utt61

One challenge remains, however. How do we cut a 5/8" square tapered hole through the centre? Any advice would be welcome!

Could you use spark erosion? I have had a number of odd-shped holes made in various objects over the years by a friend of mine (now long retired, unfortunately) who worked as a tool-maker and had access to a spark erosion machine.

A one-off 1/2" drive deep socket to fit an unusual splined fitting, and a 1/2" female square to 13/16" female square adaptor are two examples which spring to mind. I was unfamiliar with the technique until he used it, but the holes are extremely accurate and the splined socket is a complex shape.

The bug bear in this is 'resting' time. Defined as time that you dispose of as you wish.

So what happens if you are self-employed? Then you can dispose of the time as you wish, which may be choosing to work.

Several years ago, probably around 1990, there was an open day at Cardington which I went to. At that time, one shed was used for storing cars for distribution and the other (the open one) was used for fire research. There was a five story (IIRC) block of flats built inside it at that time for fire research, which didn't even approach the roof of the structure.

I did take quite a lot of photos of both the inside and the outside of the sheds which I will try to find. Unfortunately this was in the pre-digital age so it will take a while to sort through many boxes of prints.

In you ever get the chance to visit these structures then jump at it - the sheer size will take your breath away!

Just had to drive to Salisbury and back from Blandford - there's a lot of traffic starting to build up on the A350 for the fair, and all the usual roadside laybay/junction campsites are well occupied. Anyone heading in from the south be advised that there were temporary lights just being put up in Pimperne (between the site and the Blandford bypass) for a burst watermain - hopefully they will fix it quick and get rid of the lights before the bulk of the traffic.

Coming south from Salisbury I passed a Constructor and Milly running in convoy heading for the fair, no doubt members of this forum. Very nice looking vehicles both, and thanks guys for pulling in to let the traffic past, it was much appreciated! Apart from anything else, it let me see what was at the front of the queue.

Main site is now really busy even though I don't think they're letting anyone imn until tomorrow.

Looking at the weather forecast's it looks like it is going to clear up on Friday and then we could well be in for a dry spell. With plenty of experience of Dorset if we can get a good day of dry weather then the ground usually firms up again. Lets hope so anyway!

Looking out of the window at the moment it is hard to imagine that this will happen, but fingers crossed! If it does dry up, it could be a good one since I doubt it will be too dusty.

It is certainly good to seen the preparations well under way - the site is a hive of activity at the moment and the marquees are now up.

Doing the heavy Haulage section again, but first year without Antar for 13 years. Taking down the Douglas as a winch vehicle and hoping for Rain, Rain and more Rain ( I love winching).....

Mike, looks like your wish will come true. I work adjacent to the site and all this week it has been belting down, and at this rate it will be one of the muddiest GDSFs for years. Even if the rain stops it is hard to imagine that it will have dried up by next week.

That is exactly what it was, many thanks! I mistook it for being welded because it wasn't too easy to see (being in the mud in the woods and dusk) and the radius along the 'join' between the tube and the flange looked a bit like a fillet weld (at least that is my excuse and I'll stick to it). Being cast also explains the 'bead' along the edge.

So by the sound of it this was really just a heavy-duty alternative axle tube.

Thanks.

I was looking at a rather nice Matador timber tractor last night and noticed that the front axle had a modification - a continuous web was welded the full width of the axle to strengthen the casing, from swivel to swivel and under the diff. It was a very professional job, the web was flat but with a beaded lower edge, and it wasn't quite vertical - it sloped forwards slightly. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera so no pictures are available, and I didn't note any of the serial numbers etc off the vehicle.

I have never seen a Mat axle quite like it. It looked to be too good a job not to be original, and the owner had been told that it indicated that the Mat may have started life as an air-portable vehicle.

Can anyone tell me more? Anyone seen anything like it?

Would appear from this site the LST HMS Stalker is currently being dismantled.

 

http://www.transportbritain.co.uk/risklist.html

 

Sadly looks like this one is a goner.

 

Mike

My goodness that list makes depressing reading! Don't we save any historic ships in this country? (Well, yes, of course I know we do, but with all the millions being pumped into useless things - like the Olympics - what a shame that we can't save some of these irreplacable vessels). I well remember HMS Bronington, and didn't actually know any "Ton" class vessels still existed.

