Scurvey Knave

Attached are some "in service" photographs of the area in question and the air valves. The Scammell involved in the suspended tow of the Bedford has the same triangular number plate brackets that Richard mentioned. However, the pics of the other two Scammells show that the number plate was mounted in a number of different ways. Its a shame that the back end of your Scammell has been badly butchered - I can see that the folding support legs that are used when raising a heavy load with the jib are missing. I remember spending many unhappy hours every year prior to the annual REME inspection, wire brushing, oiling and greasing these legs to make them work. Since we were regularly driving through salt water, these were particularly prone to corrosion. Regards - David

40EL43 coming ashore at Benbecula en-route to RA Ranges Hebrides. The vehicle was on charge to Royal Artillery Larkhill and carrying Lance Missiles. Ship is HMAV Ardennes (20 Maritime Regt.) - date early 80's. David

Hi Nick, I got to play with these in the late 70's - early 80's. Sadly, didn't do any recovery work with them ( I drove Explorers and Martians for recovery work), we were acting as a ferry service, moving them from the RA ranges in the Hebrides to 26 Command Workshops in Stirling. You can see from the pics, that as a civvy MOD driver, we were not held to the same dress code as the military! Regards - David

Matt, I used to visit Faslane quite often in the 70's and 80's and these little trucks were quite a common sight. I am not surprised that there are no photographs turning up showing them in service - being caught with a camera in a Navy dockyard in those days was almost a hanging offence. I used to see them delivering stores to the jetty area - bulk stock arrived on site by 40 foot Artic and broken down in the main store. The FMW's were then used to move spares, clothing, paint etc. to each of the ships sitting alongside the jetty. This job needed a small vehicle with a tight turning circle since the jetty was narrow, with obstacles such as cranes, mooring ropes, power cables, water pipes etc. When MARPOL came in and we couldn't throw anything over the side, they were also used to remove brown paper gash sacks from the jetty to the skips at the disposal facility. They were also used by grounds maintenance staff - two men and a brush type jobs - before these jobs were mostly contracted out in the nineties. As has been said earlier, these trucks were classed as plant (MHE) and were not meant to be driven on public highways. An FOI query has been mentioned, but I doubt if this would have yielded much information. Unlike Army vehicles which changed hands quite often and had a colourful history, these trucks were usually issued to one site and stayed there till they were disposed of - unless they were somewhere like Portland or Eaglescliffe which closed down, when they would have transferred elsewhere. FMW engineering were a major supplier to MOD - in the late 80's I transferred to a depot which was running a dozen FMW TT40 tractors and over 100 FMW trailers (solid wheels, 1 ton capacity and no brakes) which we towed around the site 4 at a time. These FMW tractors were replaced in the nineties with a more modern version of the TT40, but they were branded Electricar TT40. I don't know whether or not Electricar bought out FMW or whether they made the TT40 under licence, but it was clear that FMW was gone by that time. 1996 was a bit of a game changer in that MOD sold off all of these type of plant and leased them back under contract. At that time we were told to hand over all of the plant documents to the contractor (Cowie Interleasing/Barloworld). If your FMW was still in service at this time then the docs would have been lost to MOD and this might have been a reason why your FOI request failed. Hopes this helps - Regards - David

I am always sad to see these fine vehicles carved up like a circus show. One of the first jobs that I had as an MOD driver was to look after three DUKW's for a couple of weeks - just drove them around keeping the batteries charged and making sure that nothing seized up. I couldn't believe that I was actually getting paid for having so much fun! Attached pictures taken in 1975. Regards - David

It was around 77 - 79 or thereabouts. I scanned in my collection of slides and negatives a few years ago (the QM's dept had a very good Nikon film scanner at the time). These pics were on Kodachromes with the dates marked on them, so if you were interested in an exact date, I could trawl through my slides and have a look. Regards - David

Continued from part one....... Anyway - despite the snow we got the Explorer, trailer and crane into the goods yard. Problem number two - good old British Rail have shunted the war flat into the wrong siding. Why does that matter? The line is electrified and there is power cables running over the track - crane is now a useless ornament sitting on the platform! Contact the station master - he can't get a loco to move the war flat till the following morning. OK - job's a bust with the crane - move to plan B - it's brand new so it should be easy to start, drive it off the war flat and into a position where we an safely lift it without getting fried. Looking at the side loader it's easy to see why we can't just drive it down the road - no lights or indicators. So - climb into the cab and look for the ignition - weird thing this, no electrics, wiper is hand operated, no ignition that I can find and then it hit me - there's no damned starter motor! The plate on the front gives the game away - Cat A Zone 2 - we are used to Cat C - phosphor bronze forks and Pyroban modified electrics for no sparks but this one is new on me. Turns out it is for handling lance missiles which are powered by a crazy-dangerous two part fuel system. Its bad enough being hit on the head by the pointed end of one of these but it turns out that the back end is equally as dangerous and needs a fork lift with no possibility of setting light to the blue touchpaper! So - how do we start it up. Its brand new with all the docs in the cab, so as the youngsters say nowadays RTFM. Turns out it starts with an air compressor - and - you've guessed it, the gauge reads zero. There is a hand pump at the side of the cab to manually charge the air system (and before you ask, nothing clever like an air line that we could charge with the Explorer's air tanks). Taking it in turns we pump like mad in the snow to build it the pressure and it takes forever. Get to abut 50 psi - lets give it a go. The engine turns over a slowly a couple of times, sounding like an asthmatic gasping on a fag and dies. At that point if Basil Fawlty had been there, he would have pulled a branch off the nearest tree and given it a right good thrashing! We tried again - building up to 80 psi - same result. Tired out and frozen we gave up and went home. We go up the following day when the war flat has been shunted into the correct siding. The lift goes to plan and we get it back. However - the damned thing had the last laugh - the wheels on the counterweight side busted through the trailer's planking. Did we get it started - yes we did, but the people in the next village were choking with the Ether fumes of half a can of easy start that was rammed into the intake before we dared pull that damned starter lever! Would anyone save this piece of kit at the end of it's working life - I personally doubt it but it could find a place in a museum dedicated to cold war madness. Anyone seen one lying around waiting for some mug to pump it into life? Regards - David

Looking through my pictures, I reckon that I have come across a piece of plant that must be even rarer than Richard's Clark Ranger forklift. The value of any piece of equipment usually lies somewhere along a scale running from "The Dogs Bollocks" through to a "Piece of **** that is no good to man nor beast". This particular vehicle lies so far to the right of the scale that it must surely be extinct in the wild. I speak of a Lansing Henley Sideloader. Lest you should think that such an item would be a boon in a timber yard, or for a purveyor of plastic pipes or even for the handling of super dooper long snooker cues - read on! T'was a normal morning at Rhu when the MTO gets a call from the RCT Movements cell at HQ Army Scotland. There is a small side loader being railed up from Ashchurch to Dumbarton - it needs to be collected, taken to Rhu and put on to the next available LCT sailing to the RA Ranges Hebrides. He has no further details. The MTO, being a man who knows when to talk to the engineer rather than the oil rag, calls Issues at Ashchurch. Can it be driven on the road? No - it does not meet the requirements of the road traffic act. How did you load it, what is the weight, size etc.? It turns out that they loaded it onto a Warflat using a crane. The size and the weight is roughly the same as our Bray and we used to move that around on a 10 ton Tasker drawbar trailer (picture 1) so no need for a low loader. MTO assembles a team - Scammell Explorer pulling a Carriemore 10 Ton drawbar trailer, Ransome Rapier 6/12 mobile crane and enough guys to make sure that the public don't get in the way. Sounded like an easy job - unchain the side loader from the Warflat, easy lift with a set of "fours" onto our trailer, tie it down and we're off - job's a good 'un. Anyway - a forty minute drive and we are at the station. Unhook the trailer from the rear and put it on to the front hook for shunting into the goods yard (access was designed for a Scammell Scarab three wheeler not for a big Explorer). Then - first problem - it starts snowing - heavily! Rest of the story in part two! Regards - David

