Jessie The Jeep

Been there and done that, but was way too much hassle and not worth the price difference for the lost fuel volume compared to just buying E5. That's why I buy E5 fuel, not E10. The E5 should have minimal ethanol, but in this case, the water absorbsion of the fuel suggested the pump had dispensed something other than E5.

Yes, typo.

Jeep Winter Photoshoot - December 15th A few days later on December the 15th, there'd been more snow, so I took "Jessie" the M201 out for a play in the snow. I waited until my daughter was home from school, as I knew I'd be in trouble if I went out in the snow without her! The late start meant we were out for sun set, catching a nice orange fireball sun contrasting with the white landsape. GPW Winter Photoshoot - December 24th Nine days later on the 24th, we had one more run out, this time in "Hope". By now the snow had all melted, leaving lots of flooded fields. Heavy rain had washed away most of the road salt, so we had a good 18 mile run around the country lanes in the area to give the Ford a longer test following the fuel system flush. Despite many railways cancelling their 1940s weekends due to the war in Ukraine, we ended up with a healthy season of events and outings.

Remembrance Day Tour - November 11th November the 11th was Remembrance Day, with Remembrance Sunday two days later. I took "Jessie" out again on the 11th, visiting five local war memorials, stopping at one for the two minutes silence. The Jeep was out again on the Sunday for the Remembrance service at the local church, which has one of the memorials in the church yard. Dodge Winter Photoshoot - December 9th As we moved into December and saw the temperatures dropping, I was hoping for snow. In its Flying Control scheme, the Dodge usually spent the winter in its shipping container storage, a few miles from home. The battery was normally removed for maintenance charging, and so the Dodge rarely ventured out in the winter months. Since moving to a house with a garage big enough for the Dodge, it was easily accessible and could be wintered in a roadworthy condition. It had never seen winter weather since its time in the Norwegian army, so I was really pleased to see snow start to fall on December 8th. It wasn't a heavy covering, but enough to be on the road by 09:20hrs on Friday 9th December. A local drive brought me my long awaited Dodge in the snow pictures.

Ford GPW Test Drive and Two Jeep Fuel Stop - October 16th In the middle of October, we took both Jeeps for a local run and fuel top up before the winter set it. I prefer to keep the tanks nearer to full over the winter to minimise condensation in the tanks, 'though the vehicles aren't hibernated. Colours of Autumn Jeep Drive - October 22nd A week later on the 22nd, I was on my own for the weekend, so took "Jessie" out for a colours of Autumn drive. A week later would have probably seen better colours, but the weather forecast for the following week wasn't great.

Ford GPW Test Drive - September 30th Work on the house and garden has eased a little, finally giving me some time to look at "Hope" the GPW, which had been hibernating since September 2021 with a rough running engine. On September 30th, the Jeep was ready for a test drive, so I went for a short run around the local lanes. All went well. Vehicle Wash and Photoshoot - October 1st The day after, I gave all the vehicles a jetwash, to get the dust and dirt from 2022 washed off. I had some paint touch ups to do and wanted them clean before I start splashing paint around. It gave me the opportunity to get all three vehicles together for the first time outdoors, since the Dodge was repainted last year.

Fishburn Airfield "Wings & Wheels" - September 17th Two weeks after Beamish, on September 17th, I took "Jessie" to the Fishburn airfield "Wings, Wheels & Living History" event. Bit of a breezy day, but plenty of displays to see, not just from World War 2. Tanfield Railway 1940s Weekend - September 24th & 25th One more week later, "Jessie" and "Faith" were out together again for the Tanfield Railway 1940s weekend. The last time we were there was 2019, but it has taken the railway some time to recover from the covid shutdown. Tanfield is the world's oldest railway, beginning life as a wooden wagonway in 1725. They are planning some special events for their 300th anniversary. Once each day, we took a convoy of vehicles down the main road to visit the station at the far end of the line for a coffee and cake stop.

