Trailer queries

David_Hayward (RIP) · #1 14-09-04, 21:07

Can anyone i.d. some mystery trailers please? The first is a 20-ton 8-wheel semi- for use with Diamond T 980/981 tractors for instance. These were imported but who made 'em? Note the D60S Dodges in the background which you have seen before..probably to Canadian order but no proof.

Richard Farrant · #2 14-09-04, 22:10

David,

This trailer was built by Trailmobile Trailer Co. and was used with the 20 ton Federal tractor. It has to be US origin because the manual is listed as TM10-1121.

Richard

Oliver Missing · #3 14-09-04, 22:37

Older Thread :
http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...ht=trailmobile.
I would really love to have more information.
Oliver.

David_Hayward (RIP) · #4 14-09-04, 23:06

Richard, the Census List shows that the Federal 20 ton 6 x4-4 Semi-Trailer rig was to S/M 2149...Pearsons assembled the Federals and I have a photo of one. Census Numbers L 4919986 to 4920435. However note no 'H' prefix! The trailers were to the same Contract S/M 2149 and allocated X 5847938 to 5848387. 450 units each. However 'Trailer 20 ton 8 wheel (4 twin)' was 'Separated from Contract S/M 2149'. However I think I made a mis-judgement...I assumed that this back end of the truck below was a Diamond T 980/981 but the fifth-wheel arrangement on the DTs seems to differ. It is in fact a Diamond T Census Number H 5292557 to S/M 2147. It appears that the Trailmobile trailers were originally for use with the Federal 604 tractors , and then the trailers were split off from the contract and then used with converted Diamoind T 980/981 tractors,

Note the semi-trailer above was 'assembled' by Pearsons in Liverpool and the previous one was 'assembled' by Lep Transport in Goole. Both companies assembled PKD Diamond T 980/981 and 968/969 6 x 4 trucks!

David_Hayward (RIP) · #5 14-09-04, 23:18

David_Hayward (RIP) · #6 14-09-04, 23:19

The top one I guessed was a 40-tonner Dyson ‘Trailer 40 ton 24 wheel transporter’ or is it a Rogers? They were towed by Diamond T 980/981 and Mack LPSW dumpers.

The bottom one I thought was a smoke generator but it's totally different from the Krieger 4-wheel units used with HAR-1 G/S trucks. Is it a generator??

gjamo · #7 15-09-04, 00:15

Here one thats available in Melbourne Australia.
But I think the owner has the decimal point in the wrong place.
Wishes he could get $800.00 for it.
I have detail pics if anyone is interested in its construction.

Keith Webb · #8 15-09-04, 00:36

Quote:

Originally posted by gjamo
Here one thats available in Melbourne Australia.
But I think the owner has the decimal point in the wrong place.
Wishes he could get $800.00 for it.
I have detail pics if anyone is interested in its construction.

Any idea what the application was? Are they 16" CMP rims?

Richard Farrant · #9 15-09-04, 09:56

Quote:

Originally posted by gjamo
Here one thats available in Melbourne Australia.
But I think the owner has the decimal point in the wrong place.
Wishes he could get $800.00 for it.
I have detail pics if anyone is interested in its construction.

I think this trailer has been shown before on MLU, it looks like a 2 ton Sentinel trailer chassis, although the mudguards are not the shape normally fitted to the flat bed version used for gen sets, etc. It may have been a box body which has been removed. Possibly another left over from the British Army at Woomera? If it is a Sentinel it dates from early 50's and Keith, you are correct about the wheels, they are the British WD divided type of 900-16.

Richard

Pete Ashby · #10 18-09-04, 22:40

Nigel Dawe has provided an answer for the second trailer question I have copied his e-mail below

Hi Pete,

Having trouble logging on to the Maple leaf Up forum, so could you do it please.

Under the heading 'Trailer Queries' Sept. 15th., David thinks the second of the two trailers shown maybe a 'Smoke Generator'. It most certainly aint.

It's a 'Chance Light' airfield lighting unit mounted on a Brockhouse trailer. The engine driven generator is in the box housing, and there is a double 'Chance Light' fitted, one on top of the other.

I KNOW it's a 'Chance Light' as we have a single unit in the RMARG museum at Welford, rescued from Grove airfield. The protective sliding doors are shut across the two glass light covers, so making its use somewhat hidden. At the very top, the chimney like protrusion is in fact the housing for the red glass illuminated 'obstruction' light. We are missing the red glass dome for ours, it got accidentally smashed during a storm the very night before ours was due for collection the next day ! Our's is either a 'ground' mounted unit, but it could have been mounted as a single removable unit on a trailer. You can actually see the (three) levelling legs in the photo, with the hand wound 'wheels' on top of them, exactly the same as ours.

'Chance' was the name of the manufacturer, in peacetime they made lighthouse lamps and lenses.

Nige

David_Hayward (RIP) · #11 18-09-04, 23:50

Thanks Pete! There is no listing I can find under 'Brockhouse' [not Brockway...Freudian slip as this nutter I know keeps ringing me up asking if I know about Brockway trucks] at this juncture but they may have been allocated an RAF Census Number and thus do not appear on my WD listing. After I read your comment I immediately went to my 'An Account of Our Stewardship' book, the 1946 Vauxhall book. Hendon Plant packed an RAF beacon with generator that was mounted on a 4-wheel trailer. The trailer was shown disassembled and then ready for crating, and also being towed by H 4484759...this was in fact a Bedford QLB, in the range H 4483034 to 4484804, to V.3949, 'Tractor 4 x 4 Light A.A.'. I suspect that the truck was used just to show off the trailer rather than an obsolete QLB being re-used.

On the subject of the Willys trailers, well I found them under...'Willys', in the main vehicle section so thanks for that one. I am conjecting here that they were originally intended to be pulled by Jeeps and yet there they are, same trailers being used as trailers behind F60B Bofors CMPs on more than one occasion. Originally the F60Bs were 'H' prefixed as I said, as tractors, but at some point by late '44 they were re-allocated as 'self-propelled' units and acquired 'S' prefixes. At that point I assume that the trialers were allocated elsewhere?

The top 24-wheel [40 ton?] trailer is still a mystery. It was acquired under Demand S/M 6155 but despite a thorough search of the Index listings I cannot find any contract with that number. Any ideas please? Mind you though, no Trailmobile trailers are listed though these could be to Canadian order exclusively.

Richard Farrant · #12 19-09-04, 00:27

Quote:

Originally posted by David_Hayward
There is no listing I can find under 'Brockway' at this juncture but they may have been allocated an RAF Census Number and thus do not appear on my WD listing.

David,
The trailer is a Brockhouse, a British manufacturer. (Brockway is a US truck maker). This particular piece of equipment would most likely be Air Ministry, but Brockhouse trailers for other uses do come in the Chilwell list.

Richard