Moonraker Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 Too late for this Christmas's stockings: 14-inch howitzer railgun "Boche Buster" Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertBr Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 That’s superb; I am so tempted to take up Railway Modelling again. I had a 14” Howitzer mounted on a tank chassis that could actually fire a breech loaded shell. I wonder if you could modify the “Boche Buster” to fire; with suitable recoil. Thanks Moonraker. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petwes Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 (edited) Considering that railway enthusiasts get all hissy when you refer to Locomotives as trains it drives me up the wall when the presenter drools over his "Railgun". A "Railgun" is not a railway mounted gun! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun Peter Edited 30 December , 2019 by petwes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 30 December , 2019 Share Posted 30 December , 2019 Looks good - very tempted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 31 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2019 Ian, that's a great photo. I was about to go off-topic with my own model-railway experiences, but I suspect that would encourage others to do so. Suffice to say, that I once (or twice) contemplated a layout based on the real thing at a Wiltshire WWI army camp - the Larkhill Military Railway had some interesting track design. But I lacked the skill to adapt kits etc to the reality. Perhaps a fictional camp ... Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 31 December , 2019 Share Posted 31 December , 2019 15 hours ago, ianjonesncl said: Looks good - very tempted Do you know the source of this excellent picture? Is it from the IWM? Thank you Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 31 December , 2019 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2019 There are other copies of this photo on the Web, including here "This version scanned from "The Story of the King's Shot" by Lieutenant-Colonel Cleeve, printed privately 1941. Downloaded from http://www.chakoten.dk/the_kings_shot.html" The link is to a Danish military website where, possibly, one has to register for access? Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 31 December , 2019 Share Posted 31 December , 2019 1 hour ago, Moonraker said: There are other copies of this photo on the Web, including here "This version scanned from "The Story of the King's Shot" by Lieutenant-Colonel Cleeve, printed privately 1941. Downloaded from http://www.chakoten.dk/the_kings_shot.html" The link is to a Danish military website where, possibly, one has to register for access? Moonraker Thank you, I was interested in the copyright information. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 2 January , 2020 Share Posted 2 January , 2020 On 31/12/2019 at 15:54, Talesofaseadog said: Thank you, I was interested in the copyright information. Tony Tony Unfortunately no copyright information other than the information provided on Wikipedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMGunBocheBusterTrain1918.jpg I have done a few searches on the IWM collections but I can not see the picture. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 2 January , 2020 Share Posted 2 January , 2020 1 hour ago, ianjonesncl said: Tony Unfortunately no copyright information other than the information provided on Wikipedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMGunBocheBusterTrain1918.jpg I have done a few searches on the IWM collections but I can not see the picture. Ian Hi Ian Thank you for looking, I have most of the IWM pictures as well and didn't find it. The original Danish website tells me that the link no longer works. My wife who is Norwegian can read Danish fortunately. Wikimedia says that copyright has expired which is very likely. I use pictures like these for a talk I do about WW1 Railway in France, my grandad was there in 1918 to 1919. The cruise lines I speak on require me to be clear about copyright. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 2 January , 2020 Share Posted 2 January , 2020 I believe this is the English version from the Danish Web Site. The-Kings-Shot-af-Jeff-Dorman.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 2 January , 2020 Share Posted 2 January , 2020 12 minutes ago, ianjonesncl said: I believe this is the English version from the Danish Web Site. The-Kings-Shot-af-Jeff-Dorman.pdf 415.41 kB · 0 downloads At the end of the document is a reference to a US Navy Railway Battery document held in The World War One Document archive. That does at least give another location to look at, thank you. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 3 January , 2020 Share Posted 3 January , 2020 16 hours ago, Talesofaseadog said: At the end of the document is a reference to a US Navy Railway Battery document held in The World War One Document archive. That does at least give another location to look at, thank you. Tony The document came from: https://www.history.navy.mil/ I did a search "Railway" and found the document along with a lot of other railway gun stuff. Unfortunately I could not find the source of the original picture posted, probably because it is a British Railway Gun (I think). Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 3 January , 2020 Share Posted 3 January , 2020 It is indeed a British gun, of 471 Siege Battery RGA. The other gun was called Scene Shifter. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 4 January , 2020 Share Posted 4 January , 2020 10 hours ago, Ron Clifton said: It is indeed a British gun, of 471 Siege Battery RGA. The other gun was called Scene Shifter. Ron Thank you for confirming my suspicions. