Scurvey Knave

A few more pictures of our low loader work. First is a Hy-Mac being picked up from 343 Engineering Park in Livingstone (now relocated to Stirling). This was an easier job since I didn't have to take off the wheels - with a little care you could side-load the Hy-Mac using the bucket to lift up the front of the tracks, level with the load bed. Second picture shows the low loader that replaced the earlier type - a lot easier to use. It's carrying a couple of Muir Hill 171 shunting tractors - these were the vehicles that eventually replaced the Scammell Explorer for loading the landing craft (we had three of them, custom built with extended wheel bases, Perkins V8 engines and Boughton winches). Last picture is a Ransomes Rapier 6/12 crane. Regards - David

Richard - you must have a good size collection! I wasn't a great fan of these low loaders, though we used them extensively. It was a real ball-ache jacking them up with the tangye jacks, removing the wheel assemblies, lower the bed down, drive or winch on the vehicle to be carried, then jack it up again and refit the wheels and airlines. Photographs attached of the low loader in service. The real farce was that the Michigan 175 on the open road would easily hit 40 MPH and would show the Scammell a clean pair of heels - one of our guys drove it through to Edinburgh for an HQ military review and he swore that he reached 50 MPH on a downhill stretch of dual carriageway. Regards - David

Richard - More pictures of 01 EU 81 on a low loader. The pictures were taken when we made a stop to check the tension on the securing chains. Regards - David

92BD03 was sent to workshops but was declared Beyond Economic Repair. Scammells that had been Cast on age or surplus to requirements were usually sold whereas "terminally ill" examples were usually cannibalised for spares. The next time I seen her was when one of our other Scammells developed propshaft problems - worn U/J's. I went to workshops with a civvy fitter and his mate with a chitty to take a prop shaft off her. As can be seen from the attached pictures, she was in a poor state. The spare wheel had gone, along with some of the glass. The bonnet was lying on the ground in front of her and her radiator and oil cooler were both gone. Over the following months she was stripped mercilessly till there was little left but the chassis and engine block and eventually the remains were sold as scrap. A sad end to fine vehicle - I was sorry to see her go. Regards - David

92BD03 served us well through the mid seventies both on board LCT's and on road work. First picture shows her pulling a 10 ton TASKER drawbar trailer, carrying a BRAY Rough Terrain Fork Lift Truck on her way to 26 Command Workshops Stirling for repair. Second picture is a Michigan D175 on a low loader on a similar job. In the late seventies disaster struck - she busted her back axle. Loading and unloading LCT's on St.Kilda in bad weather done for her. In good weather we had a nice sandy beach to work with and we could wait till the tide left the ship high and dry. In bad weather, particularly after a winter storm, the sand could be stripped off the beach and we were wading in two and a half feet of water (any deeper and the cooling fan threw seawater all over the engine, usually shorting out the spark plugs on the front two cylinders). Clambering over rocks pulling heavy trailers with the wheels banging and clattering while seawater was getting into the back axle was never going to do her any good. After returning to Rhu, we put her over the pit and drained the oils - the OC600 in the back axle came out looking like a stiff cappuccino, plopping bearing rollers which had smashed the phosphor bronze crownwheel. We lost a few Scammells due to the same problem. I only ever seen one differential being replaced. At that time Scammells were in plentiful supply and a busted axle usually meant doom. Regards - David

I am a bit late to the party on this one, but to answer John Powell's question, 92BD03 did not survive beyond the late seventies. The first picture that I have added is 92BD03 as we received her around 1974-75 - photographed at Rhu Hangars sitting on the jetty. She came in a rather fetching camouflage paint job and replaced a Mk1 Explorer which was cast as BER (Beyond Economic Repair). At the time, all we did was to remove her previous unit markings and apply the RCT and HQ Army Scotland markings front & rear The second is a photograph taken from the driving seat looking on to the end of the jetty at an LCT which was being loaded by another Explorer (93BD11). Third picture is 92BD03 sitting on the tank deck of the LCT Audemer at South Ford Benbecula, having unloaded munitions for the RA Ranges Hebrides. Fourth picture shows her sitting on the beach with the tide out. By this time she is painted Deep Bronze Green. During the PRE (Periodic REME Inspection) the inspector noted that she was painted the wrong colour - UK non combat roled vehicles were to be painted DBG. Half a dozen of us set to with the paintbrushes and the camouflage colour scheme was gone! Regards - David (Part 2 to follow)

