cordenj

Joris, I am very sorry to hear of your loss. Our thoughts are with you and your family. Corden Family.

Respray time: Good weather means ideal opportunity to undertake first part of respray of basic trailer frame and the seperate storage chest. I use a handy tree, Jeep and pulley to upend trailers when spraying; has worked before and did again with this heavier version. Refitted rod operated brake machanism and cleaned/repainted Andre Hartford dampers: This shot is for Richard: to show underarch frame structure: Refit the wooden decks, using BSW 1/4" Coach blts and square nuts: Next stage is to refit the plywood double lidded central storage chest, and then a final spray of wooden decking.

Wheel Bearings and Brakes: Sripping down the trailer really showed how well it had been greased..to such an extent that the brakes and drum were covered in it; the advantage being that all was very well protected and only needed to be cleaned/repainted before reassembly. One worn part was the outer wheel bearings. These were Timken brand "made in England", and for anyone restoring a British lighweight 10 cwt trrailer the outer wheel bearings are part number: 09074/09196. Now made in Canada. Again for future restorers of this type of trailer, here are some photos of the stripped and rebuilt brakes:

Nige, No sorry, dont own one. I have a semi-rotary type on my 100 gallon Water Bowser. These are photos I have gleaned over the years. Two of the photos are of Bedford MWC's...would need to find someone with one of these trucks to take measurements; there is one in a museum near Arnhem, and forum member "Tomas" has restored one near Prague and am sure would help with measurements, see: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?15406-Bedford-MWC-66144-water-tank but there must be one in UK. Just to tease, these pumps do still appear: dont know if you saw this thread on forum this weeK: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?29865-Can-you-identify-this-WW2-Trailer-Bowser Note the remains include the body of one of your pumps!

Nige, If you think the WWII pump is similar/same as the one on your water cart, here are some photos of this type of pump..may help with the pattern making: Cheers

I've been wondering about the pump used on this Water Cart. It does look of a similar design to the Differential pumps used on WWII Bowsers, is it possible that as it worked in 1918, the same pump design was carried on into 1940's? Anyway, below is a cut away drawing of the 1940's vintage Differential Pump with pressure relief valve, could be used to make a pattern for your Water Cart:

Ian, This is the Differential Pump: ..and this is one of the type of Filters used: Both from WO Code No 5460 Edition 1 1949. Good luck.

Ian, Interesting trailer. It still has the body of the Differential Pump bolted to offside rear corner, these are quite rare and were used on other water treatment bowsers. The main problem is that it is missing the rear Metafilter Bodies, these were clamped into the circular frames....rare to find and I know of several people looking for them.

Wheel Nuts: Unfortunately, the previously promised spare nuts were wrong size, so the scrapped Lightweight trailer they had been taken from must have had later studs fitted. So a simple job for the lathe. I measured an original nut = 0.71" across flats. So for anyone who wishes to make spare Lightweight trailer nuts the 18mm (0.70") Hex bar is a good alternative. This equates to 3/8" Whitworth socket. Original stud thread was 3/8 BSF and used 8.3mm drill to bore out bar for threading. 2 x new nuts and an original.

Hi Hans, As you probably know there has been requests about this trailer before on another forum five years ago: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/showthread.php?t=9822 The general form of the body with two folding curved lids and metal support brackets seems to have been used by linesmen and cable jointers for many years. This picture below of of a handcart at the excellent Amberley Museum's British Telecom exhibition: It has the a similar curved lid and steel brackets. I am guessing that they where to keep lids horizonal when open and form a working surface. A trailer very similar to your one was for sale in UK a few years ago, but it had a later towhitch and was being advertised as being post-war ex-Post Office Telephones trailer. These trailers appear to be designed to carry the tools and equipment for a cable jointer or linesman. I don't remember seeing one in the Marshall Collection at Overloon, and they seem to have a very good selection of the WWII engineering and cable/linemsmen's kit. As your trailer is plated as 1/2 ton rather than 10cwt it seems most likely to be postWWII.

Thanks Robin, I've now been promised two replacements by Ross. Also I've found a piece of 18mm (which I think is very close to the original imperial size) Hex bar as well, so can make some spares on the lathe.

Christmas, snow and a very busy Gritblaster has meant not too much progress over past few weeks. In cleaning the trailer to remove masses of grease (which has been a great preservative)...... .........the pressure washer lifted layers of post-war paint to reveal what I am sure is the original colour. Now, I am aware that there is still debate over what is the correct shade of green for British WWII vehicles in Northern Europe 44-45. It was officially known as SCC No15 Olive Drab, and said to be "similar" to US Olive Drab, but all the versions I have seen seem to appear much greener (I would recommend Dick Taylor's book Warpaint Vol.2 for a very detailed and well illustrated account of British Army Vehicles colours and markings 1939-1945). For several years I have used RR Motor Services version of British Olive Drab ( http://www.warpaint.co.uk/), in Eggshell finish. It seems to spray well and looks greener than US Olive Drab (as it should). I've had some comments that my trailers finished in this way appear too green......which is where I get back to the original colour on this REME trailer. Below are photos of an original painted panel (on left) and alongside a petrol can I'd finshed in the British Green I usually use. I know that digital camers can distort colours, but the panel was really bright green, you can also see a small patch of the post-war paint by the rust patch. Note also how carefully it was originally applied.....curtains of paint, not just a run. Could the original colour have been effected by the later layers of paint? What do you think? I can imagine the comments if I matched the respray to that bright green! I got the call from John at MJK Blasting that he could do the work over the weekend, so on Saturday morning took the stripped trailer behind the Jeep with the hood down to his workshop near Lingfield ....lovely crisp winter morning with -9C on the garden thermometer. John has done a great job and primed the bare metal. I collected it later today. Some photos: Unfortunately two wheel nuts have disappeared in the process, so if anyone has two spare 10cwt wheel nuts, please make contact. Thanks

Hi Phil, Welcome and I also enjoyed the LR talk at Dartford, especially having fun witht he new Evoque owner!

Hans, Two more good finds. INteresting that one has had replacement wheels; also like the cast brass (?) dataplate. Most of those I have seen are stamped brass or just stamped steel. Look forward to seeing the restoration progress. Cheers,

Hi Hans, Welcome to the forum. How is the Electrical Repair Trailer progressing?

Eveing Joris, It is bound to be repeated, but can you access BBC iPlayer in the Netherlands?

Should be worth watching. Stoke up the fire and get a glass of malt...

10cm+ snow overnight in Reigate. Shame it is overcast but perfect for the Jeep...

Hi, It is interesting that several 10cwt trailers for restoration have appeared in last couple of months. Not sure if you have seen it, but there is a lot of info on this thread: http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?26752-British-WW2-10-cwt-GS-Trailer Your trailer has the early "barrel shaped" hitch, and welded lugs for the folding handles, which I think makes it a Mk1 GS version. John

Hi Arjan, A good find. The Towing-Eye and Pull pin Box, together with the folding handles and main chassis spine look exactly like the drawings in the Illustrated Spare Parts List (WO Code 13464 which replaced, but kept same many of same drawings as those in 1949 vintage WO No5460); so I would say they are defintiely of WWII date....probably from a relatively early date as that type of towing-eye seems to have been used most in the early Mk.1 versions of 10cwt trailers. Looks like the wheels are 6-stud but difficult to tell for certain from the photo; I see what you mean about the wheels though as you'd expect them to be the usual pierced design, but even if they have been changed by Belgian army post-war, it still looks be be an interesting 10cwt G.S. trailer. The steel bracket and support at the front is unusual, looks like a post-war modification for a spare wheel. Very good idea! Cheers John

David, I don't know about GS trailers...but the Lightweight Electrical Repair trailer has pine boards. Top surfaces reasonably well finished , but the undersides are surprisingly roughly sawn; that is, considering how much time and effort had been spent on building the rest of the trailer. Like you I was surprised at ash. The ideal wood for wide boards was Elm (wasn't hat always the favoured timber for coffins?).....but much more common in 1943 then now. John

Hi Robin, Quite a co-incidence that you served with 100 LAD...as did this trailer! Please pass on any photos you think they might be interested in and if there are any more they want to see, let me know. It would be interesting to hear any accounts from them of where/how the trailer was used during their time. Cheers, John

Two More Pieces for the Jigsaw: 1. I posted before in the thread about tracking down the original Black & Decker Type 20 drill press, and the continuing search for an appropriate 1940's B&D drill. Ebay again has recently been the source...for 99p. Although it is a 240v model rather than a 110v DC, I think it still looks the part: 2. Possibly even more of a coincidence is finding that Robin (Artificer) had a correct size WWII dated battery box that he was happy to pass on to the restoration; he brought the box over today and it fits perfectly. Thanks Robin. By any chance....does anyone have another box like this for sale? : Jnc