My Former WC51 "Flying Control Dodge" - A New Chapter

[Jessie The Jeep]

By mid afternoon, the painting was done, the lifting rings fitted and it was left in the sun to bake the paint.

The last picture shows the base loaded up with the generator, fuel, spare oil and accessories box. Four bolts hold the lid onto the base via 'T' nuts in the base. I'll probably add some hooks and bungees, or footman loops and straps, to hold everything still inside. There's also enough room in the lid for the fridge power supply, an extension cable and RCD socket.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Ryhope Pumping Station NEMVC Rally - August 28th

With a nice weather forecast, Lynne and I went topless to the N.E. Military Vehicle Club annual rally at Ryhope Pumping Station. The show has missed two years due to covid, our last trip there being 2019. The museum was almost lost to a spontaneous ignition coal bunker fire at Easter, thankfully extinguished before any serious damage was done.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

It was only around a ten mile drive there and we hadn't been there long when a sea mist blew in, dropping the temperature.

It cleared again by noon, leaving blue sky and a surprising amount of heat in the sun. So my morning walkaround pictures were a bit washed out, but the sun brought out the colours in the afternoon ( olive drab always looks good in the sun! ).

[Jessie The Jeep]

Numbers were down on previous years, some perhaps down to the cost of living crisis and high fuel costs. However, the club always seemed to have quite an old membership, so I suspect some members will have passed on and their vehicles sold, moving away from the area.

A few more pictures can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/ryhope.htm

[Jessie The Jeep]

Beamish "Dig for Victory" - September 1st~4th

Beamish is a living history museum in the North East of England. Original and often derelict buildings from around the North East have been dismantled and rebuilt on the site to tell the history of the area from the 1800s to 1950s. The picture below shows the museum site with various locations numbered to correspond to the numbers on the images.

With 350 acres of rolling landscape, period buildings, olive drab vehicles and the freedom to drive them around the site; the Beamish Museum "Dig for Victory" event is a unique 1940s show in the UK.

I packed the vehicles across Tuesday 30th while Lynne was at work. As soon as she came home, we grabbed a bite to eat and set off for Beamish. We towed the Jeep so that we've have a normal car to run out for supplies. It was dusk by the time our camp was set up, so the first pictures were on Wednesday morning.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Wednesday August 31st

Neil, Chris and Andy were also there on Wednesday setting up our camp ready for the start of the show. Paul was there too, but staying in his motorhome in the staff car park. So six of our seven vehicles we on site before the start of the event. Chris had his Dodge. The Weasel was going to be there but had a stuck clutch. Neil's Jeep has only recently been restored making Beamish its first big show. Paul had his Jeep and bike and Andy brought his Guinea Pigs! There was nobody to babysit them at home for the first couple of days of the show.

It took Chris some time to assemble the latest version of his field shower; the most refined version complete with petrol powered water heater and electric pump to send the water to the shower head. It's come a long way since the bucket with holes in.

According to the forecast in the days leading up to the event, the weather threatened to be wet for the full show. Thankfully, over the five days, there were only a few showers, mostly outside public open hours and at the end, we got the tents away dry. Wednesday morning however was raining and it lasted almost until noon. We sat under our shelter, looking at different forecasts in the hope that one would give us good news! Eventually, it dried up, allowing us to explore.

The event didn't start until Thursday so there we no vehicle movements on Wednesday. This gave us a chance to have a look around the site on foot and to check out recently opened areas such as parts of the 1950s town and also the Quilter’s cottage which we hadn't seen before. It also gave us a chance to look for possible display locations that we hadn't used in previous years.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Thursday September 1st

The first proper show day was September 1st. After the 10am briefing, there was the first of the large convoys around the site. They are seen here in the colliery yard and passing through the pit village.

After this, following our on foot scouting, we took the vehicles to what became known as "Coffee and Cake Corner", just on the edge of town. It was a spot nobody had used in previous years and was close to the cafe and toilets - an ideal spot for morning coffee ( site 5 on the map ).

Later, we moved on into town, parking outside the Co-op. After lunch, we took the vehicles down through the pit village and into the corner of the colliery yard, near another cafe. We set up there and had a game of "Craps" until the Military Police came ( Paul ) and busted the game.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Not long after that, it was time for the second large convoy of the day, so we headed back to assembly point at the main show field.

