LarryH57 Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 This is a short Pathe film from 1965 showing the activities of Military Engineering Establishment in Christchurch, Hampshire, since closed and now a retail park? Did the trench digger ever enter service? http://www.britishpathe.com/video/army-innovations/query/Christchurch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 This is a short Pathe film from 1965 showing the activities of Military Engineering Establishment in Christchurch, Hampshire, since closed and now a retail park? Did the trench digger ever enter service? http://www.britishpathe.com/video/army-innovations/query/Christchurch Yes the trench digger entered service as the Light Mobile Digger (LMD) now long gone........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wally dugan Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 As bob rightly says Thornycroft light mobile digger the one in the clip the prototype top picture the in service version lower picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Most of it became a retail park, but QinetiQ ran a small area of the site for bridge test and wet gap crossing until a few years ago. It now has, or is about to become a supermarket and housing estate: http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9320528.Multi_million_pound_plans_to_transform_derelict_Christchurch_riverside_site/ The pub/restaurant on the retail park is called The Bailey Bridge, so at least some history remains. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughman Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 (edited) Did the trench digger ever enter service? Definate yes. But fitted with a cab. I used to operate one for a year or two around 1980 - 1 Very thirsty for petrol when operating about 15 gallon an hour at working revs and a large flame out of the exhaust. Just what you want when trying to dig a hole at night in the open. Edited April 17, 2015 by ploughman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean N Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 A lot of the LMDs came out through Aston Down in the early '90s. Can't have been well liked as they only made a few hundred each. I went to the auctions when MEXE / MVEE / DRA / DERA Christchurch closed. Shame, really. Unfortunately I think a lot of the more interesting odds & ends that were still there went in the bin. Bought a Sentinel office trailer and some odds & ends - in fact, I'm still using some hand tools I bought there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 A lot of the LMDs came out through Aston Down in the early '90s. Can't have been well liked as they only made a few hundred each. . I overhauled a good few of these and being involved with a lot of Engineers plant at the time, thought they were a fascinating piece of kit despite a few shortcomings. The whole digging frame could be offset left or right, spoil conveyor would go either way, and a hydraulic drive on the transfer box would drive the vehicle at digging speed. As has already been said, the choice of a B81 to power it was not good and a diesel would have been better. Driving it had the feel of a WW2 British truck and was actually based on the old Thornycroft Nubian 4x4. I can quite understand why they would not have sold well at auction as their use commercially would have been limited, with a set digging depth for trenches and gun pits as I recall. Always enjoyed testing them after repairs, but operating them all day might have been a chore! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean N Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Like you I thought they were brilliant things, very clever but I suspect they went for breaking money - a B81, the hydraulics and what they weighed. Shame really. Again, it's one of those thing I nearly bought just because they were so cheap, but I couldn't see a use for it and didn't want to buy and break them, so I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Grundy Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Like you I thought they were brilliant things, very clever but I suspect they went for breaking money - a B81, the hydraulics and what they weighed. Shame really. Again, it's one of those thing I nearly bought just because they were so cheap, but I couldn't see a use for it and didn't want to buy and break them, so I didn't. I purchased two of these from Aston Down, one cost £380+VAT. This would be the late 1990's so even at todays money quite cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughman Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 From an operators point of view my biggest complaint was the changeover switch from Creep Drive to Normal by the Air changeover switch. Could often take 10 - 20 attempts all the while getting abuse from some irate infantry man. Close behind that in popularity came changing the digging teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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