unclegargameld:
going down the A350 once towards poole , there was a fellah stood in a farm gateway playing the bagpipes !! perhaps his missus didnt like him playing them in the house
I don’t even like people playing them in the country. Before you start, I’m originally from Scotland.
The first time I visited Australia there was a guy busking out side the airport doors playing the bagpipes, I nearly got straight back on the plane.
Jeff…
Dave the Renegade:
On the side of the A4103 at Fromes Hill transport cafe on the Hereford to Worcester road.
What is a Russian T34 tank doing in England?,must have been imported.
RUGBY RADIO MASTS.
I can well remember passing these when driving down the A5 to the Smoke when the M1 only came as far as Watford Gap.
I also remember my uncle Harry MacBeth,who started his driving career as second man on a model T Ford in the 1920’s,telling me that when he used to drive down that stretch,if you saw another truck approaching,you had to pull into a farm gateway as the A5 was not wide enough for two trucks to pass!
The horn by the side of the M8. Supposedly “speaks” to passing cars.
bestbooties:
Dave the Renegade:
On the side of the A4103 at Fromes Hill transport cafe on the Hereford to Worcester road.What is a Russian T34 tank doing in England?,must have been imported.
There must be dozens of T34’s in the UK, I think Levesley’s on the A38 at Alrewas had quite a lot at one time, I know a local farmer to me has one and takes it out for a spin now and again !
Back in the 80’s my father and I were tank dealers, and one day a bloke phoned up asking if we could get any ex Russian tanks. Dad thought it was a wind up as we were dealing with storage tanks, but I told him that I had heard one of the DJ’s on the radio talking about what to get the person that had everything. It turned out the answer was that if you had everything and wanted more then an ex Russian tank was the trendy thing to have.
Dad was pretty well connected as a dealer and by three phone calls inside half an hour, the answer was 9 grand each to buy, which was about what it was worth in scrap if everything was cleanly separated. Pass it on for 17 to 18 grand, if it wasn’t to far the transport was free (what a bargain). I never got to see one my self as all the transport was done by a contractor with a low loader, but dad had a great time. I think we sold 4 or 5 over about a year before the initial buzz wore of. At tick over they did about 3 minutes to the gallon, 45 gallon drum lasted about 3 times round the average field.
Jeff…
Can anyone remember the stone dogs, like chimneys, on the roof of a house on the old Huddersfield / Leeds road, A62, near to and on the opposite side of the road to the Jewish cemetery? They were still there when I last passed but it’s a couple of years ago.
Just to balance it up there is a house with black metal cats on the roof ridges on the road into Rochdale from the M62. ( Turn right at roundabout and it’s on left hand side going down the hill past the traffic lights ? Haven’t seen any mice yet, but I’ve seen the Concrete Cows and the M5 Camel.
The old ventilation tunnels from the steam railway days on the side of the A62 at Standedge, Huddersfield.
Just remembered I think there is a mouse on the roof with the cats.
There used to be a jet plane by a bridge on the old A417 (Now A429) in Cirencester in the mid 90’s.
anyone remember the old tank on the old a5 at nesscliffe !!
If we’re going to mention military radio installations, and tanks, we should also mention all the old Eastern Bloc trucks that used to break down close by at the side of road in the 80’s. I can’t ever remember driving round Oxfordshire/ Northamptonshire with out seeing a few Raba’s and the like sitting at the side of the road with the cab up or changing a wheel.
Jeff…
Jelliot:
Back in the 80’s my father and I were tank dealers, and one day a bloke phoned up asking if we could get any ex Russian tanks. Dad thought it was a wind up as we were dealing with storage tanks, but I told him that I had heard one of the DJ’s on the radio talking about what to get the person that had everything. It turned out the answer was that if you had everything and wanted more then an ex Russian tank was the trendy thing to have.
Dad was pretty well connected as a dealer and by three phone calls inside half an hour, the answer was 9 grand each to buy, which was about what it was worth in scrap if everything was cleanly separated. Pass it on for 17 to 18 grand, if it wasn’t to far the transport was free (what a bargain). I never got to see one my self as all the transport was done by a contractor with a low loader, but dad had a great time. I think we sold 4 or 5 over about a year before the initial buzz wore of. At tick over they did about 3 minutes to the gallon, 45 gallon drum lasted about 3 times round the average field.Jeff…
I am well aware of the number of imported military hardware sought by enthusiasts,I am a keen reader of the “Classic Military Vehicle”,which is very interesting for anyone so minded.
Being a former Chieftain driving insructor of course I am intested,if I had the money that is what I would treat myself to,if I had the space.
There was one up for auction a few weeks ago with only 1,500 miles on the clock.
