Little Red Engine

[jjcurran]

Hello Andy... JJ here.
With regard to a rail bogey you describe, there was one over to the right of Donnelly’s Hollow. The manual drive (up/down lever) was seized but there was a small bogey which many a time I pushed to the top of a slight incline and hopped on as it returned to the bottom.
In 1959 it was in poor repair and had been unused for many years. Total length of track was only about 30 yds. I just taught this was the bogey you remember.
Regards
JJ

[andybrennan]

JJ,

As I said to Maura either of you could e right and I suspect that both of you are with possibly two different bogey's in two different locations.

[andybrennan]

JJ,


I to remember firing the energa, kick like a mule, but am sure that I fired it at a stationery target, what ever hope of hitting a target standing still with arms outstretched I had none if it was moving, and a rather big pencil would have been required to make a score un like the rifle range

Andy

[liamkearney]

Hi JJ
I remember that little bogey very well, I also used to push it to the top of the track and jump on for the trip down. We were meant to jump off before it reached the bottom because there were a load of big stones to stop it, but as you can probably guess by now on one trip I stayed on board till I hit the rocks. I then had to go home and give my Father some B------t about how I got the cut over my eye,great memories.

[charlie004]

Hi Andy, I well remember the day WE fired the energa and it was to a standing target.The one I fired was a tight fit on the old FN, and when I fired it, blew me on me arse,blew me tin hat off and left me on a heap in a trench.You must remember that as you all laughed your legs off at the sight of me.I even saw the funny side of it myself when the pain stopped.Dont know where the energa ended up. Charlie.

[andybrennan]

Aaaaah Charlie,

What a thing to say that a fellow soldier would laugh at the misfortune of another, that energa is probably like some of the horses I backed over the years, still running.

Andy

[Matt McNamara]

Mar 11, 2011 19:09:43 GMT jjcurran said:

Hi Johnny...JJ here.
Thank you for clearing up the pedigree of the little red/green engine. You say the original colour was Olive Green. When did metamorthous take plsce and the green turn to red? I expect there was an oversupply of red paint at some stage.
As I remember there was a winch/pully mechanism on the ranges which looked to me like the engine was at some stage used to pull moving targets. I am thinking back 52 years so maybe my hard drive is 'fragmented'.
Regards JJ

No JJ your Hard Drive is fine

Matt

[johnnykelly]

Re; The Little Red Engine
Hi all
Matt nice photos of the old sheds that used to stand just outside the butts between 3/4 ranges closer to No 4 butts this is probably the pulley referred to by JJ as i remember a little gap in the wall possible to run a cable through that faced No 4 butts, nice to see the photos of the sheds, johnny

[jjcurran]

Hi Matt,
Glad to see from photos that I’m not gone gaga yet. I note from the condition of the machinery that it is ‘slightly under polished’. Perhaps the higher echelons of the army realised that whatever chance you had of getting a recruit to qualify on the ranges while firing at stationary targets, there was no hope when firing at moving targets.
Regards
JJ

[livenowpraylater]

The Motor Rail & Tramcar Co. Ltd. was formed in 1911 and the first meeting of the directors, Mr. John Abbott (chairman) and accountant Mr. George Gale, took place at the registered office at 79 Lombard St., London. At this meeting George Gale was appointed company secretary at a salary of £100 per annum. John Abbott took one thousand shares in the new company, with George Gale taking one hundred. The intention of the new company was to manufacture and sell railcars and tramcars utilising petrol engines and the Simplex gearbox. The first vehicles were built at the Phoenix Ironworks at Lewes, Susnookie. The arrangements for the use of these works cannot have been ideal because by 1914 the company was looking for new premises and several enquiries were made and sites visited. However, at a board meeting of October 1914 it was agreed that in view of the uncertainty of matters generally created by the war, the idea of a new works was to be abandoned for the present. However, the matter became urgent in 1916 after a meeting with the consulting engineers of the War Office, Messrs. Rendall, Palmer & Tritton. The War Office required “Petrol Trench Tractors” of 600-mm gauge that were capable of drawing 10 to 15 Tons at 5 miles per hour and the MRTC tendered for and was successful in gaining a contract to build the Tractors.

