WW1 Military Motors - 1916 set x 50 cards

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A rear wheel chain-drive Albion A10 32 hp 3-ton WD Lorry, fitted with a waterproof cover to protect the driver's cab.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Scalyback]

Any scale model kits of the trucks on the market? Top draw as always LF.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Any scale model kits of the trucks on the market?

Scalyback,

Not seen any ' Albion ' WW1 lorry kits as yet, but will keep a look out for one.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

With the introduction of their A10 3-ton Lorry and its subsequent WW1 wartime production, ' Albion ' became a commercial vehicle manufacturer. However, initially, the Albion Motor Car Company had manufactured a series of small motor cars, starting in 1900 with their 8 hp Albion A1.

LF

The 1900 8 hp Albion A1 motor car chassis.

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

The Crown Prince of Siam with his 8 hp Albion A1 motor car.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

The 1903 16 hp Albion A3 Motor Car.

LF

These images are reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A 16 hp Albion A3, the chassis for which was later used on Albion's A3 small commercial vehicle.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An Albion A3 chassis used as a small commercial vehicle, fitted to a 1907 fire truck.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A 24 hp Albion motor car, made for one of Albion's Managing Directors.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

With Albion's much larger 1909 A6 motor car, we can start to see a bodywork design which will later be incorporated into the design of Albion's A10 Lorry.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An early ' Albion ' advertisement for their A1 motor car, showing their original address in Glasgow, 169 Finnieston Street.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Albion's original premises at 169 Finnieston Street, Glasgow.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An ' Albion ' motor car chassis, showing the chain-drive to both rear wheels.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An interesting November 1909 ' Albion ' advertisement which emphasises Albion's Scottish connection with the use of the thistle artwork, and also shows that although Albion sold their own vehicles directly in Scotland, for sales south of the border, they used another English motor car company, the London based Lacre Motor Company, on whose stand at the Olympia Motor Show that year Albion displayed their vehicles, and for a period of time, Lacre was Albion's sole agent in England and Wales.

The advertisement also refers to Albion's new 24-30 hp. model.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Albion's 24-30 hp. motor car.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An Albion advertisement, confirming the London based Lacre Motor Co. Ltd., as being their sole concession in England and Wales, subsequently, Albion opened their own London office.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Albion's early sales slogan and logo relating to the reliability and dependability of their vehicles, which were as " Sure as the Sunrise ". Albion were later to use the ' sunrise ' badge on their vehicle radiators.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Albion's later ' Sunrise ' radiator badge.

LF

This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[ifanlloyd]

Scalybac

Convoy models do a resin kit for the GS loorry in 1:76.

Not sure of it's availability.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Because of their reliability and durability, the Albion A10 Lorry was considered highly suitable for the rugged terrain and climate of the Salonika Front.

In the attached photograph, we see a large convoy of Albion A10 Lorries from the 689 Motor Transport Company, Army Service Corps, parked on the Seres Road, Salonika, while the drivers take a tea break. The ASC drivers are wearing the heavy canvas, sheepskin lined ASC Driver's Coat ( Coat, sheepskin lined ), which was specifically designed to keep ASC drivers warm in their open cab vehicles. The coat had a large fur collar, and metal front fastenings instead of buttons.

LF

IWM32741 This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

A burning Albion A10 Lorry in Salonika.

This Albion A10 Lorry, was destroyed during an air raid on Salonika in March 1917.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

[Tomo.T]

William Tritton was born in London on 19th June 1875, the son of a London Stockbroker. He was educated at Christ's College, Finchley and King's College, London, becoming an expert in agricultural machinery.

In 1906, he joined William Foster & Co. Ltd., of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, who at that time, were one of the world's leaders in the design and manufacture of agricultural machinery. In 1911, W. Tritton became the Managing Director of Fosters.

Prior to WW1, Fosters of Lincoln had already established a relationship with the War Office, and during the Boer War had supplied their ' Fowler ' Traction Engines to the British Army.

As a result of that experience during the Boer War, Fosters had designed and built a prototype armoured ' Fowler ' Traction Engine known as the ' Fowler B5 ' ( photograph attached ).

In 1914, at the request of the War Office, Fosters collaborated with Daimler to produce the ' Daimler Foster Heavy Tractor '.

Following the success of the ' Daimler Foster Heavy Tractor ', Tritton was again approached by the War Office to develop a machine that could negotiate the terrain of the Western Front and deal with front line obstacles such as barbed wire and trenches.

