Richard Farrant

We had a few of these come through Workshops at the time, no special role for them, just a normal GS. I have a feeling they might have been a stop gap when the 2.5 diesel was suffering a lot of major problems in it early years. I do recall the V8 had SU carbs.

Hi Gwyn, As my PM, I will get you some Kodak moments of the old girl. regards, Richard

The old saying ... 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story'

hi Mike, It was never restored by the Workshops, they were only requested to fit dummy Lewis guns in to the sponsons, as you say, not 100% authentic, but better than nothing. This was done in-situ. The work on the rear end was done in recent years by a local business. I can be sure to say that it still stands on the original concrete that the sub station was on. It was actually in the middle of a square and you could drive right around it.

Hi Rob, I was invited to check out some kit that the museum wanted to dispose on in early 2000's and went up to Lodge Hill, problem was everything interesting was already allocated as I recollect. There was a Gainsborough and a Mk5 Coles / AEC there, think a Bedford RL workshop truck as well. Did look as though the vandals had got there first. Talking about the Michigan 275, in late 70's I changed an engine on one, a brand new Cummins, out of the crate. Some years later it came in again after working in the Falklands on the rock crusher for the airfield. It was so worn on the centre pivots I had to change the pin and bushes. No mean feat to separate the two halves and get back together.

Hi Rob, Looks like we posted at the same time! Do you know the approx. date of those photos? I was at Wainscott on a course in about 1980 and I recall a large crawler on show in the maintenance school building, which had been used for pushing tanks around, but thought it was a Vigor. Also while there I had to put the steering clutches back in an old D4 so it could be driven on to a plinth by an officer who was leaving.

I think the yellow one is an old CAT D8, with rubber track pads and it was used by an army workshops for pushing tanks around. Little one is a D4 I am sure.

Mike, The tank has never moved from the position it was parked in 1919. The photo of it arriving that I posted up will show you buildings in the background that are still there. I was at the Command Workshops and can say that 'we' only made the dummy guns, possibly around the early 80's. Part of a Lewis gun was loaned from Bovington as a pattern. I actually took it back to the museum. The rear end of the hull and exhaust system was done about 8 years ago by a local welder/fabricator as the Council thought it should appear more authentic (May have been a grant involved). When I accessed it, my acquaintance was putting in a quote, although he did not do the job. Painting the tank over the years was often done by RTR personnel as I recall. Not sure what battle damage there is on it as it was apparently a training vehicle. If you mean the cracked hull plates, this is due to stress, from rust build up in joints, and early armour plate was prone to this. Regards, Richard

Haulamatics ...... argh, bloody awful things to work on, much preferred the Aveling Barford (built by Thornycroft), a quality lorry.

Looks like a Marshall Gainsborough there, but when I worked on them they had a bucket not a blade. I had a military book some years ago with a photo of one and it seems it was designed by Daimler, that would account for the Wilson pre-select gearbox I suspect. I will not name the others, let someone else have a go.

Hi Gwyn, Sadly, I never thought to take a camera with me on that day. One other thing I can remember was that the internal lamps and wiring were still there inside the roof. Reason it took my notice was that I had been searching for some of these early Lucas lamps for a 1936 Vickers tank restoration, they were exactly the same. The inside was virtually gutted, when the sub-station was fitted, so no other good features to see, from what I recollect. There was a story that in the celebrations after the tanks arrival in St Georges Square, the crew had some liquid refreshment then drove the tank off up the road. I seem to think the story was in a local paper, will have to find out if it was true. The engine was thought to have gone to the man who built the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch miniature railway, without checking, I think it was Captain Howey. No more known on what happened to it.

Hi Paul, The Fiat Allis came later, the one shown is as described, a pure Allis Chalmers TL645, with an AEC 505 engine. I remember them well as I worked in the RE Bay of a REME Command Workshops from early 70's on and had a lot of experience in repairing them. They were replaced by the Terex 72-51 MWT with the screaming Detroit 6-71 engine, spent a lot of time working on them as well. regards, Richard

Hi Gwyn, I have lived in Ashford since 1961 and the Mark IV tank is regarded fondly. The inside was gutted in the 1920's to convert it into a electricity sub-station, there is no floor and the back end had the access doors. A few years ago the council decided to get the rear rebuilt in a more authentic appearance. I had good fortune to gain access as a fabricator acquaintance was submitting a quote to do the work. I do not know of any internal numbers but there are several photos of it being driven from the railway station in 1919 and it bears a number on the outside, if that is any help. You should make contact with David Fletcher, who used to work at the Tank Museum as they are well aware of it. One interesting point, I read that these tanks when gifted to towns (and there were a good many of them), had to have the internal drive chains removed to stop anyone trying to move it. Think the idea was there could have been a civil uprising. Well this one still has the chains intact. As for gaining access now, if the council says no then there is little chance. This photo is of it arriving at its present location in 1919 and the number 245 is also on it today. regards, Richard

Probably because the parking brake is inop

Not quite what I was thinking of. I Should think it is all one chamber. Is the tube a pick up pipe, ie, goes down to bottom of can? PO could be Post Office although they usually marked there equipment GPO.

Zoomed up the screen, but not clear. Is this a normal size 2 gallon can and does it have separate cap and chamber within? If so these were carried on cars in the pre-war times and were used for oil in one compartment and petrol in the other. Might be wrong but until picture is clearer, not sure.

Hi James, I have used this idea for about the last 40 years, when working on Alvis and Daimler military vehicles, but use a strip of paper, this will quickly disintegrate once the vehicle moves. This was a common solution that we used in the army workshops. regards, Richard

Note that the Czech Republic is an EU member

Mick I know what you are thinking, filler caps which are often on rocker covers can have a creamy emulsification, often called "mayonnaise". This is often due to short running and condensation in the engine, emulsifying in the top end. If you dipped the oil in these instances it would be fine. Now emulsified oil on the dipstick is more worrying as it can been either a coolant leak internally from crack or failed head gasket, the oil being whipped up on running. If this happened on a dry sump engine such as in a Ferret, Saracen, Stalwart, etc, yes the emulsifying would show in the tank as it is being circulated through the tank. Came on this once where a Stalwart owner bogged his vehicle and left it during a heavy rain period. The water had entered the crankcase through rear main and filled it. On starting it was quickly found that the quantity of water in the system was greater than the capacity of the oil reservoir and this creamy stuff was blowing out of the tank. The original poster said his Ferret engine was removed 10 years ago, so coolant would have separated from the oil in that period so this is why I suggested pressure testing the engine cooling system, not difficult to block up top and bottom hose connections and fitting a tyre valve and gauge.

The water pump will not be the cause of coolant in the oil. It might have occurred if the head had been removed and oil not changed, because it is quite possible someone could have lifted the head without draining the block down fully. Another possibility is that someone has poured coolant into the oil filler instead of rad filler, seen that done before. You could always pressure test the coolant system.

Norman Aish of Bygone Bedford Bits http://bygonebedfordbits.co.uk/ I am rebuilding a QL engine for a customer now, and have a quality gasket set from him.

A cracked distributor cap maybe .....

For interests sake, the Hollebone drawbar was named after Colonel J.E. Hollebone, REME, who was Commandant of the Recovery and AFV Repair Training Centre at Arborfield and originated around 1942.

The last photo is of an Austin K5 3 ton GS. I think there was one in gloss db green in the Wilts area at one time, no reg plates visible on photo though.

The first thing to do is to remove the large tin cover with about 15 screws holding it. From this you will be able to ascertain if it is in gear, and also the state of the bands on 1, 2, 3 and 4th gears. Richard