John Abbott had visited Germany in about 1911 and was alarmed at the stockpiles of light railway equipment for army use, including internal combustion locomotives. Worried that there was no British equivalent for use on temporary military supply railways, he set about designing such a machine. The first tractor was produced in 1915. John’s sons, Tom Dixon Abbott and John Dixon Abbott were also involved in the design of the so-called Simplex Tractor, and indeed they jointly submitted a patent application for the Tractor (No. 127399) in 1918.

Early in 1916 the MRTC entered into an agreement with the Bedford Engineering Company to use its premises at Houghton Road, Bedford and by May of that year had also opened its own office at 33 Houghton Road. John Abbott died on the 23rd of August 1916 and his eldest son, John Dixon Abbott was elected to the office of Chairman. The younger son, Tom Dixon Abbott had joined the board only a month before the death of his father. John remained as Chairman until 1957 and Tom would be actively involved until 1963.

Most of the workforce at Bedford was shared between locomotive and crane manufacture and the first Simplex Tractor produced at Bedford took 3 months to produce, but by the end of the year they could produce 20-25 per week using a workforce of less than 20. Tractors could be produced at this rate primarily due to the subcontracting of major parts manufacture. All major parts except the frame were bought in and final assembly took place at Bedford Engineering. Deliveries continued through 1917 and 1918, with over 700 tractors of 20 Horsepower and 40 Horsepower types delivered in 1918. At the start of 1918, a new site was purchased in Bedford, this being a former laundry in Elstow Road. Later that year, it was also possible to purchase further land at the front of the works, including the access road, and land at the rear including a rear access point. The company office moved to 16 Elstow Road in January. The first full batch of locos to be produced at the new works comprised works number 1642 onwards.

The following year John Dixon Abbott resigned from his post of General Manager, becoming Consulting Engineer to the company, a post that he retained during all his remaining years as Chairman. The post of General Manager was subsequently shared between Tom Dixon Abbott and a new appointee to the board, Alexander Harris-Brown.
derek 38 seconds.

edwad.

[livenowpraylater]

British Railway History Item
Top
LNER Class Simplex London & North Eastern Railway Y11 0-4-0 Petrol Engine
Built 1930. Designed by Motor, Rail and Tram Car Co.

Total Number Built 3 - Total to BR 3.

Introduced 1921. Petrol engined locos, built by the Motor, Rail and Tram Car Co., Bedford.

Number Series 68188-68189 and Departmental L4.

Later renumbered 15098, 15099 and 15097 respectively.

Built at the Motor, Rail and Tram Car Co. Simplex Works, Bedford.

These three strange engines were chain driven with a two speed gearbox and looked like garden sheds on wheels.

Taken into stock of the North British Railway and then the London & North Eastern Railway, they remainded unclassified until 1943.

No. 68189 was renumbered from LNER 8189 in January 1949 and then to No. 15099 during the third week of May the same year. It had a varied career, being built in March 1921, builder's No. 2037, and purchased by the North British Railway Co. in 1922. It was first used at Kelso, but in July 1930 it was replaced by Class Y1 Sentinal No. 9529 (later BR No. 68138) and transferred south, being employed at Ware goods yard until withdrawn. It was fitted with a taller cab after it was damaged by fire, which altered its appearance from its sister engines.

No. 68188 was renumbered 15098 during the first week of may 1949. It was purchased by the London & North Eastern Railway in 1925 and was initially used for shunting coal wagons at Stratford shed. Later, it moved out to Brentwood, where at one time it had the unofficial name "Peggy" painted on it, and remained there until withdrawn.

The third Simplex was in Departmental stock at Nationalisation in 1948 numbered L4, being based at Greenland Creosote Depot, West Hartlepool. It became BR No. 15097 im May 1949.

The first loco withdrawn was L4 (15098) in June 1950 from Darlington Works.
The second loco withdrawn was 68188 (15098) on 4 September 1956 from Stratford shed.
The last loco withdrawn was 68189 (15099) on 21 November 1956 from Stratford shed.

None are preserved.


Motive Power Details
Weight: Loco 8 tons 0 cwt
Horse Power : 40.

edward