rewdco

This is all sooooo beautiful! When will you start selling tickets for a ride on this bus? 😊

Ai! A metric drill, and you need an imperial hole... 😂 No, serious, you're doing a great job Steve! 👍

Oops! Ant, sorry, I made a mistake! All "S" prefixed contracts (with the exception of the Welbike "S" prefixed contracts) had steel plates, the earlier "C" contracts had brass plates. So you'll need a steel plate, which is difficult (impossible) to find... Here's an example...

Your bike comes from contract S/1945 Ant. This contract had a brass plate wrapped around the rear frame member. Replicas of these brass plates can be found... Later contracts had a steel plate riveted to the rear mudguard. These steel plates are not replicated...

Well done and thank you very much for sharing Ron! This is very interesting information from the test department! 😃

It's an "M" Colin. So far it's the only one with an M prefix in my Register, and I have no idea at all why it has a different prefix… Stupid mistake maybe? "Oops, I took the wrong stamp..."? Can’t imagine what it could mean. We've always assumed that the "V" prefix stands for Villiers carburetor, but the Amal bikes don’t have an A prefix, so I’m not convinced…

Thanks Lex! 😃

This is a well known photograph, and I have to admit that I hadn't noticed the Flea yet! 😊 I knew that I had a slightly better resolution version on my computer, but then I noticed that this one was cropped, and the Flea is hardly visible... 😟

More than a month ago I missed an interesting photograph on Delcampe, due to a problem with my sniper. I contacted the seller, but obviously there was nothing he could do, the picture was sold. But last week I was contacted by the seller, the buyer had not paid yet, if I was still interested? Of course I was! This is how I have become the custodian of this picture after all! I've done a 600DPI scan (that's all my scanner can do), here are two details. The bike and the Minerva. If you compare the picture above with the picture below, it is easy to see how the side car was modified. And it is equipped with an (unusual) Lewis Gun... But here's a story... The Royal Enfield factory delivered 18 outfits in December 1914 to the "War Office - London". These outfits went to the 5 Motor Machine Gun Battery, who were sent to the front in France in early 1915. There were more Motor Machine Gun Batteries, but by reading the War Diaries, I know that only 5MMGB used Enfields. And all MMG Batteries had Vickers Guns... In the factory ledgers I found that 14 extra outfits had been delivered in June - July 1915. Destination "War Office" (as opposed to "War Office - London" for the first batch of 18). As explained, they were not used by a British Army MMGB. And 14 is an unusual quantity, a MMGB always consisted of 18 combinations. In the factory Archives I found some photographs of this second batch. Biggest difference with the bikes from the first batch is that the first batch (December 1914) had stirrup front brakes, the second batch (June - July 1915) had dummy rim front brakes. Unfortunately it was impossible to work out if the motorcycle in my "new" photograph has a stirrup front brake or a dummy rim front brake (in other words, if this may have been one of the outfits from the mysterious second batch)... Until my eagle-eyed friend Richard Payne gave me the information that I was looking for... Does this motorcycle have stirrup brakes, or dummy rim brakes? In other words: first batch (December 1914) or second batch (June - July 1915)? Well, although we can't see either the stirrup system or the dummy rim, we can clearly see the cable that actuates the dummy rim brake on the left hand side of the forks! So this is a second contract bike, and as there is no proof at all that these second contract bikes were ever used by a British Motor Machine Gun Battery, I am more and more convinced that this second batch must have been used by the Belgian Army! After all, Lewis Guns had been produced in Belgium from 1913 onwards, the British Army only started to use them in 1915 (this may explain the Lewis Gun on the sidecar). And there's a Minerva Automitrailleuse just behind. And the Belgian Government had already ordered 4 contracts of 50 motorcycles (the smaller 3HP solo model) in September 1914. The 3HP bikes were delivered to the "Belgian Government" according to the Ledgers, but in September 1914 Belgium wasn't completely occupied yet. In June - July 1915 it was, apart from a small part behind the river Yser (hence delivery to the "War Department"...?). So... I'm pretty sure that I have discovered something here! Any remarks or additional photographs would be more than welcome! Jan

Another magnificent job Ron! And great to see the correct Royal Enfield style census number. The war time photograph by the way was taken at the April 11th 1943 Medway Challenge Cup, "a team event run between various companies in an R.A.S.C. Division, including a number of riders from H.Q., in which the three best performers from each unit were taken as forming the team, each rider being marked individually throughout the event. Competitors had had little previous experience in motorcycling on cross-country courses and the prime object of the contest was not only to improve their standard of riding but also to afford them an opportunity of putting into practice lessons they had previously learned. A total entry of 66 was received, all of whom were mounted on 350 c.c. side-valve Royal Enfields; this no rider had any advantage over another in the matter of "machinery", it being purely a question of ability." (from MotorCycling, April 22 1943).

The Belgian Government bought several contracts of Royal Enfield 3HP models. The outfit in the original photograph is a 6HP. I have put all the information that I have on the 5MMGB outfits in a thread on the Great War Forum: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/258012-5-motor-machine-gun-battery-research/

Just had a look at the details of the Russian contracts. There were two large contracts: the first one was delivered in October 1914, the second contract dates from 1917. The 1914 models had a front mudguard which went between the fork legs, from 1915 onwards the forks went through the front mudguard (like in the picture above). So this can't have been an October 1914 Russian motorcycle. And the 1917 contract was for motorcycles with a colonial frame. This frame gives more ground clearance, but it also has a different petrol tank, which is quite easy to recognise. And they had different handlebars as well... So no, definitely not a Russian contract outfit. And it does look very much like a 5MMGB combination, with a modified sidecar...

These are Belgian cobblestones, I recognise them! 😂 No, serious now, some Minervas went to Russia, that's true, and Enfield also sold a few contracts to Russia. So maybe this isn't Belgium (or the North of France) after all...? Need to check my Russian Enfield documentation...

Ooh... Why didn't I see this myself...? 😊 Thanks for your help! Jan

It looks as if the gearbox bottom lug has been fitted to the wrong stud / hole, or am I so mistaken?

A Delcampe auction that I was very interested in ended on Armistice Day. Unfortunately my sniper didn't "shoot" (well, it was Armistice Day... ) Anyway, here's the auction scan. I think this is the first and the only photograph that I have ever seen of one of the Enfield outfits in France. Well, at least that's what I think it is, the outfit has been modified a bit... Any thoughts...? And what does this forum think about the anti aircraft lorry at the left hand side of the picture? Jan

This is definitely the correct center stand for a WD/C frame. The WD/CO had a rear stand instead of a center stand, so "WD/C-only". Did you find the picture on the War Department website? The owner of that business deceased a couple of years ago, and the website has never been changed or deleted. Don't think you will be able to buy one of these stands anymore... 😐

Think I found something! This article is about Lieut.Col. C.E. Bowden's RASC Officers' Training School in Bournemouth, I'm absolutely sure about that. Arthur Bourne and Bowden were friends, they both had an Ariel Square 4, Bowden had just invented the "Task System" which is also mentioned in the article... It all fits like a glove! Next step: can any of the faces in the article be recognised in the picture with Tony Wilson Jones (holding the Flying Flea with registration number EAB 332 in his arms)? Could the Corporal Instructor in the article be the man next to Tony Wilson Jones...? Or is this just wishful thinking...?

Yes, I admit... Bournemouth is not really the East isn't it... I was too optimistic...🙄

Just found this in the January 28th 1943 issue of MotorCycling: "A few weeks ago (December 10 te be exact) "Cyclops" wrote a story in "MotorCycling" concerning a very large Motorcycling Training School "Somewhere in the South East," where officer cadets are given an intensive course of instruction on motorcycle riding and maintenance before e going on to their O.C.T.U." Sounds very much like Lieut.Col. C.E. Bowden's "RASC Officers' Training School" in Bournemouth, or am I wrong...?

The last picture on the previous page Ron!

Thank you very much for your help Ron! But I'm looking for proof that the picture below was taken somewhere around Bournemouth. There are some gables visible just behind the (factory?) gates. I know it's a long shot, but we have found places on photographs with less than this... 😁

I know that Lieut. Col. C.E. Bowden lived in the Southcliffe Hotel in Bournemouth around the time that the previous pictures were taken (end of 1942, early 1943). The postcard comes from the internet, "My room" are not Bowden's words! 😉

Just had a look on StreetView Ron. Lots of modern buildings now, in an industrial estate. Do you think that some of the old buildings are still there? And do you think that the pictures with the wading DRs (carrying a Flea, a James and a Welbike) have been taken nearby?

Does anybody know where Capt. J.J. Hall was stationed during the war? I wonder if the picture below could have been taken at the RASC Officers' Training School in Bournemouth. The Lieut. Col. on the left is C.E. Bowden, inventor of the task system for the military vehicles, and head of the Bournemouth Training School. I wonder if Capt. J.J. Hall (4th from left, standing) also worked there? The man in a suit, kneeled at the left hand side of the Enfield, is also an officer, as can be seen in the pictures with the Welbike. I can't work out if he's also a Lieut. Col. or "only" a First Lieut. 🤔 Does anyone recognise this man? And could that be the entrance of the Bournemouth Training School in the first picture...? By the way, Capt. J.J. Hall started writing for MotorCycling on Feb 21st 1941. For several years he wrote articles about the vintage motorcycles that he had bought, and he was one of the founder members of the VMCC. Well, he even was their first President!