Later in the afternoon, we walked up to "Home Farm" so my daughter could do a Land Army photoshoot around the farm buildings and animal pens ( site 10 ).

Later in the day, Andy and I took the Jeep and Dodge to the Rail yard ( site 3 ) to collect some ammunition and aero engine spares just in on the afternoon train.

[Jessie The Jeep]

There was more than expected, so we radioed Chris to bring his Dodge down to assist.

Right at the end of the day, my daughter went for a last ride on the Helter-Skelter and took some pictures of the two show fields from the top ( sites 1 & 2 ).

Below is a video compiled from several trips around the museum site, with the camera mounted on both the Dodge and Jeep.

[Jessie The Jeep]

On Thursday evening, we took four vehicles for a drive and on a photoshoot around Pockerley Manor ( site 6 )

We left Pockerley past the old church and headed towards the wagonway ( site 7 ) before re-joining the main site road and heading for the town ( site 4 ). Derek hadn't yet arrived and Paul had gone out for food but caught us up in town, joining the front of the line for some pictures.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Friday September 2nd

We hung around the show field until the 11am convoy and continued on another lap after everyone else pulled back into the show field. We followed the route again, back to town and stopped at Coffee & Cake Corner ( site 5 ). In addition to being close to the cafe, we got a good view of convoys and other vehicles going by.

We headed on to the rail yard ( site 3 ) and after bumping into Lynne's parents there, she headed back to camp with the Jeep while I stayed to get some photos of the Dodge up against the loading platform.

We were back in town towards the end of the day as the trams were waiting to take the last of the public back to the entrance.

Before food that evening, and with Derek and Paul around, we had a six vehicle convoy around the site again for more pictures, starting with a group shot at the far end of the colliery yard ( site 8 ), making use of the building's steps for a  good vantage point.

[Jessie The Jeep]

From there, we headed back through the pit village ( site 9 ) and around the road to Pockerley Manor ( site 6 ).

From there we drove down past the church and towards the wagonway sheds ( site 7 ). We past some British paras heading the other way.

From there it was back on the main road to town ( site 4 ), where we ended the photoshoot. While in town, the British paras turned up again.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

Saturday September 3rd

I began Saturday with a wander around the second show field ( site 2 ), taking a look at the vehicles and dioramas there.

That was followed by the 11am convoy, followed by morning coffee at the usual spot ( site 5 ). This time we were joined by a friend's Jeep for a while.

[Jessie The Jeep]

We moved around a few more times across Saturday to different locations. Here we are back at the colliery.

Passing traffic at Coffee & Cake Corner.

At the end of the day, the museum was providing a meal in town for all those attending. We were going to take the vehicles until the rain set in for the evening and everything was covered up.

Sunday September 4th

The last group of four pictures from coffee corner were a selection of just a handful of pictures from Sunday. We did the convoy and morning coffee, then went back to the main show field for lunch and then to started packing up camp.

Five days on site under canvas was exhausting, both due to the fresh air, lack of sleep and the heavy steering on the Dodge giving me arms like Popeye! With the Jeep and the Dodge, Lynne and I managed to burn through around 19 gallons of petrol in four days of driving. However, it was still a cheap holiday and the highlight of our 1940s calendar.

Further pictures can be found on the following links.....

https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/beamish2.htm

https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/beamish3.htm

[Jessie The Jeep]

Tanfield Railway 1940s Weekend - September 24th & 25th

This was the first Tanfield Railway 1940s event since 2019, our last show before Covid shut the world down. It's been a long time coming back and I think it was the first large event at the railway since covid restrictions ended. We took the Dodge and M201 to the show, arriving late on Friday afternoon. For the first time, we decided to camp there, living a little further away now and with high fuel prices. Lynne had also just bought a new modern plastic tent and wanted to try it out before the year ended.

She's not a huge fan of crawling around in canvas tents. The new tent was hidden under our large camo net in the corner of the field and it blended quite well into the trees behind. I've always thought that a modern tunnel tent would sell to re-enactors if the main body had a corrugated iron print with the ends having a brick print, making a mini Nissen hut!!