We had a couple of these in the servicing bay, one with a ring on the end like yours and another with a knob. I only ever seen them used for topping up steering boxes. The attached picture shows the one with the knob sitting on top of an oil drum (which gives an idea of the scale of the item) - sorry about the quality of the pic, its a very small crop from the corner of a larger image. Regards - David

Same type of job at Dumbarton station, same time period (mid to late 70's), this time with lightweight 5 ton trailers being returned to Ashchurch. Rail was the favoured method of transport this time. Regards - David

Railed from Dumbarton Central station to Ruddington - mid 70's. Easy job getting them on (though the ground clearance is a bit tight). Harder job getting the chocks in and nailed down and the chains on. Regards - David

Fares Please! Single ticket to Ruddington please - economy class! Regards - David

Mike, We had a second ex RAF Explorer - 43BT27. I remember that we rubbed it down and red leaded it before giving a top coat of Deep Bronze Green. Painted the cab out with Eau de Nil to brighten it up a bit. Shortly after however, it bit the dust with a busted rear axle (unfortunately a common problem with our Explorers). I once seen an Explorer done out with de-misters and a proper heating system. Every year the Army used to go on a winter exercise in Norway and all the vehicles taking part were "winterised". I was in the tyre bay at Stirling workshops and the fitter was busy fitting metal studs into the tyres of the vehicles taking part. He told me about the Scammell being kitted out with a heater - I had a look at it in the workshop - loads of flexible stainless steel ducting fitted across the inside of the roof and de-misters above the windows. I would have loved to have that Explorer - our de-mister was an old rag and we were frozen during the winter. I learnt to drive Explorers on a Mk1 - 35BC61. It didn't have the hill holder handbrake (if I remember correctly it had a transmission brake which was none too effective). The guy teaching me how to drive it had a big 'ol "D" shackle - he would ratchet up the handbrake and when he was ready to drive off he would get the bite-point on the clutch and smack the brass button on top of the handbrake with the shackle - not pretty but it worked for him! 35BC61 ended it's life in the bone-yard at Stirling workshops sitting alongside another Mk. 1 35BC46 - we robbed parts off them for a couple of years before they disappeared. Regards - David

Hi Chris, I can't answer your question, but I wish I knew how valuable these items would become - I happened to be in potential possession of a spare pair of gearboxes on the day that this picture was taken! Royal Artillery Gun Tractor Martian 45BM41 and Martian Recovery 37BS56.

Not a Clark Ranger, but the specification looks remarkably similar - rough terrain air portable (I assume) fork lift tractor. I have never seen one of these and I don't recognise the type, but the picture was taken from a 1970 document - the Eager Beaver may well have replaced this type of fork lift too. Regards - David

One of the last pictures that I took of 01 EU 81 - exhaust was blowing and the fitter was doing a repair. The old girl finally bit the dust when a steering ram hose failed. Since MOD had none in stock we had to put in a purchase request, which lead to the vehicle being cast - it was so old by that time, literally no money was being allowed to be spent on it. Whoever bought that Michigan got a real bargain - it was a good un. The Michigan was replaced by a Fiat Allis - a sort of evolution of the old Allis Chalmers. it was brand new when we got it - articulated in the middle, so no good for fast road runs. I never really took to the Fiat Allis and this was the only picture that I took of her. Regards - David

Thanks Mike - but we had an easier clue than that. When we got her she was still painted RAF Blue/Grey! We had to cover it up with a coat of NATO IRR Green which was the regulation colour at the time. It was probably one of the best Explorers that I have ever driven - the RAF had fitted a nice heater with a blower motor to the bulkhead in front of the gear-lever and a pair of spot lamps at the front. The engine was good too - it was a strong low loader puller - it had probably had an easy time with the RAF, Army Explorers tended to have had a hard life. Regards - David

Another picture of 93 BD 80 - second picture is 43 BT 03, and ex RAF Explorer and the only one I ever drove with a heater fitted. Standing to the left of her is 94 BD 06 with a Bray rough terrain forklift on the right.

