Richard Farrant

CW, As I said, the trident sign is 44th (Home Counties) Division, cannot pin down the 45 sign, but think it may be a red background so possibly a Infantry Regt. The word on the door would seem to be "Albuhera".........this fits, as it is a battle honour for the Middlesex Regt, who were in the 44th Div. Problem is, the badge on the grille, nearest I can find is the Lancastrian Brigade, which does not fit with the rest. I think it is a rose in the centre of the badge, which points to Lancs or Yorks depending on colour.

Is it an "in service" pic of M.L.'s station wagon?

Hi CW, The trident div sign is 44th (Home Counties) Division, the other sign might have a red background so looks to be an infantry unit..........am still searching.

Is it a model boat? Doh! Hanno has beaten me to it .

:-D:-D:-D One problem, Phil, it would not fit the shed anymore....and I would have to avoid low bridges Actually, there is only one photo I have ever seen, of this contraption and it is shown with out a body. Now to keep the C of G low, a loaded body would be have to be in the normal position, but then it would get water in the load. The whole project was another waste of time, but I suppose someone was trying to come up with a solution. One of my old work colleagues had been working at REME since the early 1950's and he used to tell of a Bedford 28hp engine that was mounted inside a water tank and run completely submerged, (think it was done for a display), so with the right preparations, it is much better to go for the easier idea. I suppose once the Giraffe had unloaded stores on a beach landing, it could have been be handed over to Recce Corps and used for recconaisance as they would be able to look over the hedgerows :rofl:

Hi Phil, According to Bedford's war history, there was only a prototype Giraffe. It would seem that waterproofing techniques negated the extremes of build lorries like that. It would be like driving a double decker bus from the top :shake:

Chris, Lydd Ranges. Might well have gone to the scrap man by now though. Over the years I have seen remains of Churchill and Daimler Armoured Car there.......all gone now. Also I surveyed a Mk1 Matilda which had been the target on a PIAT range long ago, parts of it were subsequently used on the running example at Bovington.

Good work.....now I can go back and rectify all my mistakes :confused: :tup::

Shot to pieces I can remember in the late Seventies or thereabouts, a load of these coming into the workshops on a train ( we had sidings there). The wheel stations were removed.........possibly engines and gearboxes as well, but never saw them so perhaps they had been removed already. Then they went to the local ranges.

Hi Nigel, I think my father said that at the time, it was a bit of an insult to have to apply for a medal, he did get a certificate, cannot find it at this moment, might be dated late '44, not sure. It was only in later years there was a campaign to get people to apply for medals.

Tony, My father was in the Home Guard. In the late Eighties he applied and received the the Defence Medal 1939-1945, don't think they were awarded any medal straight after their war service.

Tony, For your interest, as a Plant man, the CET has a system of suspension locks for when doing digging operations. We had one come in with problems in this department, years ago now. I do recollect it was a hydraulic ram in connection with the torsion bars in the bottom of the hull and the engine had to come out to access. I think it might have ended up as an internal ram leak on the piston as it would not stay locked.

Hi Steve, My Dennis book covers 2 1/2, 3, 4 and 6 ton models, the photo shows solid tyre chassis, no date on the book but the publication number is IB 262 if that is of help. Engine oils listed include Castrol AA, Double Shell, Motorine D and Vacuum A. For the gear box it says use 3 parts gear oil to 1 part lubricating oil, no mention of grades of gear oil and I think the lubricating oil means engine oil. For the rear axle it is a half and half mixture of gear and lubricating oils.

:-D:-D:-D Thanks for that Clive, very much appreciated :tup:: ( PS cheque is in post with your Christmas card)

I believe the company is presently dormant, so not currently supplying. They were a group with fingers in many pies at one time, so maybe operating in other fields and under other names.

:rofl::rofl: I know how to provoke a response from you, Clive :-D

Clive, I have called Humber Pig's that name when working on them at times

It looks like the crew are wearing fez's, so is it serving with the Aden police? I would say it is based on a Bedford RL, looking at the driving position. The first Malayan ones were built on CMP Fords or Chevs and the "snout nose" of those trucks might have been how the name Pig was started.

Piet, As can be seen, there were several contractors involved with these trailers, Arrow, Rubery Owen and Sankey. You have now narrowed it down to Rubery Owen, and it looks like it might have been experimental (?). I have Janes Vehicles & Ground Equipment catalogue for 1983 and the two wheeled trailers are listed, also the same photo as that in the centre of your page, with the walking beam type of twin axles. The text said it was a trial to use two axles, because as the single axle trailer was primarily for large generating sets, they could be difficult to man handle, were top heavy and unstable when set up on soft ground. I can vouch for the manhandling bit, because we used to get the 40kw sets in on these single axle trailers. Also the two axle trailer had a system to raise and lower the suspension for each axle, doing away with the need for a jockey wheel. If your trailer does not have this suspension lift system, I would look carefully, because it still could be a made up conversion. Unless more info can be found....... Your page photo is hard to read, but I just noticed the pic at the bottom, similar to yours is a 1 tonne capacity !!

Of course the dark stranger in the pub could have been the local coalman or a steam roller driver

I think you are right, the brewers picture is too prominent and for wartime too and I also thought he looked like a miner, hence my remark about him.

OK Piet, The last photo has given me a clue, from a detail on the drawbar, the trailer appeared to be based on parts from a 1 3/4 tonne widetrack Arrows trailer. I now think it is based on a similar trailer that carried generator sets, FV2406 Trailer Flat Platform 2.5 tonne, 2 wheeled. On looking at a MVEE vehicle guidebook, the following info; tyres ; 8.25R16 14 ply suspension; trailing arms with Aeon rubber springs Manufacturers; Arrow Construction Equipment Ltd, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 5TB also; Rubery Owen Warrington Ltd. GKN Sankey Ltd

I see my memory has deceived me here :-(.......so you do have points. Make sure the points are clean, no bits of grit from sandpaper between them, pass a clean piece of paper through them to check. Then I would try another spark plug before getting any deeper.

Without examining it, difficult to say, but my feeling is that it is made up from two ex-military Arrow widetrack trailers, the Sacol draught eye assembly fits this, as do the type of wheels, what I can see of the suspension and some of the features of the chassis. Looks a good usable trailer but not built for the military in that form, I agree with Adrian about the date, etc.

Hi Tim and Steve, Wonderful work you are doing, thanks for all the details and photos of progress. Talking about the possibility of oil leaks, would I be right in saying the gear oil would be thicker than SAE140, possibly 240 or thereabouts. I probably could answer this question myself as I have a manual for a very early Dennis somewhere :confused:, but would be interested to hear what you use in your WW1 lorries.