Two locomotives were running during the weekend - the 1943 Austerity class 0-6-0 saddle tank No.49 and recently restored 1904 Andrew Barclay built 0-6-0 saddle tank "Horden".

[Jessie The Jeep]

We were expecting some of our friends the following day, members of our unofficial group "The Hedgehog Heroes". The name came from the Beamish show a few years ago, where a member of the public tried to steal a ration box from our display. Without realising Neil was in the back of his GMC, the offender came into the display, picking up the ration crate explaining to his accomplice that it would make a great hedgehog house. Some sharp words from Neil put him straight. I'd recently got some magnetic plastic patches made, copied from an original bomb group patch of a hedgehog. All our vehicles now carry this patch.

Not all the group were there this weekend, but we still had two Dodges, two Jeeps and a trailer on show. The other guys arrived on Saturday morning and stayed for Sunday.

[Jessie The Jeep]

In addition to a number of vehicles at the show, there were several dioramas from various groups and a field kitchen providing food. The main events field was located between the Marley Hill yard and Andrews House station. The military vehicles and the dioramas were located in this field.

The Seatones singing group were based at Andrews House station while swing bands played in the carriage shed and another singer performed at the other end of the line at East Tanfield station.

[Jessie The Jeep]

At around 2pm, a seven vehicle convoy set off from the show field along the main road, which runs more or less parallel to the railway, down to East Tanfield station. That station is quite a bit lower than Andrews House and being sheltered in a bowl surrounded by trees; was much warmer!

We stayed there long enough for a coffee & cake stop before returning to the Marley Hill show field. It gave the public at both stations the chance to see the vehicles on the move, rather than just parked up for the day.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Sunday's show followed the same format with another convoy mid afternoon. Some of the vehicles present on Saturday were only there for one day, but several different vehicles turned up on Sunday, so the overall vehicle count was about the same.

At times, it was a chilly weekend, thanks to a stiff Northerly wind on Saturday, but thankfully the wind dropped for Sunday and was a little warmer from the West. That was the last 1940s event in our calendar for this year, but we're still likely to be having a few more rides out before the year is over. There's the possibly of a trip out collecting for the Royal British Legion before Remembrance Sunday in November and I'm sure we'll still manage a few more rides out before the year is over too.

More pictures and a short video of the locos here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2022/tanfield.htm

Edited September 26, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

It's a year today since the Dodge made its first outing in the new olive drab colour scheme. It's been a great first year with the new look Dodge.

A couple of weeks ago, I had all three vehicles outdoors together for the first time with the full set in olive drab. It would be nice to get them all to an event together next year.

[Citroman]

Our coal mine had the same steam Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0 locomotives. Two survived.

[NZM305]

Would love to see Chris's shower set up in more detail, have been thinking about doing a similar set up here to be more self sufficient.

[Jessie The Jeep]

6 hours ago, NZM305 said:

....shower set up in more detail.....

I don't have any more pictures, but basically, a "Put-Put" petrol heater vents its exhaust through pipes in the 45 gallon drum holding the water. That heats the water. There's a separate 12 volt elecrical pump that then sucks the hot water from the drum and up to the shower head. There's a little toggle switch on the outside of one of the shower legs, just under the canvas, that operates the pump.

[Jessie The Jeep]

Dodge Winter Photoshoot - December 9th

On the evening of December 8th, it began snowing. There was quite a lot falling, but it wasn't laying on the ground as much as the snow fall suggested. By late evening, the garden was white and there was a covering of around 3/8 inch. As I've never had the Dodge out in snow for pictures, I decided if the snow was still on the ground in the morning, I'd go for a local run around and get some pictures. Until we moved house, the Dodge always spent the winter hibernating in its shipping container with the battery out.

On the morning of Friday 9th, the snow had melted a little, but there was still enough on the ground for some nice pictures. I was on the move by about 09:20hrs and got the first pictures are a layby near home by 09:30hrs.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Jessie The Jeep

[Jessie The Jeep]

I wasn't going far, but there were a number of spots to pull in for pictures along the route. Several of them were move suited for shooting into the low sun, which was only around eight degrees above the horizon at that time. Blue sky, some clouds and a golden yellow light from the low sun added to the atmosphere of the pictures.