What can I tell you about PKG888's past? Well sadly not a great deal.
Was with Research and Development, Chertsey in 1955/6 when new on a M.O.S. registration plate.
She was with Aitkens (quarry / plant hire contractor) at Bury St.Edmunds, and I'm certain I saw her in an agricultural contractor's yard near Thaxted either before or after this. In both instances (I have pics of Aitkens yard) she looked equally as sorry as she did when I went to Northumberland to collect her on 18th Dec 1994 (no rush, guys :sweat:).
I'm fairly certain then, that the prop was off all that while, so might even have been demobbed in that state?
PGK's problems weren't quite over, as the services of a Mountaineer were required to extract her from a snug hideaway up a muddy slope to the black top, and then 3 miles up onto the Northumberland moors to the nearest parking space for a low loader.
While we were achieving this, the low loader driver, who was finishing on Xmas Eve (the haulage company were closing down and it was probably his last load), had succeeded in tearing off all air and electic connections whilst uncouplng the swan neck :argh:, so after loading we rushed around that bleak area to eventually find a most helpful tipper operator who let us rummage through his workshop for various odd bits of cables, airline, copper pipe and clips. It was very dark by the time we got on the move.....
I quite like the Basingstoke conspiracy theory :rofl: