WW1 Military Motors - 1916 set x 50 cards

[Lancashire Fusilier]

An excellent detailed photograph of a Belgian Army dog-drawn machine gun cart taken shortly after the Armistice, during a funding raising tour of America by the Belgian unit.

The photograph is full of details of the Belgian Army machine gun cart, the Belgian soldiers uniforms and equipment, and those superb dogs, the Matin-Belge ( Belgian Mastiffs ).

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]

2 final photographs of the Belgian dog-drawn machine gun cart, which show the excellent replica Dog Cart the Belgians built to commemorate the centenary of the start of WW1. Although no original Belgian dog-drawn machine gun cart survives today, working from photographs and also the examples of the 2 surviving dog-drawn Ammunition Carts, they were able to build an accurate replica of the original machine gun cart,

The result, was a superb example of the Maxim Machine Gun Cart drawn by a pair of Belgian Matin-Belge dogs.

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]

2.

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.

[MikeyH]

Lancs,

You must be psychic! Was thinking about asking you if any original or replica dog carts exist. My son and his partner have 2 rescue dogs, one of them Rebel is very like the Belgian dogs shown, in build and size. When out for long country walks, several hours minimum, he carries the days doggy food, drinks, playthings etc. in a sort of pannier with packs on both sides, all firmly strapped down.

Mike.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Lancs,

You must be psychic! Was thinking about asking you if any original or replica dog carts exist. My son has 2 rescue dogs, one of them Rebel is very like the Belgian dogs shown, in build and size. When out for long country walks, several hours minimum, he carries the days doggy food, drinks, playthings etc. in a sort of pannier with packs on both sides, all firmly strapped down.

Mike.

Mike,

The Belgian Machine Gun Cart replica looks superb, and your son's dog sounds like a great companion to walk with.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Although the German military used dogs extensively during WW1 as messenger dogs, guard dogs, ammunition carriers and also with medical units, there is scant photographic evidence that the Germans had dog-drawn machine guns carts, the only photograph I have seen thus far is of a WW1 Reichs Marine unit in Flanders equipped with dog-drawn machine gun carts and ammunition limbers.

With a plentiful supply of Belgian dogs trained to work with carts, were these dogs and dog carts used in Flanders by the German Marines, brought from Germany, or were they local Belgian dogs and dog carts ?

Here is a photograph of German Reichs Marines on the Flanders coast, with their dog-drawn machine gun carts and ammunition limbers.

LF

IWM49183 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]

Not exactly a dog-drawn machine gun cart, but it may still qualify as a German dog-drawn cart.

At a German dog hospital near Cambrai in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of Northern France, a German soldier feeds wounded and injured dogs at the hospital with food supplies carried in a dog-drawn cart.

LF

IWM79592 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]

As for the French, as yet, I have not seen any photograph showing a French WW1 dog-drawn machine gun cart. There is however, photographic evidence of the French military using dog-drawn carts.

Attached are two photo examples, one shows a French soldier with a dog-drawn cart carrying four 37 mm Trench Mortars, and the other is of French Marines in Nieuport, West Flanders, with dog-drawn carts, these dog-drawn carts could be local Belgian civilian dog-drawn carts being utilized by the French military rather than the dogs and dog-carts being French.

The first photograph, shows a French soldier with a dog-drawn cart carrying four 37 mm Trench Mortars somewhere on the Western Front.

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

French Marines in Nieuport, close to the Belgian coast in West Flanders, using dog-drawn carts.

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 photograph of General Allenby in his Vauxhall D-Type Staff Car, taken on December 11th 1917 at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem on the day he officially entered Jerusalem following the Turkish surrender.

Typically, the photographs taken on that historic day, show General Allenby entering Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate on foot.

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]

Foden WW1 Steam Wagons

Edwin Foden (1841-1911), was born on 5 August 1841 in Smallwood, near Sandbach, Cheshire, the son of the local Grocer. He left school at thirteen, and after two years as a village post-boy he took up an apprenticeship with the agricultural engineering firm of Plant & Hancock at Elworth, near Sandbach, Cheshire. To widen his engineering experience Edwin Foden took an Apprenticeship at the Crewe railway workshops and at another workshop in nearby Kidsgrove before returning to Elworth, where by the age of nineteen he was shop foreman. At age 25, he went into partnership with his old employer George Hancock to form Hancock & Foden. In 1870 Foden's partner, George Hancock retired, and Foden took sole control of the company and renamed the firm Edwin Foden & Sons, and 1882 Edwin Foden designed his first steam tractor.

In 1887 the company was renamed Edwin Foden Sons and Co Ltd. The company produced large industrial engines, as well as small stationary steam engines and agricultural traction engines.

In 1900 the first Foden ' Overtype ' steam wagon was produced, which carried its payload rather than pulling it as the traction engine did. It was this Foden ' Overtype ' Steam Wagon which was later to prove so successful with the British Army during WW1.

1901 To raise capital a new company was formed, Fodens Ltd, with Edwin as managing director and a business colleague, Cecil Brunner, as chairman.

Edwin Foden died on 31st August 1911, following his death, his sons William and Edwin Richard ran Fodens.

At the start of WW1, Fodens provided the War Department with a selection of Foden Steam Wagons and Trailers. The Army were very impressed with the Foden Steam Wagons and several large WD orders followed, with Fodens switching their entire production to wartime WD Steam Wagon orders.