Michigan 01 EU 81 being carried on a low loader on its way to 26 Command Workshops Stirling - my much younger self posing in front of the Scammell. Regards - David

Richard, Please see attached photograph of our particular solution to the problem - not a great picture for detail, but then the hook wasn't the subject of my photograph! To be honest, we didn't use the Michigan much for moving trailers - we had a reasonably flat expanse of concrete to work on and a Massey Ferguson MF40 with a front hook and a concrete block to hold the front wheels down. Using the MF40 I could hook on a trailer myself - using the Michigan we needed one guy to hold the drawbar and another to guide me in. Regards - David

Gordon, Don't knock your memory - your recollection of dates may well have been correct. It was not uncommon for various pieces of kit to lie around for years prior to disposal, well after the system was declared to be obsolete. I drove this Honest John launcher which came down from the range for disposal years after the system had been replaced by Lance. It sticks in my mind since I couldn't figure out how to stop the engine - it turned out that you had to hook your foot under the accelerator pedal and pull it up which activated the strangler on the fuel pump! Regards - David

Michigan 175 01 EU 81 photographed in 1974 at Rhu Hangars - this was the unit's own Michigan and the one that I drove most regularly. The last picture shows the Michigan being driven in "road" configuration. Regards - David

Gordon, The Corporal Missile which was carried on these launchers was tested at the RA Ranges Hebrides. Rhu port was an old wartime seaplane base and was later used as the transport hub for the Range, utilising Mk 8 LCT's run by RAOC, later RCT. You could hardly send this sort of kit on a McBrayne's ferry! The information is no longer classified - extract from Wikipedia below. Regards - David Live-fire training for Germany- based US Forces took place at Fort Bliss but later the British Royal Artillery Guided Weapons Range on the Scottish island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides. Missiles were fired toward designated target coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean. Radar on St. Kilda scored successful (on-target) firings. Frequently, Soviet "fishing trawlers" would intrude into the target area.

Richard, A picture of 01 EU 91 at Rhu Hangars Helensburgh taken in the mid seventies. This was an RA Range asset passing through on it's way to 26 Command Workshops in Stirling for repair. Looking at the picture, I see that it too has its VRN painted above the forks - maybe it was our 175 that was different in not having it painted there! You can clearly see the "second seat" in this photograph - used when the steering was reversed and the machine was driven on the road. From the photographs of your Michigan I can see that yours has been removed - I would replace it - driving it in that direction is really good fun. The procedure was to remove the seat back (there was only one) from the seat facing the forks and fit it to the seat facing away from the forks. The switch panel was then spun round on the steering column and the machine then drove like a normal road vehicle. I remember that this was the first Michigan that I had driven without a cab - I felt really exposed. I was told that RA Ranges removed their cabs since they done far more wading than we did and, in the sea, if you can't see where you are putting your wheels there is always the chance that you could drive into a hole and overturn and have to jump clear - the standard cab would give you no chance of a quick exit and only allowed access from one side of the machine. If you look at the height of the breathers - it was said (though I never tested it) that the driver would drown before the Michigan would ever give up! Regards - David

Wally, I think that you have nailed it - I agree that the small green forklift is indeed a Bray. After looking at the film again, the clue is the way that the various machines drive off the mexefloat. Most of the machines drive off "forks first" whereas the Michigan 175 and the Bray drive off with forks trailing. Both had front/rear facing seats and could be driven from both sides of the steering wheel. In the case of the Bray, lift the engine strangler lever, lift the steering wheel and flip it over to mesh with the forward drive cogs - sit with your back to the forks and you had a good road vehicle with the steering wheels at the normal front orientation rather than the back. On a different note, we have met previously under sad circumstances. I was sent to the museum with an RCT Mover Sergeant to work out the logistics of removing MOD owned equipment when the museum first ran into trouble. The plan at that time was to move the kit North to Longtown for temporary storage. That particular plan never came to fruition and I was no longer involved in the project, but I still have vivid memories of you kindly showing me around the collection and of spending time in the records room where I was fascinated by the fact that I could look at the records of all the Scammels that I had driven. Best Regards - David

