the internals might be a bit pricey.

 

Have you considered fitting a rear diff or both diffs from another manufacturer? I seem to remember that has been done by other MV owners for various reasons. I suppose it depends on how much of an adaption they need but it might be a way of geeting you on the road until you find that elusive part!

 

Hi. Many thanks for post about rear diff's. What I don't know is during war time how many parts where made to fit all types of vehicles made by different manufactures, would a part supplied by an outside company fit all makes or is it only for one company. Did the W.D try to stick to a type of standardization - one one part fit only a Bedford or would it fit Morris and Albion as well.

My own view is that Albion Motors were very much on their own when it came to vehicle building during the war and used their own designs and parts. When a new model came out they might of used parts left over from another class of model.

 

I have the spares manual for the BY5 but all the parts are listed under the Albion parts ordering system and if ordering a part made outside the company, they would have a Proprietary Parts Section with a MT12 ordering system.

 

The rear diff had a ratio 3/28 and the worm shaft and worm wheel were supplied as a set. The lorry can still be driven on the road as the first diff is still in place but to try and ease the the gear box and diff by putting the rear diff back in. it is classed as a 4x6.

 

Speedo Cable, The problem with this is, the lorry was missing it's cable when I brought it and has never been replaced. The length - 11 foot - is due to it fitting the speedo in the instrument panel in the cab, but then runs along the top of the chassis and connects with the Auxiliary Gearbox at the rear of the cab. I have tried various companies who might be able to help BUT need the cable to make up the ends, so I'm well and truly stuffed as I don't have one.

 

Cheers.

P.B

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Hi. Just to give a bit more back ground to finding the Albion again, on walking around it there seemed to be some thing wrong with one of the rear wheels. Apart from the flat tyres, the rear off side wheel seemed to be out of gauge with the wheel in front of it. On closer inspection I saw that the wheel and hub had been pulled almost of the stub axle.attachment.php?attachmentid=128082&stc=1 You can see how far it had been pulled forwards by looking at the brake pads. This left me with a problem as this had to be put right before planning any moves to Bristol. The next visit I brought along a jack and socket set to remove the wheel nuts - at this point the Albion was fitted with odd 33mm wheel nuts and the standard size is 28mm. I set about removing the wheel having jacked it up and placed it on a axle stand, then to sort on how to correct the damage.

The only way was to remove the brake drum, half shaft and the hub, then by placing piece of hard wood across the driving flange very slowly tapped it back into place. This took all morning to sort out and decided to call it a day as I had a 3 hour drive back to Bristol from the farm.

 

The half shaft had some cutting gear damage to it around the bolt holes and I had this repaired. The brake drum was cleaned up and painted along with the hub.

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The next visit the drum, half shaft and hub were fitted back again, this photo shows them ready to be put back, the hub was washed out and fresh grease put back in.

 

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All back together again. On chatting with one of our diesel fitters at work and explained how the wheel was to be found, he came up with a idea that when the lorry was on the farm they must of moved it with a tractor. Asked if there was any 90 degree bends - yes -well he thought that to move the lorry around the bend was to put a rope or wire around the back of the wheel and snatch it around with the use of the tractor and doing so pulled the wheel and parts forward.

 

Cheers.

P.B

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Hi. Just to give a bit more back ground to finding the Albion again, on walking around it there seemed to be some thing wrong with one of the rear wheels. Apart from the flat tyres, the rear off side wheel seemed to be out of gauge with the wheel in front of it. On closer inspection I saw that the wheel and hub had been pulled almost off the stub axle.<img src="http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=128082&stc=1" attachmentid="128082" alt="" id="vbattach_128082" class="previewthumb"> You can see how far it had been pulled forwards by looking at the brake pads. This left me with a problem as this had to be put right before planning any moves to Bristol. The next visit I brought along a  jack and socket set to remove the wheel nuts - at this point the Albion was fitted with odd 33mm wheel nuts and the standard size is 28mm. I set about removing the wheel having jacked it up and placed it on a axle stand, then to sort on how to correct  the damage.<br>The only way was to remove the brake drum, half shaft and the hub, then by placing piece of hard wood across the driving flange very slowly tapped it back into place. This took all morning to sort out and decided to call it a day as I had a 3 hour drive back to Bristol from the farm.<br><br>The half shaft had some cutting gear damage to it around the bolt holes and I had this repaired. The brake drum was cleaned up and painted along with the hub.<br><img src="http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=128083&stc=1" attachmentid="128083" alt="" id="vbattach_128083" class="previewthumb align_0 size_thumbnail" style=""><br>The next visit the drum, half shaft and hub were fitted back again, this photo shows them ready to be put back, the hub was washed out and fresh grease put back in.<br><br><img src="http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=128084&stc=1" attachmentid="128084" alt="" id="vbattach_128084" class="previewthumb"><br>All back together again. On chatting with one of our diesel fitters at work and explained how the wheel was to be found, he came up with a idea that when the lorry was on the farm they must of moved it with a tractor. Asked if there was any 90 degree bends - yes -well he thought that to move the lorry around the bend was to put a rope or wire around the back of the wheel and snatch it around with the use of the tractor and doing so pulled the wheel and parts forward.<br><br>Cheers.<br>P.B 

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Hello - just a quick note - i've been reading and very much enjoying your thread - I like seeing unusual trucks that capture the imagination.

 

On the subject of the folding boats - there was a manual for the Mk3 folding boat on ebay last month - if you do a google search for it you should find it. The item was re-listed a few times before the vendor gave up - if you drop them a note maybe they'll still have it. It was variously either 10 or 15 quid plus postage.

 

Sorry if you saw this already, just thought it might help.

 

(i've no connection to the seller)

 

All the best,

 

Andy

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