Army Auxiliary Workshops

[Richard Farrant]

ASH related to REME Central Workshops at Ashford, Middlesex, NOT to be confused with the REME Command Workshops at Ashford, Kent which had another annotation.

[Meekumslr]

Thanks Richard.

It looks like it came under them for a large part of its service as the front diff, rear diff, engine and door are all marked ‘ASH’ from 1941 to 1956.

This helps greatly as I now know where it’s history lies regarding maintenance.

[welbike]

Thanks Richard, what was the one for Ashford Kent then?

And could you please have a look at the list, and add more info if possible?

Cheers,

Lex

Edited June 28, 2021 by welbike

[Richard Farrant]

4 minutes ago, welbike said:

Thanks Richard, what was the one for Ashford Kent then?

Cheers,

Lex

Hi Lex,

It would be EC02,  depending on the era, it was titled 14 Command Workshop, then changed to 44 Command Workshop, then around the Eighties 44 District Workshop.

EC stood for Eastern Command

[welbike]

Thanks again Richard!

Lex

[redbeard66]

A friend in Norway has recently purchased a Commer Q4 built sometime between 1939 - 1943. This is the earlier Q4, not the later early 50s Q4 (why did Commer stupidly use the same code for two different models?) It has the attached rebuild tag on it indicating it was rebuilt in Army Auxiliary Workshop B48. I just wondered if anyone knows anything about B48 - where it was located or whether it was a mobile workshop? I had a link to a web site showing armed vehicles used in Norway during the war(which I now canʻt find) that indicated some of these Q4s went to Norway for use by their armed forces. But I wouldnʻt think that it would then have been sent back to England for rebuild while hostilities were still ongoing and then found itʻs way back to Norway. More likely it ended up there AFTER the war (like many armed vehicles found their way to Australia and New Zealand after the war?) Any thoughts much appreciated.

[Noel7]

The German occupation of Norway only ceased with their general surrender on 8/5/45, so the vehicle can only have gone there after the war, based on the information on the plate.

Commer also produced a post-war Q2...

[Rootes75]

I recall photos of this Commer posted on another side. I think its a wartime Q2.

[redbeard66]

4 hours ago, Noel7 said:

The German occupation of Norway only ceased with their general surrender on 8/5/45, so the vehicle can only have gone there after the war, based on the information on the plate.

Commer also produced a post-war Q2...

Thatʻs what I believe happened to this vehicle and indicated in my comment as I knew hostilities were still ongoing but I am still certain Q4s were purchased by Norway at the start of hostilities. Iʻll have to keep looking for this info. Not sure what you mean by Commer also produced a post-war Q2... They produced a whole range of bonneted Superpoise Q series, based on the pre-war design from the 15cwt Q15 to the 5/6 ton Q5. Iʻve got three post war 25cwt Q25s.

 

3 hours ago, Rootes75 said:

I recall photos of this Commer posted on another side. I think its a wartime Q2.

According to my 1957 Rootes Identification guide which details all models from the earliest to 1957 models, by the serial number, it is definitely a Q4... Might be another one?

[Noel7]

43 minutes ago, redbeard66 said:

Thatʻs what I believe happened to this vehicle and indicated in my comment as I knew hostilities were still ongoing but I am still certain Q4s were purchased by Norway at the start of hostilities.

I don't know with certainty, I admit. My point is that is that vehicles purchased and delivered before April 1940 would have been a Norwegian responsibility, while vehicles purchased at the start of hostilities in Norway would probably never have been delivered. Either way, Norway surrendered after two months of being on the wrong end of what was effectively a blitzkreig by the Germans, with virtually no opportunity for removing their vehicles to the UK and no obvious reason to do so. A lot of recently arrived allied vehicles had to be abandoned.

51 minutes ago, redbeard66 said:

Not sure what you mean by Commer also produced a post-war Q2... They produced a whole range of bonneted Superpoise Q series, based on the pre-war design from the 15cwt Q15 to the 5/6 ton Q5. Iʻve got three post war 25cwt Q25s.

You referred to the confusion produced by the British Army having two generations of Q4. The same is true of the Q2.

[Rootes75]

1 hour ago, redbeard66 said:

Thatʻs what I believe happened to this vehicle and indicated in my comment as I knew hostilities were still ongoing but I am still certain Q4s were purchased by Norway at the start of hostilities. Iʻll have to keep looking for this info. Not sure what you mean by Commer also produced a post-war Q2... They produced a whole range of bonneted Superpoise Q series, based on the pre-war design from the 15cwt Q15 to the 5/6 ton Q5. Iʻve got three post war 25cwt Q25s.

 

According to my 1957 Rootes Identification guide which details all models from the earliest to 1957 models, by the serial number, it is definitely a Q4... Might be another one?

Thats an interesting Rootes guide.

[redbeard66]

2 hours ago, Noel7 said:

I don't know with certainty, I admit. My point is that is that vehicles purchased and delivered before April 1940 would have been a Norwegian responsibility, while vehicles purchased at the start of hostilities in Norway would probably never have been delivered. Either way, Norway surrendered after two months of being on the wrong end of what was effectively a blitzkreig by the Germans, with virtually no opportunity for removing their vehicles to the UK and no obvious reason to do so. A lot of recently arrived allied vehicles had to be abandoned.

You referred to the confusion produced by the British Army having two generations of Q4. The same is true of the Q2.

Good point - thank you. had done some research on the hostilities in Norway so you make sense. Re the 2 Q2s, are you talking about the wartime forward control Q2 that was typically used to pull the Queen Mary aircraft recovery tractor and the post war Q2 bonneted Superpoise. Still trying to find out about B48

[Rootes75]

The Q2 was produced as normal control and forward control versions during the war. The Q2s and the Q4s both followed the same cab design, most notably having the postwar treatment of the headlights being fitted in the front wings rather than on arms from the rad surround.

We have a 42 Commer Q2 and the cab is the same as the Q4.

[redbeard66]

2 hours ago, Rootes75 said:

Thats an interesting Rootes guide.

Given to me (shortly before he died) by a former Parts man in a Rootes Dealership along with a locally produced Identification book on all the makes and models of cars and trucks imported by Todd Motors, the NZ importers / assemblers of the Rootes Group and Chrysler / Dodge / Desoto / Fargo models (built for NZ in Canada) which they were also agents for. Quite interesting they dealt in these two brands starting in the 1930s when you think what happened to Rootes in the 1960s!!! This local  ID book is just typed up with the artwork pictures of each model (taken from the front pages of the corresponding manuals) with key identification factors listed for that model - to help dealers ID which model they were dealing with, along with the serial number range of each model imported into New Zealand. There were quite a few Karrier badged Commers built just for NZ and we had a Humber 80, model in the 60s which was a tarted up Hillman Minx which I think South Africa also received. They had these models built to get around our restrictive licensing laws - long story!. Both books have been incredibly helpful in identifying Commer / Karrier models around the planet. Attached is a photo of the front cover of the 1957 Rootes Identification guide. Wish I had one for up until the 1970s with all the later models...