Richard Farrant

Sean / Protacman, with Fox, Cheiftain and Acmat, he was camped next to me, had a chat with him when marking out and you came over to see me. Unless I have got him mixed up with someone else :confused:. So many people there from around the world, no wonder I'm confused.

What about Sean from Ireland? Thought he was a forum member, a lot further away than Belgium.

Rick, I would say that the bottom photo could have been taken at Rex Cadmans collection, .....there is a clue in the picture. They are likely to be the rare Churchills unearthed a few years ago on an army training area near Folkestone.

Tony, Would that have been an Athey? They made tracked trailers.

I can vouch for what Clive is saying here. With one of the seals being very hard to obtain now, it is foolhardy to try and fit the hub without the sleeve. I did supply the dimensions to a few owners years ago so they could get there own made. The inner end of the sleeve had a lip turned on it to protect the inner seal.

Hi Vince, In the distant past I carried out the mods on changing from Hardy Spicer drive shaft to the present Layrub coupling type on a lot of CVR(T) models. This also involved changing the engine mountings at flywheel end. I do not know if the EMER has ever been updated re. the Layrub couplings, but it is extremely important for the engine and gearbox to be aligned as these couplings do not like running out of line, similar problem to the old Scammells. I have seen these rubber couplings literally melt with a line of rubber thrown up the hull sides, if they were out of line. There was a tool we had for checking alignment of centre of crankshaft to centre of gearbox shaft, never encountered problems with belt tensioning to my knowledge. regards, Richard

No, much further afield than that, and it was in 1995. We are loading the wagons in Sydney Central Station. Imagine doing that in Charing Cross or Kings Cross, it would never happen here . What was even more amazing was that we loaded and strapped the vehicles, no railway staff worrying us. At stops, we would go down the train rechecking the straps. There is a long story to tell about this and a brief post would not do it justice, another forum member also took part, joining the train at Melbourne. Might have to write the story up, loads of pics.

Like this ? A sort of "war on line" event, this was a 7 day railway journey, plus a couple of stop over days.

The first photo is of the REME Museum's Bedford QL Machinery truck at MVT Southsea show, think it was 1989. Second photo of the Museum's Austin K6 Gantry along with a Scammell Medium at Parham Steam Rally around 1993

OK Graham, I will go through the archives and find some.

Jules, Before the new REME technology museum was built at Arborfield, all the vehicles were kept at Bordon, which was not freely accessable to visitors. A good few of those vehicles would go out to quite a number of shows around the South, on occasions, I have taken some, Explorer and Austin K6, from memory. The MVT Southsea show usually saw a very large display, from Sherman BARV, Conqueror ARV, Pioneer, Explorer, Leyland Heavy, Ward La France, Antar, AEC Medium, Bedford QL workshop, International halftrack recovery, Austin K6 gantry, etc. The turnout for Beltring used to be large as well. I understand that once the new Museum was opened, some of these vehicles were then displayed so no reason to take them out anymore, as there was now public access. Funding is always a major problem and as with other regimental museums, there is a lot of beg, borrow and favours, I know, having done restoration work while working in the "system", so to speak.

Les, In early 70's, the Leyland dealership was still Sparshatts of Portsmouth, later changed to Wadham Stringer, then Caffyns. The firm I worked for was opposite side of the road and it was not unusual to see an Explorer on test. Once saw a WW1 AEC Y-type drive out, which was part of Jack Sparshatt's collection.

Sorry Mark, Bit early for me on a Sunday.....I was only there because Bernard (Gritineye) came over and reminded me, had to borrow brother's jeep to get up there. We will catch up, and talk about the early days of Beltring, Southsea, etc. Richard

I am in the back row, with white shirt, next to Tootallmike. Clive Elliott is just to right of me, in black shirt Richard

Don't blame me :-D :idea: We will call his Champ, the Popemobile

The colour of the jerrican reminds me of a similar colour used on clothing by members of the Clergy. Perhaps this is a Padre's Champ.............and the can contains holy water

Great pictures, Clive ! I saw the girls driving round a few times, they reminded me of photos of my Mother's days in the WLA, although she did not drive tractors. She has just received her WLA Commerative badge from the Government..........took them 64 years to get around to it Richard

CW, So many similarities, I had a Bantam 175, tried to make it go faster, had a George Todd cylinder head and domed piston, then the clutch would slip . Had an expansion chamber, never understood how I was not pulled over. At traffic lights one day and a bloke got out of his car and told me to stop the engine :-D Also had two B40 army bikes, and an M20, amongst a few more bikes. As for your last comment, well not seen any benefits yet, bus pass in 3 years :shake:

that was the engine and not the rider, I assume

I thought the engine looked remarkably like a GM Detroit Diesel.

and missed breakfast for .............come on, else we won't do it next year

No idea who...........but I will name the bike in one, a 197cc Ambassador with Villiers 9E engine.........:-D

They were taken at the Strawberry Farm. The gun is a German 88. The Sherman is not quite what it appears, it was a BARV and you could see where the superstructure had been gassed off, and a turret fitted. Believe it might have come from Pounds. Was there an Austin K6 Gantry when you went there?

Matt, The sign is; HQ Land Forces, Persian Gulf Red background with white design Richard

Scrambling..........ah the days of Matchless, BSA, Greeves,etc. and names like Arthur Lampkin, Jeff Smith, Dave Bickers. They would finish with so much mud on them that no one knew who won :-D