Mick Norton

Richard, The Gainsborough was never any REME Workshop's dream machine as with any military special. Yes, like the Gainsborough operators of my vintage spent many hours on the Allis Chalmers, its successor. As I alluded to in my feature I thank the lord the Gainsborough never ventured onto the streets in N Ireland in the early 1970s the Allis Chalmers was a god send in dodgy situations and I have a few tales to tell in that region! I ran the Plant Training Area "The Ponderosa" as a WO1 Military Plant Foreman in 1984-6 and many REME guys passed through the Mech Training part of the complex at the bottom of the hill at Wainscott. Mick

Dear All, You may be interested in the attached 5 x page feature on the Royal Engineers "Gainsborough" military special in the Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Earthmovers magazine. Mick Gainsborough_5pp_sp sp l_BLUE_REV.pdf

Thanks Tarland, very interesting backdrop.

John, Once again many thanks for sharing your treasure trove of images/memories concerning the Vickers. Is there anyone on this forum who might have access to the original War Office details of purchase of "Vickers" items in the 1950s/1960s for use by the Royal Engineers or the RAF's Airfield Construction Branch (ACB) ? The attached image was taken at Andrew Beulieu's farm and highlights two Vickers from his vast collection of plant items. Well worth a visit to one of his open days on his farm near Beverley in East Yorkshire. Dragline collection second to none. Mick

John, I am most grateful for your feedback you've filled several gaps in my knowledge bank. Mick

John, Would the attached oil painting of a Vickers, by Terence Cuneo be a Vigor or a Vikon? Mick

Dear All, Vickers Vigor VR 180 bulldozer issued to the War Office - WO Code Number 18395, Contracts 6 /P & EQ/ 23873 & 24334 Actual production of the Vickers Vigor VR 180 commenced in approximately 1952 , with a prototype available in 1950, and was accepted and extensively used by the Royal Engineers and the RAF's Airfield Construction Branch in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Of the Vickers "Vikon" VR 110 it is believed only 20 were manufactured and ended up in New Zealand. CAN ANYONE PROVIDE ANY MORE DETAIL ON THE EXACT PROCUREMENT OF THIS VICKERS DOZER BY THE THEN WAR OFFICE AND HOW THEY WERE DEPLOYED.? Any detailed images highlighting the differences between the Vigor and Vikon models would also be of great interest

The Allis Chalmers brought reliability to the range of RE shovel loaders after the Gainsborough, Bray and Michigan variants. I remember how successful the armoured Allis was in N Ireland, a great tool. Did you ever source a handbook? I've been trying to establish bucket dump height for the Allis Chalmers.

Thanks Wally. I have a friend who is restoring what he thinks is either a BK10 or BK12 motor grader.

Dear All, As a young RE plant operator in the early 1960s I was sat on the banks of the River Weser in what was West Germany acting as an anchor with my Gainsborough tractor for the trials that were underway on an underwater tank. I think it was a Conqueror fitted with a 12 foot snorkel. During the trial there was an explosion mid stream where petrol vapour had ignited blasting the Canadian tank commander out of the snorkel. Does anyone have any images details on this trial? Mick

Wally Dugan, Do you have any data on the Blaw Knox BK12 motor grader as issued to the Sappers? Mick

Dear All, Does any one have any documentation on the Gainsborough Medium Wheeled tractor which refers to the manufacturer's (Marshalls) costs or what the total order cost the MOD (Army) at that time 1959/1960? Where would you find this data? Mick

Many thanks for the feedback, most helpful.

Dear All, Given a data plate for the above (see attached) is there any way of establishing the history of the RE plant item? Locations etc? Mick Norton

Dear Patrick Honey, You must be psychic as I've just read a Classic Plant article on the "Gainsborough" where two of the photos of a Gainsborough and scraper in Thailand are attributed to yourself and I wanted to get in touch. (see attached) I served with the Royal Engineers as a Plant Cpl on Operation Crown and Post Crown airfield and road jobs 1966-68 and have fond memories of that time at Leong Nok Tha. Were the photos you had of ACB operators as they were there at the start and right up until 1965 I believe? I am writing a separate article on the "Gainsborough" for the Marshall Club's Britannia News and would love to put it past you beforehand if you didn't mind? Incidentally in 1966 I attended the RAF's Airfield Construction Branch's Waterbeach training school for an A3 conversion course. Perhaps you were one of my RAF instructors? My email is <micknorton1944@gmail.com> Regards, Mick

Small public works dept dozer hauling cleared bombs for loading and then transporting out to sea for dumping. About 1959 1960 Images courtesy of Richard Middleton

It's a Stothert and Pitt roller used by the Royal Engineers on airfield construction in the UK and BAOR in the 1970s. The ability to transfer the steering wheel from one side to the other caused a few novice RE operators heart failure when "old sweats" would deliberately remove it whilst on the move and disappear..!! Nightmare to load onto trailers when conditions were wet.

Rob, The Track Marshall 70 (TM70) was about the same time as both the Cat D4C and the Case Terramatic drive light crawler which was not entirely successful. Some rated the TM70 as a Cat D5 equivalent but I would disagree. The TM 70 was not the tool to endure an eight hour day with it was bloody hard work. I worked with the Gurkha Engineers at the Jungle Warfare School in Malaya in the 1960s where we used a TM70 with a small towed scraper which did the work okay. Track Marshall closed for business in 1990. Mick

Bryan, Yes, the D4Cs were on their way out then. A good tool in its day, for the smaller muck shifts. We had one in Thailand on the road and airfield and it never let us down. Mick

The name Kemp does ring a bell.

Here's a POM 0-2 course posing in front of the Cat D4C outside the PR&A Wing in 1986. I'm sat centre front row

Clive, Thanks for the input. Great image. Mick

The Cat outside the Ponderosa at Wainscott is a D6C with and 8 yard box sat behind but unreeved. The Cat D4C was at the bottom of the hill at that time outside the former Plant Roads & Airfields Wing. That's me in the image stood alongside. I was the Military Plant Foreman (MPF) running the plant training at the Ponderosa 1984-86. Happy days.

Mike, Many thanks for sight of the image. I hope the purification unit was as successful for the RAE as it was for the REs at that time. Mick

Mike, Many thanks. Any images? Mick