Richard, You are probably right - if you stop the film you can clearly read the word MICHIGAN painted in white on the yellow engine cover and, given Michigan's naming convention and the fact that its smaller than the 175 behind it, it's probably a 75 (as they would say in Star Trek - It's a 75 Jim, but not as we know it!). I have driven a 75 (picture attached) but this was obviously a much older example and looked ver different from that driving off the mexefloat (given the nature of the exercise, these machines were probably from 17 Port at Marchwood). Both of these 75's in the picture came down from Benbecula (RA Ranges) on the ship and were headed for Ruddington for disposal. I drove the left hand one - we drove them from Helensburgh to Dumbarton station where we loaded them on to war well rail wagons - the 75 was "in gauge" for rail movement. Regards - David

Richard - last pictures of 03 EU 77. First photograph shows the Michigan picking up the food trailer. Rations were carried in the trailer from Benbecula to St. Kilda, kept fresh with blocks of dry ice. The picture was taken from the tank deck of the ship showing the ramp used to cross the shoreline, Scammell Explorer on the left. Second picture shows the food trailer dropped off at the military camp. Swing the camera left from that point and I took a picture of the Landing Craft with my Scammell Explorer sitting at the bow of the ship and the St. Kilda detachment's Explorer at the top left of the ramp. Regards - David

Two more pictures of 03 EU 77 on St. Kilda. Note the additional lower towing hook. The Michigan 175 was a good machine but it was generally agreed that the hook, as fitted at the factory, was far too high. At that time, unauthorised modifications were frowned upon, but most of the Michigans that I ever seen were fitted with some sort of lowered hook - usually bolted or clipped into place so that it could be removed during it's annual PRE (Periodic REME Inspection). The Michigan that I usually drove had a vertical box steel structure which was secured to the original hook There seems to be an absolute absence of Military Michigan 175's on the web. The only thing I could find was a youtube clip titled "Army on Land, Sea and Air 1967" Even here, there is only tantalising glimpses of the 175. At 1:57 a 175 is the last equipment to drive off the mexefloat (it was preceded by a smaller Michigan of a type I didn't recognise). The camera covers from the point where the nose drives by and cuts out when it reaches the fuel tank! At 2:38 you think that you are going to see it parked up, when a Wessex flies by, dangling a pallet and completely obscuring it - I've never seen a piece of kit that was so damned camera-shy! Regards - David

Another picture of 03 EU 77 on St. Kilda - being used as a tractor to move trailers around. The island was resupplied by LCT - 10 ton Tasker trailers were typically dragged ashore and unloaded with the Michigan. Empty trailers were placed on the helipad ready to be loaded back onto the ship. The odd thing about this picture is that the "rear" number plate is fitted on the right hand side of the fork carriage, though it does not carry the number of the equipment! This plate was usually only used when the machine was driven on public roads - it fitted into slots on the fork carriage and was held by a clamp bolt. It was wired into a (normally) capped plug on the boom. I note that your Michigan has the VRN painted on to the flat surface on the body above the fork carriage. The VRN was usually painted on the flat surface below the radiator on one end and on the removable number plate on the other. The plate seen on 03 EU 77 was vulnerable to damage during normal use as a fork lift and would usually be removed and held in the MT store until required for a road movement. Regards - David

Hi ashcollection, If I read the plate on you Michigan 175 correctly, the VRN is 03 EU 76. The attached photograph is of 03 EU 77 - logically this should have rolled off the Clarke production line straight after yours! The photograph was taken on the island of St. Kilda where it was used in support of the Royal Artillery Ranges Hebrides. This is my first try at posting a photograph, so I'll press the trigger on the post before I try adding any more! Regards - David

Hi, I was prompted to join the forum rather than just lurking in response to a request from a member for photographs of a Michigan 175. I used to drive Michigans on RCT Maritime work and I have several photographs of these as well as Scammell Explorers transporting Michigans on low loaders. Despite Michigans being around for a good few years, I was surprised that I could not find a single photograph of a military 175 on the web! Regards - David