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This vehicle is not currently on display at the Museum
At the end of World War 2, REME reduced in size and thousands of specialist vehicles were sold off by the War Office. At the same time, it became UK policy to dispose of US and Canadian built vehicles since their maintenance involved purchasing spares from North American manufacturers when Britain was conserving dollars. Another consideration was the need to standardise, when the US machinery operated off 110 volt current and British equipment used 220/240 volt current.
An additional problem was that many of the existing British built machinery trucks were of a pre-war design, although in many cases remaining in production throughout the War. Most of the surviving wartime built vehicles were well used and some had been overhauled many times. New machinery trucks based upon the projected post-war range of military vehicles were a long way off, so to provide some urgently needed new vehicles a limited purchase was made of Albion 3 ton 6 wheeled chassis. These were not the same as the pre-war designed 6 wheelers with specially built off road suspension but simple commercial chassis.
The installation was the type M (later designated MT repair) category housing a lathe, pillar drills, bench grinder etc. in a canvas topped wooden body virtually identical to the war time types. The sides of the body could be folded down to provide ground level work benches and canvas shelters could be attached to the sides of the vehicle to extend the protected working area. Gas welding equipment and a battery charger were also carried on these vehicles. The standard Albion Clansman commercial vehicle cab was used.
These Albions came into service between 1947 and 1950 and some were still being used by TA units in the mid 1980s. They and surviving wartime Machinery Type M trucks were later replaced by the Bedford RL MT Repair truck.
Length |
6.32 m (20 ft 9 in) |
Width |
2.28 m (7 ft 6 in) |
Height |
3.35 m (11 ft) |
Wheelbase |
3.58 m (11 ft 9 in) |
Engine |
Albion 4 cylinder diesel |
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Page produced by Peter Eldred - Last updated 24 July 2004