Richard Farrant

Neil, Here is one that used to frequent the shows in Kent, since the early 1980's. It is a TS19 model.

Captain Birdseye ? :rofl:

Radek, Only different shot is this one from the other side, hope it helps.

Hi Radek, A friend also took some photos and emailed to me, I will check to see if I saved them, and post any from a different angle.

Neil, Tilling Stevens made trucks for the army during the 1930-40's, specifically for searchlights. The truck could be brought to a halt and the searchlight immediately powered up by the dynamo which powered the truck. They were built in Maidstone. There are a few in preservation, two TS19 trucks used to be seen at rallies in the South of England, owned and restored by a gent from East Kent. On demob they found favour with fairground operators for obvious reasons. There was a later model, called a TS20 searchlight truck, but I seem to think this one had a conventional gearbox, but had a generator driven by the engine for the light. I will have some photos here somewhere and post them up.

Not bought a drum lately, but would think with oil prices rising, not much different to the one you found. To drain system, drain off brake system from you damaged hose, the motor oil will not have got very far through brake system as the oil does not circulate around it only pressurised from twin control valve. The steering system circualtes. Take top of reservoir and remove filter, pump out the tank and refill, this will thin out any remainiing 30 in the system. You will have to bleed all the brakes and purge air out of steering, this is done by getting front four wheels off the ground and working steering lock to lock. Don't forget what I said about bleeding air from pump, before starting engine. You really should get hold of the workshop manuals for the Saracen, they are known as EMER, covering all levels of maintenance and repair.

That looks OK, .........I use Morris Lubricants Liquamatic No.1, which is also ISO10. Don't forget you can use this in the fluid flywheel as well.

Mark, I am looking a the TTC catalogue, Truck and Trailer Components, the palm couplings are either Metric or BSP. Would think the Brockhouse has BSP fittings unless someone has altered it, so you would be needing UK Palm Coupling. I suggest you go to one of the commercial vehicle factors, guess Maidstone is nearest, LCP are a good firm to deal with and they can quiclky get parts from other depots if necc. Just tell them your truck is VOR and its urgent :-D

OM13 and SAE30 are both mineral oils, so no real harm done in this case, except that the 30 is too thick a viscosity. It should not have got to the brake cylinders so far, so if all the oil is purged through the blown hose, that will get rid of a lot of it, problem is that it has circulated the steering system.By the time the system is refilled with ISO 10 grade hyd. oil it should have thinned out.When you refill the reservoir, before you start the engine, release the bleeder screw on top of hyd. pump and wait for the oil to come out of it, tighten up and then run. If you do not do this, there is danger of the pump running dry due to an airlock.

Hi Radek,Here is a photo of a newly restored Austin K2 RAF tender, I am pretty sure the body is the same as the K30. I do not know the owners name but he also has a K2 ambulance. Vehicle was at Military Odyessy event.

There will have been a few visitors to Odyessy who went away bewildered then .........

You will be better off to call Richard Banister, on 01797 253211 (working hours), he will have the proper hoses, and I would say, probably cheaper than having one-offs made. If it is any consulation, it has happened to me twice on different Saracens, not moving on either occasion, just charged the accumulaters, engine not running and foot on and off the brakes to relieve system pressure.........big whoosh :-D...and oil everywhere

There was one of these on charge to Lydd Ranges. We always knew it as the Rover with the Carlos Fandango wheels ( you are showing your age if you remember the advert )

Think you will find that the term "lock and load" dates back before the modern gun.

It is a term that dates from the old percussion type of weapons, ie, lock the hammer back, fill the chamber with powder and put the cap on.

Hi Bubba, The front axle was a CMP, Chev I think, as the engine did not appear to have been altered, I doubt the conversion went as far as changing the chassis, as all that was required was to locate a transfer box behind the gearbox. I understand that it was done because the film company were worried that vehicle would hold production up if it kept getting stuck. Also I seem to have in the back of my mind, two names of companies involved with film vehicles at the time, Bapty and Thornes and seem to think one of these were involved with the conversion. Wheels are the normal WD divided rim and are correct.

She would have been a bit young to depict a nursing sister, Hayley was born in 1946, film released in 1958. The actress was Diane Clare, the other Sister was Sylvia Sims.

Hi Mike, During the war, it was usual to have only one headlamp fitted, on the nearside. The rim and glass were replaced by a blackout mask.

Mike, I have come across this photo on the web before, I think it is a still from a movie, definitely not a WW2 photo from North Africa. The C8GS did not appear until 1944, and the truck in foreground has both headlights and no blackout masks. Reckon you found it on MLU forum?

Damned horses they drop it everywhere :argh:, at least the roses around the clubhouse will benefit

Tony, There is an advert for a WC54 on Milweb, a signals van version. Seller is from Luxembourg, the number plate resembles a Guernsey one, ie no prefix letter and five numerals. Perhaps someone has been mistaken? :???

That would be very doubtful............an OB was only supplied as scuttle and bonnet, it was the bus or coach chassis. I would think that if this was a tanker cab, then it is from an OL, the Army had a lot of these tankers in storage, they were built around 1950 with very low mileage on the clock when disposed of and were still like new.

Hi Jack, I can top your Avengers.........when I got home tonight, two Typhoons were circling over my neighbourhood for about 10 minutes........ sadly they were not Hawker Typhoons, but Eurofighter Typhoons

I would say it is a Bedford OXC with semi-trailer, they were often used on railhead work and there is another semi-trailer standing in the background as well.

Hi Tony, Good info once again :thumbsup: Just to add a bit from my experience, from previous employment with Army, carrying out repairs and annual load tests of winches and cranes. The safety factor of winch ropes was 2:1, where as lifting equipment it is 5:1. Despite thoroughly inspecting ropes before functional testing winch to check and adjust the cut outs, it was not unknown for ropes to fail. This could be due to stress on a previous use, which will not be visible to the eye, and breakage could occur at well under the working load limit. Once, before I took on the testing, I saw where an AEC 10 tonner cargo undergoing a cut out test, had broken a rope at the vehicle end, the rope had launched back to the anchor point and was hanging in a nearby tree, placing a blanket on the rope would have been of no use at all.