Carrier grave yards

Ben · #1 15-01-11, 23:20

Hi Shaun

I emailed the Belgium tank museum about the Brens, they said they were scrapped after a member of staff from the IWM said they were too far gone.

Seems a shame if it's true.

Ben

shaun · #2 15-01-11, 23:22

i did not want to say it but that is what i was told. they would have been good for paterns if that was all they should have not been scrapped.

roy206 · #3 15-01-11, 23:34

last june we were in kapellen and out there was 2 carriers,they are so unbelievable bad. everything on it was scrap,even the tracks are so stucked that even jump on a part from 1 meter that was hanging in the air no effect had. i guess that these are the carriers from your pictures shaun

shaun · #4 15-01-11, 23:55

THE NORFOLK CARRIER GRAVE YARD, When i was a young boy my father and i had been hearing stories about a carrier in a farm , after 5 years of chasing up leads on christmas eve 1983 i came across the farm by chance in the middle of the country side. the following photos were taken on new years day 1984. This carrier finished behind the bulkhead. I did recover this one about 2 years later and the front armour is now on the carrier i am running (puddle Jumper). and yes i did need a hair cut ! My father John is in the flat cap.

shaun · #5 16-01-11, 00:09

can you see a carrier in this picture ?

shaun · #6 16-01-11, 00:12

well here it is a bit closer, it a welded hul , very badly cut about and the fermers scrapped it not long after these photos were taken in 1984. it still had 2 spare track links in a stowage bin in the floor

Lynn Eades · #7 16-01-11, 00:17

What a shame. I could have done with those air ducts. You just dont find them laying about everywhere.
With their curved sides, they were only made like that prior to the Universals.
Shaun, are you able to send me some higher resolution images of the brens?

shaun · #8 16-01-11, 00:23

T16's - there were 3 in the pile on my first vist , and only 2 the next time so i made sure they were not going to cut them up. i recovered them about 2 years later, one is now being restored by a friend near manchester the other i sold to Kevin Wheatcroft, but i have seen it on milweb in the last year for sale again and still not restored.

shaun · #9 16-01-11, 00:28

here are the remains of 2 other carrier. I managed to recover these in 1998, one of which Ben is now restoring.

shaun · #10 16-01-11, 00:39

Here is the first carrier i recovered and restored,(yes there is a carrier in the first photo ) it had a mountain of scrap infront of it and a tree grown trough the rear. after many hours over several weekends we finally recovered it. it was a MMG carrier, I loaned all the MG fittings to a guy to copy and never got them back. as soon as it was home i tried a bren for size and it still fitted !

Hanno Spoelstra · #11 21-01-11, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaun

T16's - there were 3 in the pile on my first vist , and only 2 the next time so i made sure they were not going to cut them up. i recovered them about 2 years later, one is now being restored by a friend near manchester the other i sold to Kevin Wheatcroft, but i have seen it on milweb in the last year for sale again and still not restored.

Thanks Shaun, sorry to hear that T16 you rescued is still awaiting its turn.

Is it one of the two shown below? They were offered for sale last year by John Price.

53843.jpg 53155.jpg

shaun · #12 21-01-11, 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

Thanks Shaun, sorry to hear that T16 you rescued is still awaiting its turn.

Is it one of the two shown below? They were offered for sale last year by John Price.

Hanno - both of those T16's i recovered and are the ones in the photos. the one with the complete side armour was out of pounds.

lincwel · #13 23-01-11, 13:49

Last summer my son and I found 2 carriers in a local yard. One is under a pile of scrap and maybe top armour is cut off and the other was shortened to be a snowplow. Owner said they could be for sale but I've never followed up on this. I don't have a price on them but may go back in spring to have another look

Smith out

Hanno Spoelstra · #14 27-11-11, 20:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaun

T16's - there were 3 in the pile on my first vist , and only 2 the next time so i made sure they were not going to cut them up. i recovered them about 2 years later, one is now being restored by a friend near manchester the other i sold to Kevin Wheatcroft, but i have seen it on milweb in the last year for sale again and still not restored.

One of these is now back in the hands of the MLU carrier family - see Eddy's posting over on HMVF.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddy8men

there was a nice complete t16 in belgium a couple of months back for £8.5k which was a fair price but it's sold now, as for the one in the states i think once the shipping cost is factored in it just doesn't stack up, if it were me i'd look closer to home first.
i bought this one a couple of weeks ago from a fella in stafford for £2.5k which goes to show they are still out there if you know where to look

car_021.jpg

shaun · #15 27-11-11, 22:22

Rick well done matey !!!! i owned that one for about 15 years and never did a thing to it . I know you will get it done !!!!

Hanno Spoelstra · #16 20-01-11, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by roy206

last june we were in kapellen and out there was 2 carriers,they are so unbelievable bad. everything on it was scrap,even the tracks are so stucked that even jump on a part from 1 meter that was hanging in the air no effect had. i guess that these are the carriers from your pictures shaun

Wait a minute - sorry to have missed this the first time I read this thread, Roy.

You say last June there were still 2 of these carriers left? That is great news.

Hanno Spoelstra · #17 20-01-11, 21:48

Here are some of my pictures I took in July 1985 when I visited the famous Pounds Yard at Portsmouth: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=34673

A veritable carrier grave yard!

Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-T16_Carrier-2-resized.jpg Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-T16_Carrier-resized.jpg Portsmouth-Pounds_Yard-1985-Windsor Carrier-resized.jpg

RichardT10829 · #18 20-01-11, 22:14

Hanno, it makes me cry every time i see pics from pounds yard...but alas life goes on as they say.

shaun · #19 20-01-11, 22:38

Here is a T16 i managed to get from Pounds in 1998 this was sold to Kevin Wheatcroft 2008. The bottom run of track on both sides had rotted away as it had been sitting in the salt water. this has been again for sale on milweb in the past few months but now with out the tracks and still not restored. Have you stopped crying yet Richard or do i need to take you and show you 2 tanks laying on a Norfolk beach ?

RichardT10829 · #20 21-01-11, 08:01

Nooooooooo. hahahaha it is sad though guys you have to admit

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