Tritton's initial idea was to have a heavily armoured and armed Daimler Foster Heavy Tractor, similar in design to Fosters' previous ' Fowler B5 ' armoured tractor, which was also equipped to deal with both barbed wire and deep trenches.

By May 1915, the prototype of ' The Tritton Trench Crosser ' was ready for War Office field trials in Lincoln. The Tritton Trench Crosser was a Foster Heavy Tractor fitted with a modified pair of in-line front wheels on an elongated chassis under which was hung a ' Trench Bridge ' . When a trench was reached, the machine ran forward until the second front wheel was at the near edge of the trench, the first wheel being in suspension over the trench. The chain catch was then released and the ' Trench Bridge ' was lowered to span the trench, allowing the Trench Crosser to cross over the trench followed by other vehicles and infantry.

Although the ' Tritton Trench Crosser ' performed satisfactorily, it was generally considered to be too cumbersome, and was not accepted or adopted by the War Office.

However, Tritton and Fosters were retained by the War Office's ' Landship Committee ' with their subsequent work resulting in the development of the first ' Tank ', for which William Tritton was knighted in 1917.

In 1919, William Tritton was also awarded the than very large sum of 15,000 pounds for his work on the development of the tank, and he was officially recognized as the Tank's co-inventor along with W. G. Wilson.

LF

Foster's prototype armoured ' Fowler B5 ' Traction Engine.

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Hi LF,

I feel the urge to correct your post regarding Fosters of Lincoln. Although Fosters were heavily engaged in War work, including the development of the tank, they were not responsible for the building or supply of Fowler steam traction engines, which were built in Leeds by John Fowler & Co. Many of these were used at home or behind the lines in France in various sizes. Fosters also built traction engines and steam tractors and these too were supplied to the War Department.

The B5 armoured engines supplied by Fowlers for the Boer War, were not a great success in service due to the intense heat generated inside. The armoured boxes were soon stripped off and were dug in as static defence posts. The engines were then employed as normal traction engines, much to the relief of the crews I imagine.

Great Thread, Thanks.

Tomo.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Hi LF,

I feel the urge to correct your post regarding Fosters of Lincoln. Although Fosters were heavily engaged in War work, including the development of the tank, they were not responsible for the building or supply of Fowler steam traction engines, which were built in Leeds by John Fowler & Co. Many of these were used at home or behind the lines in France in various sizes. Fosters also built traction engines and steam tractors and these too were supplied to the War Department.

The B5 armoured engines supplied by Fowlers for the Boer War, were not a great success in service due to the intense heat generated inside. The armoured boxes were soon stripped off and were dug in as static defence posts. The engines were then employed as normal traction engines, much to the relief of the crews I imagine.

Great Thread, Thanks.

Tomo.

Tomo,

Many thanks for the pointing out the Fowler/Foster error, which looking back through my notes is a clumsy typing error, as in posts 2331 - 2338, I do get ' Fowler of Leeds ' in the right context.

Anyway, I very much appreciate you following the Thread and reading the posts, leading to your spotting the error and I shall edit the post so that it reads correctly.

Regards,

LF

[Tomo.T]

The British Army had been using ' Fowler ' Traction Engines long before WW1, and here is a photograph of 2 Fowler Traction Engines crossing the Modder River during the Boer War.

LF

IWM This image is reproduced strictly for non-commercial research and private study purposes as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised.

Hope you don't mind me pointing this out as well !

The engine in the river is indeed a Fowler, the one on the bank is a Burrell, built in Thetford by Charles Burrell & Sons.

Regards,

Tomo

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Hope you don't mind me pointing this out as well !

The engine in the river is indeed a Fowler, the one on the bank is a Burrell, built in Thetford by Charles Burrell & Sons.

Regards,

Tomo

Tomo,

Not at all, as my posts are made during the course of my own learning curve regarding these various topics, and I appreciate any information anyone gives which will enhance this Thread, and my knowledge, including any corrections.

That particular photograph is from the Imperial War Museum photograph collection No. Q 72855 and the IWM caption reads " Fowler steam traction engines crossing the Modder River during the Second Boer War ", as they had used the plural for " engines ", I incorrectly assumed they were both ' Fowlers ', now I can go off and read up about Charles Burrell & Sons of Thetford, and I am sure if there is any WW1 connection, posts on the ' Burrell ' traction engine will be forthcoming.

Again, I appreciate your interest in the Thread and your pointing out the correct information. Also, I enjoy seeing any photographs anyone posts.

Regards,

LF