The earlier talk of the problems of raising HMS Landfall brought to mind a book I read some years ago, which was fascinating and I can recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about the problems of marine salvage. The book is "Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor" by Daniel Madsen, and is an account of the task of recovering the sunken US ships and re-opening Pearl Harbor after the 'day of infamy'. Very interesting, and still available via Amazon and no doubt others.

Never used nor come across one (although Lynwood terminals were used extensively in BT from the 1980s).

Googling "Lynwood RP6200" does comme up with this URL:-

http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?ID=950179&SessionID=U0daW6MVEdFT6z7

...which says (on page 22) "Lynwood's products include the RP6200, a rugged, portable PC based on standard COTS technologies and designed for desktop use or rackmounting. The unit is ruggedized and its specification allows flexibility in configuration to meet specific project requirements. The RP6200 is also designed to meet the intermediate TEMPEST standard. The unit can be configured with the latest Intel Pentium processor, removable disk drives and a highly readable LCD color display. The unit is in active use with armed forces in Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom. The RP6120 is a fully sealed, non-air breathing variant of the RP6200, designed to operate in the harshest of environments. It has all the features of the RP6200, in addition to which it will operate in driving rain, excessive humidity, salt fog and heavy dust environments. The unit is designed for use in desert, tropical and jungle environments."

This appears to have been written in 1995, and from the descripton of the technology I would say it was fairly new then.

HTH.

If the spectators were members of the public who had paid to attend, and if one or more of them been killed, then by now the event organisers would be facing manslaughter charges.

Based on the evidence of the video and the comments in this thread, I cannot see that the organisers would have any reasonable prospect of an effective defence to such charges.

Risk management for an event like this now (in these times of profligate litigation) would be an absolute nightmare, but there would have to be procedures in place for protecting members of the public (and in fact other exhibitors) from ill-conceived actions of exhibitors. There is no evidence of this.

This incident is a good example of a "near miss" that could so easily have had catastrophic results for any victims, for the organisers, and for the MV hobby as a whole. Best that we all reflect on what happened, what could have happened, and make sure that next time the lessons are heeded.

Thank goodness everyone walked away unharmed.

I accept that there are unlikely to be any practical problems - I can't see the LR causing you to lose control! Legal problems are a whole different ballgame!

Unfortunately now common sense has been made illegal anything can happen.

As the Landrover is over the unbraked trailer weight limit, how did you operate the brakes?

That would have been much appreciated. You haven't got a set of Wheels and Tracks that need to go to a good home have you?:whistle:

I do miss Wheels & Tracks! A complete run sits on my shelf, I am only sorry that the last editions were never sold in a bound volume. One day I must get them bound.

Going back to Utt61, don't weld circular saw baldes. A lecturer at college who'd been an acident inspector had photos of such event. One pice was found two hundred yards away, fortunatley it had ben stopped, just, by a large oak tree.

Now that reminds me of the day in the school workshop (it was quite a long time ago) when someone wound a job into the surface grinder without engaging the magnetic chuck first. The workpiece was propelled the length of the building and ended up sitcking out of the end wall. A sobering experience, especially for those who felt and heard it whistle past! Fortunately there were no injuries.

Somehow I can't imagine youngsters today be allowed near some of the machinery we used to use. And there were no machine guards then (at least I don't remember ever using them if there were)!

Hitting your own knee very hard with a 5lb hide mallet makes your eyes water and makes normal perambulation difficult for several months (don't ask - it involved a landrover chassis, a stubborn steering relay, and a dog)! it also for some reason gets little sympathy from the family.

I did one see someone in a BT exchange short out the main power busbar with a 1/2AF spanner. We never found the spanner although the idiot was miraculously undamaged (Darwin would probably replace "miraculously" with "tragically"). The busbar in question was -48VDC but was supplied (breakerless) from two parallel 2000A rectifiers; the spanner blew out like a flashgun.

In my youth I was once involved in a cave rescue (as part of the rescue team, I should point out) to bring out some who had fallen during a climb whose wedding ring had caught in a crevice on the way down. Amongst other injuries, the ring finger was flayed to the bone with the flesh bunched up round the nail. The finger was amputated. It still makes me squirm, more than three decades later.

During training for the mountain/cave rescue first aid certificate I used to have (it expired long since) one of the training exhibitits was a series of photos plus X-rays of a guy who had been walking down the road, not paying attention, and walked into the end of a length of rebar projecting from the back of a truck. It went clean trough his head and out the other side. He was still conscious when they cut the rebar and took him to hospital, and made a full recovery with little permanent damage. The ultimate piercing perhaps!

Life is full of hazards; enjoy every day when one doesn't befall you (says the man who ruptured something in his back picking up a Trewhella monkey winch yesterday and this morning accidentally came downstairs on his arse).

It didn't get any better post war either attached views show centurions being gauged at Longmoor Military railway.

 

This may be the last posting from this source as the society has been given 3 days to vacate it's storage site and the contents are being dispersed mainly to Greenwich Heritage centre and possibly the RA Museum. Luckily the rubbish remains rubbish, but its the remainingdamned good content that has to be kept, so i shall fight on

Alan,

I don't suppose you have any more photos of the Ransomes & Rapier crane (seen in the background in many of these pictures)? If you do, I would love to see them!

Interesting that the wagons being loaded in this sequence appear to be metre-gauge, and definitely not for UK use. Do you have any background info on what is actually going on and why?

Thanks for posting such fascinating pictures, and good luck with your task to save such valuable information for the future.

Roger

Back in 1977 when the Jubilee festivities were taking place, my father thought it would be appropriate to fly two family heirloom flags from his cottage (near Alton, Hants). Sad to say they were both stolen on the first night.

Both were ex-RN. One was a Union flag and the other a Red Ensign (not sure why the RN had a red ensign, but I am assured that it was ex-RN) and were the size of the one stolen at the weekend. We never did find out what heppened to them.

There are indeed some people amongst us who really have forfeited the right to be treated as civilised.

Done this on a Series One (similar as far as I know) and the only downsides to what you propose are:

1) you will need consider the brakes (on a drum braked LR you would have to disconnect the brake line and bleed afterwards but on a disc braked one you may be able to remove and tie back the caliper)

2) if you remove the complete hub/brake/swivel/halfshaft assembly as one piece it is a big and heavy lump (and it bends in the middle). There are risks to fingers etc.

That being said, it is the way I would do it if I had to.

HTH.

Clive,

Awesome, many thanks! Please feel free to post any more you may have!

I really think that the 8x8 Unipower is one of the best looking military trucks of recent times.

The rear 3/4 view of the TBT with the bridge on test is especially impressive.

Thanks Clive!

Looking forward to the photos, I love these trucks.

I remember towards the end of production in Watford going on a tour of the production facilities. Very impressive indeed. Shame that the tank transporter wasn't selected in the end.

Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the Unipwer TBT currently in service with the British army?

I don't know when they'll be withdrawn from service or what will happen to them when they are, but I would love to acquire one. I suspect that it is well overwidth for civvy operation though.

Realistically I doubt that there'll be much chance to get one's hands on one anyway, but it's a nice dream!

I entirely forgot to add to my previous post how fascianting is the history that you have found about this project! Personally I find that researching the history of an artefact, especially one that has as much history as this, is every bit as satisfying as the restoration itself and really helps add relevance to the project. Thank you for sharing it with us, and the best of luck with the restoration. I am really looking forward to future installments....

Seeing they used at least one other French-inspired name, APREZVOUS, or "after you", could ANNOUS have come from "à nous"? This tentatively translates as "for us" or "to us".

 

I wondered if this could be the case. There was a fairly famous 1931 film entitled "A nous la liberte" but it doesn't have much military connection (about convicts excaping from prison), alternatively perhaps "a nous la victoire" (literally "victory to us") might well have been a topical battle-cry (this latter was the French title for the 1981 film "Escape to Victory").

Overall I think this is more plausible than the 'back passage' derivation!

Not so long ago I met a convoy of these coming towards me on the narrow windy stretch of the A31 just west of Wimborne, presumably en-route to Bovington. Very imposing, especially when they are 3 feet or so wider that their half of the carriageway. There were (as I recall) five of them carrying sheeted loads which appeared to be Challengers.