Richard Farrant

Sorry for the lapse here, but to continue where I left off, we had left Fenton Airfield and were moving on to Adelaide River, our stopover of two nights. Most of the convoy were camping on the showground and racecourse, but we were booked in to the Adelaide River Inn ( think possibly the beer was better / colder there ). There were motel like rooms at the rear of the pub. We went straight there and booked in to dump our kit and have a beer. I went to make use of the facility in our room and lifted the lid to see a green frog in there :shake:. Was a bit worried what else might be in the room after that! I noticed two army wreckers hidden under the trees beside the pub, that evening some of the crew were in the pub and we had a few ( read many! ) beers with them. They were part of the exercise, memory a bit dim now, but think they might have been supporting umpires vehicles. Anyway one of the Recy Mechs had been on exchange to the British Army and stationed at Windsor. Knowing a Recy Mech there at that time it broke the ice so to speak. Next morning we were to visit the Adelaide River War Cemetery, there only two war cemetries in the country. This one is for the civilians and service personnel who were killed in Darwin raids and surrounding area. A bugler played the Last Post and wreathes were laid with the padre giving a speech. After several weeks in rough scrub and desert it was nice to be in beautiful surroundings, with well kept grass and beds around the grave stones. After leaving the cemetery, I spotted a water buffalo in a paddock nearby, it turned out he was a film star, and called Charlie. He had appeared in the Crocodile Dundee film. Later we visited a motorcycle museum in the township, it was great to see a lot of old British bikes there, that were familiar to me. Went for a drive up the hill overlooking the showground and found the remains of a scrap dump with Chev and Ford engine parts half buried in the ground, whether it dated to wartime activity I do not know, but quite likely. The evening was taken up with an event hosted by the Coomalie community council and the showground society for us at the showground, with an excellent meal. We were presented with a certificate to commemerate the event. An auction took place to sell off remaining convoy number plates. Another Kangaroo Court was held, around this time, something happened that could have put another convoy member in line for a K Court appearance ( luckily that was the last court to take place ). At the showground was a starters tower for the horse race course and two persons who will remain nameless, climbed the tower in the darkness and proceeded to relieve themselves from a great height :-D......one of the Army team saw what happened and I am certain it was a close call for them. After that, we went back to the Inn and had a few more beers before turning in, it would have been rude not to . The next day we were to make our way to the small town of Batchelor where we were to spend the night, it was a convoy free day, being a relatively short run of 40 kms and a few wartime sites to explore on the way. The first was Snake Creek Explosives Storage Area, originally built for the Navy. We wandered into Batchelor to find chaos reigning! The nights camp was to be in the Caravan Park, but the manager had thrown a real wobbler, despite all the arrangements being made in advance. One story was that an early arrival of the group had complained about ants dropping from the trees above his pitch. The police had been called and talk of a 9pm curfew. Other arrangements were going to be required, so we pushed on to Howard Springs and spent the night at the caravan site, in a tent. As plans were upset, we had to make other arrangements for the evening so a few of us went to a local bistro for a good meal. Last leg into Darwin to follow, along with more photos, when I sort them out.

Hi Paul, Just thinking I ought to resume the journey, thanks for the nudge :tup::

Howard, This is a Brockhouse trailer, not a Dyson. census no's X4651176 to 4651182, and X4655101 to 4655200, Trailer, 3 ton, 4 wheeled, Type "R"

Hello Jack, Is that the ACV that Bob Dimer was restoring? It looks great.....please pass on my regards when you next speak to him (we were both on BTTT and Trackers 2000) Richard

Hi Keith, That Morris CS8 with the bumper, is an early one, pre-1939, bumper was discontinued later. Note it also does not have WD divided wheel rims, but the earlier type with spring ring retainer, often called the "three piece rim".

Clive, Have you bugged my house, how did you know I was doing that? Uncanny :shake:

Hi Steve.........have you recovered now ? :-D sorry CW

Nomenclature; Unit, Fumigation, Clothing (only a wild guess here) In use; 1950's Where; Malaya

Warm, eh? What about a fumigating unit for clothes?

No, but I can see an old goat :rofl:

OK here goes........... Is it a Field Launderette, with combined seat to wait on?

Would'nt mind betting he is on this forum :rofl:

Hi Jules, I see the body was built by Morris Commercial, from the Contract plate. From what I can see of the Contract No., it does not match up with any Morris Comm vehicle contacts, so may well have been made specifically for the WOT2 ( Austin built bodies for Bedfords, so not unlikely). Re. your starting problem, the "choke", which Solex call a starter, is on the side of the carb, if correct carb is fitted, it is two stage and if correct cable is fitted, the knob has to be twisted slightly after first pull, and pulled further to get the full choke. I have found some engines require max. choke, then once fired, return to half choke. The control cable catches people out with the second stage.

I well remember the CA, where I was an apprentice, our fleet was mainly Bedfords for the first few years, we even had a CA truck with gantry crane on, like the Austin K6 only smaller. None had heaters and we would have to go out on field service throughout the year :shake:. Now you say, yes the rattle does come to mind.

Yes, great is'nt it? And we get to talk about all sorts of old rubbish (CF's :-D)

Think we went a bit off-topic ..........no one gave us the :nono: :-D:-D:-D

Thanks Dave, all I could find was Granada, for the police. Also the 4wd Bedford CF was built with FF design, don't think it had any military use though :confused:

Thanks Mark.

The breather being inop, would result in pressure build up, and if the pinion seal is not leaking then it puts pressure on the hub seals. Strictly speaking, a hub seal leak should not get on the brakes, because of a shield arrangement in the hub which funnels any leak away and out through the backplate, but these holes could be blocked with mud and paint, so make sure they are clear.

I am sure that is the wagon with tank that was at Beverley museum.

Thought I had better reply as you might turn in tonight, with the hump, because no one is responding to your posts :-D Keep 'em coming, interesting stuff there.

Rippo, That stud is the breather and should be at the top of the axle, check if the top hole goes right through, if it is a blind hole, then fit the stud in the second hole down. The other point you show, is the end of one of the bolts holding diff bearing cap in place. Seems odd for it to leak, unless bolt is not tight. If you remove cover and bolt, to seal the threaed, don't take both bolts out, do one at a time.

Industrial Fordson, probably used for moving railway stock or bump starting reluctant buses

:tup:: cheers Les

Reckon it is a old Militant cab/chassis going for export with a spare cab on the back :confused: