ploughman

Used that paint firm myself for my snowplough and our group frequently uses Williamson's for painting our fleet of rail vehicles.

I went round the old Warrington bus depot in the 70s. As we had an ex Warrington Foden Double Decker in our collection. The buses then were being repainted by hand.

I was wondering about the 4th photo. Lorry with headboard centre and the 3 cars and something else green in the bushes to the left.

Going through some old photos of mine. These were taken at Colin Shears place at Winkleigh in Devon back in about 1974. Apologies for the quality but the camera was an Instamatic and basic at that. But for interest can anyone ID any of the vehicles as surviving today? There are a couple of what like MOD vehicles but mainly PSVs. We were there as one of our group was looking at an ex Southport Bus but that was inside and impossible to get a photo of as less than an inch between vehicles inside the hanger.

It's off an Aircraft Carrier. It's not on one is it?

Did you ever get an answer to the question of Battery Lead size?

Found this Flikr 2 page photo set today. Thought it might s park some comments. Although its not featured in the set I remember the rail link into Bruggen and the couple of coaches and shunter stabled behind Hanger 1.

No sign on there of CP numbers. Construction Plant

My wife used to work at Rowntree's / Nestle here in York. When she went to the staff shop she often came back with things like Kit Kat packed in a different wrapper and Arabic printed. Just the run of the mill surplus from a regular order that got sold probably at a discount to anyone who was not bothered about the wrapper. i.e. The MOD The White oxidising comes from being in long term storage, like an Easter Egg over a year old. Nowt wrong with that though. As an aside to this with Rat packs I was eating Aztec bars 5 years after they stopped being sold in the shops.

Would the shorter overhang be due to it being winch fitted?

Project still ongoing. Other work continuing and not just working on these nuts. So far we have a draw. 3 bolts undone and 3 Cut. Friday was a sod. After giving the days nut its usual bit of TLC, Needle gun, Wire brush, Hammering, Heating and liberal doses of WD40. Put the windy gun on the job and after a few minutes we had a bit of movement. Not a lot initially, reversed the gun then a quick squirt of WD then forward again. More movement, eventually after about 3 full turns of the nut we had a reasonable gap appearing. The COW must have then thought thats it time to get my revenge and the shaft then started spinning with the nut on. That means that the retaining stud on the shaft had sheared. Only thing now was to cut the shaft as no other way to extract it. Managed to fit the disc cutter in rather than use the gas. We have had new Nut and Pin sets priced up at approx £150 each. 9 nut and pin sets per vehicle and 5 vehicles to do. So if we can extract without cutting it sure will save quite a bit of cash.

After discarding the provision of a heated building the next option would be a rubber bag. When we used to put plant in for long term storage. Full service, Diesel filled up / Petrol drained and batteries removed. The item was put on a prepared base covered with the bottom of a big rubber / plastic bag. Then jacked up and put on wheelstands. The bag top was fitted and all sharp corners padded. Bag sealed up and a dehumidifier turned on. The longest I know of for an item of plant to stay in the bag and then start first time on unpacking was 7 years. 2 shots of a Michigan 275 but equally I could have picked an Aveling Barford Dump Truck 6x4 with greedy boards or a D6 Dozer to name a few.

When we were doing Airfield Repair. The Wheeled buckets were the first machines in and the instruction was that you did not empty your bucket till every bit of rubble had been turned over or moved. This to counter the risk of AP mines and other nastys. Once everything had been moved at least once then you could empty your buckets if needed. Normally did not have time as straight back in reverse from full forward. Not to bad in an Allis Chalmers or a Volvo 4400 but a bit hard on the gear train on a Terex 72-71 or Michigan 275

If you are doing Mine Clearance. Where would you prefer to be? Inside an armoured vehicle or walking behind one with a control box? I think a bit of radio control would not come amiss here.

Found this today. Are these QC guys still practicing their art anywhere?

They get really cold in winter. Went on a bridging excercise at Chesil Beach one february around 1981. We were given 2 of these huts as accomodation. Stove blazing and flue glowing, Blankets laid on floor as a carpet, also hanging behind beds to try and create an insulated space. Still froze over.

That sounds like the Camp Taxi from Chattenden down to the Plant Yard in 1978.

My last excercise around Iserlohn in 83 I was the HQ troop HGV driver. So contents of the back of the Bedford was from the top down. Stretchers x 2 hung from the roof. My bed was one. Ropes and lashings on the front headboard. Various Office boxes around the sides.At least 2 of them full of Mars bars etc Floor 3 deep in slabs of 24 can packs. 2 x Campbeds and some Tentage. 1 Centre bench seat. Trailer Water Bowser hooked on the back. On one occasion I had to take 6 men and the Troop Commander into an ammo compound to load up with explosives for a session of demolitions. No problem with that, got to the compound and they had doubled the quantity issued as getting rid of old stock. Gave us 808 instead of PE4 Also gave us the Detonators. NO NO as we only had the one vehicle. (Dets and Explosives never in the same vehicle.) Sorted in the end put the Dets in the water bowser and drove carefully.

This is what happens to an MK on a mountain track at night in Cyprus. I was in the back with about 15 others. The only serious injury was to the one man who jumped out. He slid down the slope and the canopy came down on his legs breaking both. Back wheels had cut the corner in an old wash out and that took us over. Centre folding seats fitted, as we rolled I grabbed for the canopy frame and ended up sitting on the underside of the bench seat arms round the pole. Each time I relaxed my grip and sagged slightly the lad next to me screamed as he was trapped between the Seat and the seat back. We wee meant to be at Akamas ranges but the coach driver took us to the north side of the hills and dumped us in a hill top village. The boss managed to contact base and this Bedford picked us up and we followed the mountain track to Akamas. I think we were about a mile short of getting there. All we could see in the back was a Grey shape towering on one side and a black hole on the other side.

Not military Recovering an old Railway Tank for restoration

There were many times when side seats were fitted to RLs, MKs etc. However after a few injuries caused by the vehicle getting to close to something that ripped the canvas and the body inside it Centre seats were introduced. I knew personally one lad who was not seated on a side seat but was on the Side wall with feet on seat as many used to do. The driver got to close to a gate post on an RAF camp in Germany and the curved spike on the gate post top ripped into his back. He survived but with horrific injuries.

and that one went where?

I prefer something a bit like this:- https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7243/7316312314_484ccfc7ca_z.jpg

With the tow hook mounted above the barrel was there a risk of filling the barrel with mud when being taken cross country? Or is a barrel cover fitted?

Anybody run out of fuel in North Lane Huntington York today 3-11-14 trying to get to fuel station at Monks Cross?