Beamish "Dig for Victory" - August 30th ~ September 2nd The Beamish event itself was from September 1st to the 4th. As usual, we had the freedom to drive around the 350 acre site, setting up displays at various locations for a while, before moving on to somewhere else. This gave the public a dynamic, constantly changing display and plenty of convoys to see on the road. There's lots of period buildings for backdrops to pictures, most being in the town and pit village.

Ryhope Pumping Station NEMVC Rally - August 28th Over the last weekend in August, the North East Military Vehicle Club hosted their annual show at Ryhope Pumping Station - a Victorian steam powered water pump originally used to supply water to the local town. It was another day out for the Jeep and Dodge. It is now a museum, but the beam engine is still operated on open days. Here's a video from our 2018 visit Beamish "Dig for Victory" - August 30th~ Over the last couple of days in August, We got the Jeep and Dodge over to Beamish and our camp set up ready for the "Dig for Victory" show.

Land Army Photoshoot and Drive - July 20th July 20th was my daughter's last half day at school before the Summer holidays started. Since the weather was nice, we'd decided to go for a Jeep ride, screen down around the local lanes. Seeing that the crops were tall in the fields, we made it a Land Army photoshoot, stopping at a few places on route for pictures. Breighton Aerodrome - Vintage World Aerobatics Championship - August 19/20th A month later, over the third weekend in August, Breighton Aerodrome hosted the World Vintage Aerobatics Championship. Entries came from all over Europe and once again, we had glorious weather. "Jessie" was back there again and this time, after the event, my daughter had her first proper drive of the Jeep, up and down the airfield.

Breighton Aerodrome "Lancaster G - George" Day - July 16th Another two weeks went by , taking us to July 16th. It was time for the Breighton Aerodrome "Lancaster G-George Day", celebrating one of the Lancasters that was based at Brieghton during WW2. We had a small display by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster, the crew of which had postponed a trip to the International Air Tattoo, so they could fly for us. Saturday evening ended with the usual hangar party - and a Jeep drag race along the airfield, in the dark!! Not the fastest of races, but fun!!

Bowes Railway - June 26th In late June, it was the first opportunity to take two vehicles to an event. It was the Bowes Railway 1940's weekend. I missed Saturday due to being at a fly-in in Yorkshire, but "Jessie" and "Faith" were both out on parade for Sunday. Chester-le-Street Steam Fair - July 9/10th Two weeks later in early July, I had the Dodge at the Chester-le-Street Steam and Vintage Fair. On Saturday, the engine was trying to cut out during the parade lap. On Sunday, it wouldn't start at all. It turned out that the condenser had failed, which had only been fitted at the start of the season.

Plantinum Jubilee Street Party - June 5th The Queen's Plantinum Jubilee in early June, was to be celebrated by some friends with a street party. We weren't originally going to take the Jeep, but they were looking for things to make their house stand out. With the Red, white and blue RAF roundels added, "Jessie" seemed appropriately decorated for the occasion. Stannington Battle of Britain Day - June 18th A couple of weeks after that, we took "Faith" the Dodge North into Northumberland for the Stannington village "80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain". The sharped eyed will have realised that should have happened in 2020, but we all know what happened that year. Restrictions still hadn't eased enough in 2021, so the event was put back another year to 2022.

Heugh Battery - April 16th Our first event was at Heugh Coastal Gun Battery, near Hartlepool. This is Britain's only World War 1 battlefield, first opened in 1860. On 16 December 1914, a German Naval Fleet bombarded the coast. The leading German battle cruiser fired a shell which struck less than 100 metres from the battery. This marked the first death in action of a soldier on British soil in World War I. Durham Marketplace Nostalgia Day - May 2nd A little over two weeks later at the start of May, there was a gathering of vehicles in Durham City market place for their 1940s day. The thirteen vehicles were spread around the market place, so only a few show up in my pictures.

2022 would be the first full season for the Dodge in its new scheme, but I was down to two vehicles for most of the year. "Hope", our '43 GPW, had been running rough towards the end of the 2021 show and with our house move and all the things needing to be done on the new property, I just hadn't got the time to start investigating. Dodge Pre-Season Drive - March 27th While not a harsh winter, the roads through the village had been frequently gritted, so I didn't take any vehicles out until the end of March, where "Faith" the Dodge was given a pre-season run around some of the local country lanes. Test Drive & School Run - April 6th About a week later, I took "Jessie" the M201, on the school run. I'd recently done some maintenance and wanted a short run our to see that all was well.