We have a local scrappy,Hamptons, who deals in military surplus,and a few years ago they had a pair of Chieftains used as gate guards,most impressive.
CHURCHILL TANK,NEAR THE M1,JUST OFF THE A616,ON THORNCLIFFE ROAD,NEXT TO WARREN LANE,CHAPELTOWN,SHEFFIELD.
INTRODUCTION.
The famous Newton Chambers engineering company and group was based at Thorncliffe,Chapeltown,Sheffield,that both created subsidary companies and took over existing ones,such as Izal,Redfyre and NCK = Newton Chambers Koehring - taken over companies included Ransomes & Rapier,Ronuck and Dawson MMP 
And most of these companies,including Newton Chambers itself,were based on the Thorncliffe works and industrial estate of Newton Chambers - this area was thriving! 
And then came the 1980s and the great business recession 
,which caused the Newton Chambers empire to contract,close down and sell off nearly all of it’s subsideries - some of which,too,closed down later on …Trianco-Redfyre and Dawson MMP are two of the few suvivors…
The fall of Newton Chambers mirrors the industrial decline of Great Britain over the last thirty-five years or so! 
These days,most of Thorncliffe works is now an housing estate! ,with a few un-factory like looking industrial units clustered together mainly in one area at the bottom of Thorncliffe Road,that are probably not even remotely connected to the Newton Chambers company - that’s if it still exists I don’t think it does.
NCK CRANES,EXCAVATORS,WALKING DRAGLINES,TANKS AND THE TANK FACTORY,AND NCK-RAPIER.
WIKIPEDIA:-
World War II
In 1939 the Thorncliffe works came under the control of the Admiralty. A new workshop was constructed at Warren Lane, a short distance away from the Thorncliffe works, which was used to build army vehicles and became the largest manufacturer of Churchill tanks for the war effort. One of the tanks used to stand at the side of the road near the factory till recently.
The infamous traitor, William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw), in one of his radio broadcasts threatened to “dot the I” on the Izal name with a bomb. It was intended to destroy the source of the Churchill tanks. A near miss ensued, but the works remained intact.UNQUOTE.
GERMAN LANDMINE.
Yes.The Germans tried to destroy the tank factory with a huge landmine,it exploded with such a force that it shook the whole area for miles around,including the small towns of Elsecar and Hoyland,which are around about three miles away from Warren Lane.My Father,being a fireman,was on duty at Elsecar Fire Station on the night that the land mine went off,he said that it shook every bone in his body and that he and the rest of the firemen all made for the fire station entrance at once! 
NCK-RAPIER.
Newton Chambers took over excavator manufactures,Ransomes & Rapiers in 1958 and formed NCK-Rapier and continued to make excavators both at Warren Lane and the Rapier factory at Ipswich.NCK made excavators before WW2 using Koehring designs from America.Right up until it closed down during the 1980s,the Warren Lane factory continued to be known as The Tank Factory.
THE CHURCHILL TANK.
In order to remember the Tank Factory’s valuable contribution to the United Kingdom’s war effort in World War Two,a partly restored Churchill Tank was put on display near the site of the former NCK-Rapier excavator “Tank Factory” at Warren Lane ,above ten years since at least.
THE CHURCHILL TANK…WHERE IS IT NOW? 
Unfortunatly,this Churchill Tank vanished sometime in 2007 
Why? There are several stories going round as for the reason for it’s dissapearance,including that A.It was stolen by metal thieves ;B.It was sold to military vehicle enthusiast,Neil Montgomery,for restoration;C.It was sold to another enthusiast down in London and was being restored at a location near Fulham Football Club;D.It was sold to a museum somewhere.Sheffield City Council doesn’t seem to know …or is not telling…
I do hope that Warren Lane-Thorncliffe Road,Chapeltown,Sheffield,gets this Churchill Tank back!
From WIKIPEDIA:-
Type
Infantry tank
Place of origin
United Kingdom
Service history
In service
1941—1952 (British Empire)
Used by
United Kingdom
Soviet Union
Canada
Ireland
Poland
Designer
Harland and Wolff (A20)/ Vauxhall Motors (A22)
Manufacturer
Vauxhall Motors
Produced
1941 to 1945
Number built
7,368 (all types together)
Variants
See below
Specifications
Weight
38.5 t (37.9 long tons)
Length
24 ft 5 in (7.44 m)
Width
10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Height
8 ft 2 in (2.49 m)
Crew
5 (commander, gunner, loader/radio operator, driver, co-driver/hull gunner)
Armour
16 to 102 mm (In the MK VII front armour 152 mm)
Main
armament
QF 2 pdr (early Marks)/Ordnance QF 75 mm (later Marks)
Secondary
armament
2 × 7.92 mm Besa machine guns
Engine
Bedford horizontally opposed twin-six petrol engine
350 hp (261 kW) at 2,200 rpm
Power/weight
9.1 hp/tonne
Transmission
Merritt-Brown 4 speed constant mesh epicyclic gearbox
Suspension
coiled spring
Operational
range
90 km
Speed
15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Steering
system
triple differential steering in gearbox
WIKIPEDIA:-Full details of the Churchill Tank:-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_tank
CHURCHILL TANK,NEAR THE M1,JUST OFF THE A616,ON THORNCLIFFE ROAD,NEXT TO WARREN LANE,CHAPELTOWN,SHEFFIELD.View 1:-
CHURCHILL TANK,NEAR THE M1,JUST OFF THE A616,ON THORNCLIFFE ROAD,NEXT TO WARREN LANE,CHAPELTOWN,SHEFFIELD.View 2:-
VALKYRIE
What about the fir plantation on the r/h side of the A40 on the hill between Monmouth and Symond’s Yat. One species of tree was a different shade and spelt out “E11R” for the 1977 Silver Jubilee or summat like that.
Chris Webb:
What about the fir plantation on the r/h side of the A40 on the hill between Monmouth and Symond’s Yat. One species of tree was a different shade and spelt out “E11R” for the 1977 Silver Jubilee or summat like that.
You could read ER in the trees quite a few years ago but I think they were planted way before 1977, I’m sure they were there in the 60’s, they may have been planted in 1953.
i should imagine that the thread title would include a certain truck net member thumbing it home when in’t raf . well it does say PAST and present . anon in the peaks
Trev_H:
Chris Webb:
What about the fir plantation on the r/h side of the A40 on the hill between Monmouth and Symond’s Yat. One species of tree was a different shade and spelt out “E11R” for the 1977 Silver Jubilee or summat like that.You could read ER in the trees quite a few years ago but I think they were planted way before 1977, I’m sure they were there in the 60’s, they may have been planted in 1953.
Yes they were Trev,I forgot that I’d seen them years before 77. Put it down to old age and poverty.
rigsby:
i should imagine that the thread title would include a certain truck net member thumbing it home when in’t raf . well it does say PAST and present . anon in the peaks
Don’t know what tha means Dave…
Evening Gentlemen, T34s, beautiful tanks, wonderfully simple design, quick, manouverable, and heavily armoured. Yes, there are a few around, the first ones came in from Angola, then as the wall came down, access to supplies became easier.
Dave, curnock, both the examples you refer to came via William Gallagher at Atcham, nr Shrewsbury. In fact curnock is refering to the collection of Williams stock that was on the front of the Three Pigeons at Nessclife, (gave Dillon a lot of trade)!
I had a T34. 85mm for a fair few years. Powered by a 36litre dry sump V12, (two 1920s Fiat car engines converted to diesel with a common sump, but only weigh around 30cwts). 5speed constant mesh box. US designed Christie running gear, (turned down by the US Government), and taken up by the Russians. If you loose a track, you can still drive and turn!! Speed around 35mph…rocket speed in WW11 terms. Electric and air start. I used to use a compressed air bottle outside the tank to start her, then disconnect before driving off! Using the batteries was a once only job, the effort killed them! Very sobering when you looked down at the compressed air bottle and hand primer situated between the tillers…if you stalled her in action, that was your only means of restarting!!! Very sobering, even more so when you looked down to the right, infront of the machine gunners position, and contemplated the small hatch, secured by ten large bolts…the escape hatch!!
I used to lug her around behind my Mack Interstator, RIJ 334, (later AUE 267 S), shown on the International thread. What a lovely lorry. Finally sold her to Mike Stallward at R&R, down at Bethersden. He sent someone up to collect her, (Star Plant, Folkeston)■■, with a little 95, and tandem King…told him it was too small…no it is`nt, …last thing I saw was a set of rigger boots launched skyward as I broke his trailer in two!!! They still remember it in the village today…not often you see a Russian tank with red stars sitting in the middle of a wrecked trailer in a bit of Shropshire…Still we got it to Kent on a proper trailer next day, (and I think King mended his trailer for free)
Yes I enjoyed my tanks, all of them, but particularly my T34!
Cheerio for now…
Trev_H:
Chris Webb:
What about the fir plantation on the r/h side of the A40 on the hill between Monmouth and Symond’s Yat. One species of tree was a different shade and spelt out “E11R” for the 1977 Silver Jubilee or summat like that.You could read ER in the trees quite a few years ago but I think they were planted way before 1977, I’m sure they were there in the 60’s, they may have been planted in 1953.
If the old memory cells are working today I think the trees would have been planted in 1963 to celebrate ten years of the Queen’s reign.