Typically, the Foden steam Wagons supplied to the War Department were Foden's ' Overtype ' Wagons where the engine is mounted over a horizontal boiler. The Army's Foden Steam Wagons required both a Driver and a Fireman whose job it was to keep the coal fired boiler's firebox constantly filled with coal.

Another ideal wartime use for the Foden Steam Wagons was their being fitted with ' Thresh ' Disinfectors which utilized steam from the Foden Steam Wagon's engine to pipe hot steam into the ' Thresh ' sealed chambers containing the lice infected soldier's uniforms and blankets, with the hot steam killing the lice.

These Foden Delousing Wagons were critical in dealing with the lice infestations commonplace in the trenches on the Western Front, with the Army deploying some 100 Foden Delousing Wagons.

LF

Pre-WW1 versions of Foden's Steam Wagon.

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]

2.

[johnboy]

Edwin Richard Foden went on to form ERF in competition with Foden.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Edwin Richard Foden went on to form ERF in competition with Foden.

johnboy,

Interesting, and it also explains the origin of the ' ERF ' name.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Pre-WW1 Foden trade advertisement.

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.

[MikeyH]

Lancs,

Great Foden steam wagon photos. Believe it or not, a couple of companies based at Liverpool Docks were still using Sentinel Steamers for deliveries as far as Wigan and beyond well into the Fifities. They were very quiet, with excellent acceleration and the driver was always happy to toot the whistle when requested!

Mike.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Great Foden steam wagon photos. Believe it or not, a couple of companies based at Liverpool Docks were still using Sentinel Steamers for deliveries as far as Wigan and beyond well into the Fifities. They were very quiet, with excellent acceleration and the driver was always happy to toot the whistle when requested!

Mike,

This photograph should bring back some memories, it shows a Foden Steam Wagon being used to carry sacks of flour being unloaded by British troops at the docks in Calais in February 1917, the Steam Wagon behind the Foden is a ' Clayton ' Steam Wagon.

Regards,

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

In the following series of 3 photographs we see 2 Foden ' Overtype ' Steam Wagons crossing a pontoon bridge erected by the Royal Engineer over a canal somewhere in France. Not only are these photographs interesting as they relate to the Foden Steam Wagons, but also for the excellent details they provide of the R.E. Pontoon Bridge construction.

These photographs show W^D Steam Wagons Nos. S104 and S107 crossing the pontoon bridge. W^D Steam Wagons, were allocated the ' S ' census prefix.

It should also be noted that the left leg of the Steam Wagon's driver is outside of the cab, with the driver sitting almost half in the cab and half out of the cab, this was a deliberate seating position for the Steam Wagon driver as it placed him to the left of the large domed top of the cylinder cover behind the wagon's funnel, by seating the driver to the left, it greatly improved the driver's forward view of the road ahead, particularly when manoeuvring the 9 ton Steam Wagon over the Pontoon Bridge.

On later models of the Foden Steam Wagon, the design of the cylinder cover was shaped ( as shown in the previous post ) to further improve the driver's view of the road.

These photographs, were taken in May 1917.

LF

The first photograph shows the Foden Steam Wagon S107 on the centre of the Pontoon Bridge.

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Foden Steam Wagon No. S104 has almost completed the crossing of the Pontoon Bridge.

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Foden Steam Wagon No. S104, has safely completed the RE Pontoon Bridge crossing.

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Although this is a later model ' Clayton ' W^D Steam Wagon made by Clayton & Shuttleworth Ltd., of Lincoln, rather than a ' Foden ', it does clearly show the typical left side of the driver's cab on a Steam Wagon, the driver's seat, and the cab extension well for the driver's left leg to rest in, and whilst this seating arrangement places the driver partially in the cab and partially out of the cab, it does give the driver a much better view of the road ahead. Were the driver to be sitting completely inside the cab, both the wagon's funnel and the cylinder cover would greatly obscure the driver's forward view.

Also note the Steam Wagon's ever present water hose, rolled and stowed on the back of the wagon, which was essential in filling the wagon's tank with water.

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.

[johnboy]

Was there a reason for the low steering wheel?

[Lancashire Fusilier]

This excellent photograph dated 24th September 1917, gives a very detailed view of the front of a ' Foden ' Steam wagon, along with the Steam Wagon's Driver and Fireman. Also note, the revised shape of the wagon's cylinder cover, behind the funnel, with shaped ' shoulders ' to greatly improve the driver's forward view of the road ahead.

Of additional note, are the two railway style ' Buffers ' fitted to either side of the boiler, which were introduced in 1917 and were designed to reduce damage to the front of the Steam Wagon in the event of front impact, these buffers were also fitted to the rear of the Steam Wagon.

This photograph was taken near the village of Zillebeke in Flanders, which was the scene of heavy fighting during the Battle of Hill 60 ( 17th April - 7th May, 1915 ) and the Battle of Messines in 1917.

The village of Zillebeke is just 1.5 miles S.E. of Ypres.

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.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Was there a reason for the low steering wheel?

johnboy.

Although the steering ' wheel ' is low, the extension handle fitted to the wheel and used to actually steer the Steam Wagon is much closer to the driver, and it is almost as though the driver steers the Steam wagon from his lap

Regards,

LF

[David Filsell]

And rugby player Ben Foden is a member of the same family. He moves faster than a steam truck.