Richard, If your Clark Ranger is a 40b then there is a test report available in the National Archive, held at Kew. I can't make the URL work, but if you google - Tests on the Clark Ranger 40B fork lift tractor - you should come to report 17/1393. This was released under the "30 year rule" whereby classified MOD documents are released to the public. Unfortunately the archive isn't digitised, so you would have to order a hard copy of the report - which is at a cost! Looking at the plate on the machine, it looks as though the equipment was supplied by STACATRUC at Thatcham - they are/were the Clark distributor in UK - http://www.clarkstacatruc.com Their website says " we, to this day still receive parts enquiries for machines built in the 1940's." Regards - David

Wally, Our Bray was 03 EU 75 - I am almost sure that it was cast on age rather than anything being fundamentally wrong with it so it might still be around somewhere. I may have driven your Bray at one time. I recall a Bray being delivered to Rhu by low loader for the Hebrides. I gave the driver a hand to get the chains and chocks off and to prepare the low loader for unloading. I told him that I regularly drove a Bray and offered to drive it off and park it up. Starting a Bray was fairly easy - climb onto the rear wheel, turn the battery master switch, reach into the engine and press the cold start fuel enrichment plunger on the fuel pump, into the cab, switch on the ignition and press the brass/rubber waterproof starter button. Climbed into the cab WTF! - didn't recognise a damned thing. On our Bray I was used to a straight array of switches, lamps and gauges on the right of the steering wheel. This one was laid out totally differently. Searched around frantically for the ignition switch with my face getting redder and redder. Eventually the low loader driver had to lean into the cab and switch it on for me - what an embarrassment! I could only figure that the manufacturer bought in panels ready-made from different suppliers depending on cost and availability. Regards - David

Hi Richard, I have posted another picture of the International since both you and Bryan have shown in interest in it. To be honest, I couldn't have told you the model - it was just passing through. The drivers at Rhu were encouraged to become familiar with anything that arrived on site since we were required to put it safely on to the ship - better to cabby around and get used to the characteristics before driving it down the ramp and into the confined space of the tank deck. We got the Coles on loan from 343 Engineering Park Livingstone in 1979 when our own Ransomes Rapier 6/12 was involved in an accident and got bent out of shape (picture 2). The third photograph was when I stopped on the A8 after picking it up - usual check for any oil leaks etc. after covering a reasonable distance on a strange machine. We had some old kit at the time but this took the biscuit. I was used to driving the 6/12, which was a joy to drive on public roads - high/low range and a torque converter lockup made it quite a capable road machine. The Coles was like driving a shed with a steering wheel though it held the road well. I had some rudimentary instruction from one of the depot staff. Like a fool, I asked where the levers were for extending the jacks - the guy just fell about laughing. When he told me that you could drive the chassis from the crane cab, I though he was pulling my leg. I never did get used to that - it was just plain weird! It had an old bakelite telephone in a box let into the crane body next to the counterweight so that you could speak to the slinger - everything about it from pulling the jib round with a piece of rope from the stowed position to setting the safe working load indicator was just crazy. I done a number of jobs in it - once taking it up to the ammunition depot at Glen Douglas - single track road with passing places and scary deep storm ditches on either side - now that really was interesting. We only had it a few weeks before the nearside tracta joint failed. I remember the fitter dismantling the hub assembly, carefully cleaning everything in a paraffin bath and painstakingly compiling a parts list for the repair. When the order went in, we were given a complete service exchange axle - all that work for nothing! Due to the palaver of pulling out the jacks and screwing down the pads onto railway sleepers, we tended to use it as a static crane whenever we could - picture 4. After about six months or so, we were issued with a new 6/12 from Ashchurch. I wasn't sorry to return the Coles to the Sappers! Last picture is me and my WDM20 - I see that you have one. Sold it to raise the deposit for a house and regretted it ever since! Regards - David