That hut wasn't at Cassop, it was closer to Sherburn.

Another picture at the foot of Cassop hill before heading more towards home. We stopped off again near an old Nissen hut, which was probably moved and converted into a garage. I can't find any record of a military site at this location. From there we headed home for lunch. That puts about 28 miles on the Jeep over three trips, since the fuel tank was flushed out and it was returned to the road. All seemed well, although the brakes are pulling to the right ever so slightly. Something to adjust when the weather warms up.

Coming through Old Cassop, we passed a stable and donkeys, but no sign of a star, Mary or Joseph! Perhaps there was room at the Inn after all! We dropped down the other side of the hill and made a couple more stops for pictures.

Part of the route was a hill climb to Old Cassop, with a great view from the top of the hill. I should have tried to get here when it was covered in snow. A short video of the Cassop hill climb and a drive along sun set lane, later in the trip.

GPW Winter Photoshoot - December 24th Probably our last trip out of the year, my daughter and I took the 1943 Ford GPW out for an 18 mile run this morning. The GPW had been off the road from September 2021 to September 2022, due to a rough running engine. It turned out that most of the problem was due to water contaminated E5 Ethanol petrol. After the tank was drained and everything flushed through, I got the Jeep running again at the end of September. I made two short test drives and everything seemed ok, but wanted a longer run to check it out properly. That was done today. The trip took us along several roads we'd used on the first outing of the year in the Dodge. A rather cold finger day ( I don't like driving with gloves ), but nice and bright, with the low sun often in our eyes.

December 30th - M201 and Dodge Crane Photoshoot Throughout December, I built the "Field-mod" crane for the back of the Dodge and on the second last day of the year, we took the Dodge and M201 for a photoshoot with the newly finished crane. 2021 began with covid restrictions still in place and we were unsure whether there'd be any events. By the end of the year, things had turned around and we'd attended several great events, had all the vehicles garaged at home for the first time and had a new look Dodge that felt like having a new vehicle in the fleet.

November 14th - Remembrance Sunday Service The 14th was the second outing to Seaham for the Dodge and was a much cooler day. Mist hung over the memorial site but much larger crowds had gathered by the time we got there. Due to the larger crowds and parades, the vehicles were parked in the parking bays beside the memorial, rather than around it. The service was also much longer than on Thursday, with participation from veterans and several uniformed organisations.

November 11th - Remembrance Service and Memorials Tour I took the Dodge to the Seaham memorial for the 11th, meeting a few other military vehicles nearby, then driving in convoy to the memorial for the Remembrance service. Being fairly new to the Durham area, I decided to see what other memorials I could visit on my trip and searched the web and Google Earth before hand to plan a route. Including Seaham, I found eight memorials in villages around the area that wouldn't be too far out of my way to visit. A couple were visited on the way to Seaham with the rest on the return trip.

November 10th - Remembrance Day Preparations The Dodge still wouldn't fit in the garage with the canvas on, so I got it out the day before Remembrance Day to fit the canvas so it was ready first thing in the morning. At this point, I didn't have any straps fitted to hold the canvas rolled up, so worked out a temporary fix to allow me to see right while most of the roof could stay strapped down. All was set for the following day.

October 17th - Dodge Test Drive in New Colour Scheme The builders who were meant to be modifying the garage, never turned up in May or the rearranged date in August. I didn't want the Dodge outdoors over the winter, but with the wooden body, it wasn't going to fit through the door. If I couldn't modify the garage to fit the Dodge, what about modifying the Dodge to fit the garage? With the wooden body removed, the Dodge could just squeeze through the door, allowing the repaint. It had been in flying control colours since 2008, so it was time for a change. By mid October, the stripdown and repaint was complete and we went for a first drive in the new markings.