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 4 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 4 January , 2020 (edited) Model Boche Buster and ROD Dean Goods in action. And one for model-railway enthusiasts only: Review of ROD Dean Goods locomotive (How the technology has advanced since I had a railway layout!) Moonraker Edited 4 January , 2020 by Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 7 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 January , 2020 Continuing the theme of model railways and the Great War: Amiens 1918 More here (from 3.17) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 8 January , 2020 Share Posted 8 January , 2020 Brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertBr Posted 8 January , 2020 Share Posted 8 January , 2020 On 31/12/2019 at 14:20, Moonraker said: This version scanned from "The Story of the King's Shot" by Lieutenant-Colonel Cleeve I found this recently How Military Camps saved some Wiltshire villages from extinction which includes a photo of King George with the Boche-Buster prior to its deployment. It could help to explain an interest in the gun leading to the 'Kings Shot'. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 8 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 8 January , 2020 (edited) Thanks, Bob, for the link. I'd come across the article before and it includes some original material, in addition to that already quite well-known. (And it also gave a link to an article about support for Wiltshire PoWs, information I've been looking for for some time.) I was about to completely rule out the notion that the Boche Buster ever ran on the Larkhill Military Railway. This branched off the Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway - note the use of the word "Light" - and crossed the River Avon by a viaduct that, in the very few photographs I've seen, does not look very robust. I couldn't see how something as large as the Boche Buster - and a locomotive able to move it - could travel to and over the LMR. However, Jeffrey Grayer in Rails Across the Plain wrote: "One of the more spectacular items of military hardware associated with the line[the LMR] was His Majesty's Gun 'Boche Buster'." Note the word "associated". Grayer mentions its service in France in 1918 and during WWII. An 18in barrel was completed in 1919, with three others of this size then being made, one of which was brought out to be deployed either on a siding near Bulford or at the LMR terminus at Druid's Lodge - the track to which had been removed by 1923. Later history (The gun's movement to Larkhill in the 1990s would have been by road, the Amesbury & Military Camp Light Railway having been taken up in 1965.) WWII history More photos BTW the photo in the "Military Camps ... Wiltshire" article was taken in France, not in Wiltshire, as might be inferred. See here. Moonraker Edited 8 January , 2020 by Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 9 January , 2020 Share Posted 9 January , 2020 16 hours ago, RobertBr said: I found this recently How Military Camps saved some Wiltshire villages from extinction which includes a photo of King George with the Boche-Buster prior to its deployment. It could help to explain an interest in the gun leading to the 'Kings Shot'. Bob Thank you for the link, the map of Military Light Railway was particularly interesting for me as my grandfather was there in 1917 before going to France. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 9 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 January , 2020 Quite a few threads about Lark Hill elsewhere on the Forum. Google "Great War Forum Larkhill Lark Hill" for Germans PoWs there, camp toilet blocks, whether it was "Lark Hill" or "Larkhill" during WWI and much more. One of my regrets is that I have plenty of postcards showing unoccupied railway lines in Wiltshire army camps, but those showing locomotives and vehicles are very rare - perhaps because of wartime regulations forbidding photography of military equipment. There are a couple showing the Royal Train on the newly-completed LMR in February 1915, a wagon in the Dry Store Siding at Codford, a locomotive at Sutton Veny, and that's about it, as far as I know. (Prewar cards showing troops de-training at civilian stations serving the Plain are quite common.) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talesofaseadog Posted 9 January , 2020 Share Posted 9 January , 2020 7 minutes ago, Moonraker said: Quite a few threads about Lark Hill elsewhere on the Forum. Google "Great War Forum Larkhill Lark Hill" for Germans PoWs there, camp toilet blocks, whether it was "Lark Hill" or "Larkhill" during WWI and much more. One of my regrets is that I have plenty of postcards showing unoccupied railway lines in Wiltshire army camps, but those showing locomotives and vehicles are very rare - perhaps because of wartime regulations forbidding photography of military equipment. There are a couple showing the Royal Train on the newly-completed LMR in February 1915, a wagon in the Dry Store Siding at Codford, a locomotive at Sutton Veny, and that's about it, as far as I know. (Prewar cards showing troops de-training at civilian stations serving the Plain are quite common.) Moonraker Thank you. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 9 January , 2020 Share Posted 9 January , 2020 (edited) Well I have a birthday coming up and as the (long-suffering family) always ask about "what WWI nonsense do you want this year..." I left a printout of the item and ordering details from Hattons on a prominent surface...... We shall see...it does look rather splendid. Now I have to go and read up on it. Chris Edit - any information on the rolling stock/camouflaged wagon behind the gun in the photo (which I take it is the ammunition wagon referred to in the text?) Edited 9 January , 2020 by 4thGordons add question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 9 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 9 January , 2020 3 hours ago, 4thGordons said: ... any information on the rolling stock/camouflaged wagon behind the gun in the photo (which I take it is the ammunition wagon referred to in the text?) One of the comments appended to the Model Boche Buster link in post 16 asked about the wagon: King Orry 4 months ago (edited) Remind me, how did you make the armoured stores van? SDJR7F88 4 months ago It's a Lima Junior Refrigerator Van, repainted into WD Khaki Will see if I can put a little video together of the build. (I haven't looked very hard but can't find such a video.) Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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