Hi Robin, Not a silly question at all. The whole shipping operation was a mixture of military, civvy and embedded contractors - managed by Commander Transport & Movements, HQ Army Scotland at Craigiehall. The staff at Port Unit Rhu were all MOD civvies with the exception of a Sergeant who worked as ships liaison, The guys who manned the ship were all regular military (mostly RCT with embedded ACC and Signals), the guys at RA Ranges Hebrides were mainly Royal Artillery with REME, RCT, Pioneer Corps etc. and St. Kilda was just a weird mixture of military and civvy contractors who generally mucked in together, co-ordinated by the Battery Sergeant Major. As well as working shore side, Rhu staff sailed with the Landing Craft and we were treated as members of the crew, working under the skipper. We worked well together as part of a team. Later in my career I regularly worked directly under military officers. First picture is of me with an RCT Lance Corporal and an AEC/Coles crane with a busted tracta joint. Second picture is me posing with an International tractor (same size as a Cat D4) - it wasn't ours, we were just shipping it out to the Hebrides - I remember the throttle have a picture of a tortoise at the slow setting and a picture of a hare at full throttle! There is no way that I could have walked past an RSM with hair that length if I had been military! I see from your post that you are a Ferret man - the last two pictures are of me sitting on a Saladin and my mate on a Ferret. These were target vehicles and we often got the job of moving them around on the range with our Scammell Explorer recovery vehicles. I had the opportunity to drive Saladin/Saracen and Fox but I always regretted the fact that I never got my hands on a running Ferret. The Saladin was too heavy for a suspended tow unless the centre two wheels were removed. On that particular day we moved a Ferret to a position ahead of the firing point. I had a root around it - as you do - and I noted that it had a brand new engine in it. When I got back to the firing point I happened to mention to the OC of the unit on exercise (who also had Ferrets) that it seemed to me to be crazy to use a Ferret with a brand new engine as a target - the paint on the exhaust wasn't even burnt off! I never seen guys move so quickly - they had that engine out in record time before anyone had the chance to shoot holes in it! My mate had a bad day - we moved a Saracen with a straight bar and he climbed in to steer it. Someone had cut the hydraulic pipes and as I pulled it forward, he got a faceful of hydraulic oil! The whole operation has gone now - Rhu handed over to the Navy, LCT's all scrapped, the ranges contractorised and run by QinetiQ and the radar at St. Kilda upgraded and operated remotely Regards - David

I was looking through the photographs in this thread and I thought that I recognised the Scammell on page 109 (message 423) which was 92BD80. Looking through my photographs however, I realised that the Scammell that I had been thinking of was 93BD80 not 92BD80 - photograph attached with a FOX on suspended tow. We only had this Explorer briefly. In our line of business - loading landing craft by shunting trailers on to the tank deck - a Scammell's worth was measured by the frugality with which the steering used air at low engine speeds. 93BD80 could empty the air tank faster than a tramp could empty a meths bottle! Result was that every few minutes we had to ram open the hand throttle and build up the air - no good at all when we were pushed for time between tides. The vehicle was sent to Workshops for repair (we suspected a combination of a worn compressor and a faulty steering assist assembly - there were no obvious leaks) but we never seen it again and we were issued with a replacement. Regards - David

Richard - Back in the seventies when I took these pictures, pay was poor and Kodachrome was expensive. I used to shoot a roll of Kodachrome a month and in between times I shot Ilford FP4 black and white film which I bought in bulk in 75 ft lengths. It was cheap enough for me to shoot the attached sequence of our Michigan 175 working in the yard. Note the extension forks which were used for lifting wide loads such as this 5 ton Tasker trailer. Regards - David

Steve, For anyone interested in Marauders, there is a great website hosted by Art Kramer who was a B26 Bombardier. He tells the story that at the end of the war, his crew could have bought their Marauder "Willie the Wolf" for $150 but the could not afford the cost of the gas and oil to fly her home! The website is at www.artkramer.blackapplehost.com Regards - David